Kids can get a massage here, from a registered massage therapist who adjusts the pressure and length to your child. Our clinic on St. Albert Trail in north Edmonton offers pediatric massage.
Kids carry more in their bodies than we tend to assume. The parents we see from north Edmonton and St. Albert usually mention restless nights or sore legs after a long week. If you're wondering whether massage is even appropriate for a child, that's the right question to start with.
Growing pains, sore legs and sport
Growing pains tend to arrive at night, when your child is finally still and the legs start to ache. In our experience massage can help with that, and with the soreness kids in hockey, gymnastics or martial arts pick up at an age when their bodies are already busy growing.
Trouble settling at night
Stress in children often shows up in the body before they can put it into words, and a child who can’t settle at bedtime is one of the places you see it. When kids are calmer they tend to sleep better, and when they sleep, so do you.
Pediatric massage is massage adapted to a child, with lighter pressure, a shorter session and a registered massage therapist who checks in often. Unlike an adult, your child decides what happens to their body and can say stop at any time. That makes it safe, and it teaches what respectful touch feels like.
Their body, their say
Your therapist asks before working on each area and asks again as they go, because even with an adult in the room, it is your child’s body. If they want an area left alone, it’s left alone.
Lighter, slower pressure
Kids get different pressure from adults, light and slow with long strokes, since their muscles and bones are still growing. We don’t use deep tissue massage on children.
Clothed or draped
Your child lies on the table fully clothed or draped with a sheet, whichever they’re more comfortable with, and that choice can change from one visit to the next.
A habit worth keeping
Nadine, who founded the clinic and is a mother herself, sees massage as a way for kids to learn what helps their body early. Along the way your child learns to say where it hurts and how much pressure feels right.
What can kids massage help with?
Parents usually bring kids in for sleep, stress and anxiety, or growing pains, and for the soreness that comes with sport or long hours bent over a backpack and a screen.
Sore muscles from hockey, gymnastics and other sport
Neck and shoulder tension from backpacks and screens
The research on massage for children covers sleep and stress and anxiety, which is why those lead this list. Growing pains, sport and screen-time tension come from our own experience with young clients.
What a kids massage session looks like
A first session starts with a conversation, first with you about your child’s health and anything that worries them, and then with your child about what’s going to happen.
Before anything starts
Tell your kids massage therapist about any medical condition your child has, and whether they’re nervous about coming in, so the session can start at a pace that suits them.
Then the therapist explains the session to your child directly, in words that fit their age. They’ll hear that they can keep their clothes on, that they choose which areas get worked on, and that they can say stop at any time.
Saying no is allowed, and nobody in the room will argue with it.
How pediatric massage is different at each age
Babies and infants. For most babies, massage is bonding time with a parent. A therapist’s own hands-on work is for a specific reason, like torticollis or digestive trouble.
Toddlers and preschoolers. Most of our young clients start at around 3. Sessions are short, because lying still is hard at that age.
School-age kids. From about 5, most children can lie still for half an hour and tell the therapist what feels right, which is when a professional session usually makes the most sense.
Teens. Youth massage is close to an adult session, often built around sport, and many teens would rather you waited outside.
After the session
Your child may be sleepy, or simply calmer than usual that evening. Ask them how it felt, since their answer is the best guide to whether, and when, to book the next one.
What happens when you book a kids massage
Book the time you want
Thirty, sixty and ninety minutes all book online, and you can pick a therapist by name or select all of them to see every opening the clinic has that week.
Tell your therapist what has changed
Pressure and focus start from what you tell us rather than a routine, and your therapist says what they are finding while they work. You hear it as it happens.
Book the next one before you leave
Before you leave, we can put your next appointment on the calendar, and our own booking page will tell you the current week may already be full.
Come a few minutes early your first time, because there is a short health history to fill out, and filling it in the waiting room spends the hour you booked on paperwork instead of treatment on the table.
You know what the hour will involve, what it costs, and when you are coming back.
Nadine & her staff are highly skilled and so professional. They take the time to address aches & pains and have become an integral part of our family's physical wellness team. Super easy direct billing as well. Love this place.
Deana TruemnerGoogle review
I brought my daughter in for a kids massage and it was a great experience. Will definitely go back.
Darci TobertGoogle review
found muscles I didn’t even know existed
By far the best
the best I’ve had yet
I always feel so relaxed and pain free
they are all great
Most importantly they listen to my massage needs
My pain is gone
The best at what she does
my pain reduced almost 70%
Why choose Got Knots for kids massage
Every therapist here is registered
Clinic-wide membership with the Natural Health Practitioners of Canada means the receipt you hand your insurer is the same document whichever therapist you book, and the hour you get is held to the same standard.
Ten percent off six sessions, fifteen off twelve
It is a discount you buy once and spend as the sessions come, instead of a monthly fee you have to remember to cancel.
A+ with the Better Business Bureau since 2015
Eleven years with no lapse and no downgrade, on a rating anyone can check.
What does kids massage cost?
Most people book 60 minutes, which is $115.50 plus GST. Children's massage is booked at the same rate as any appointment. Younger children usually do better with 30 minutes, since lying still for a full hour is a lot to ask at that age.
All rates shown before GST
Session
Price
30 minutes
$73.50
60 minutes
$115.50
90 minutes
$157.50
Direct billing to 30+ insurance plans
We bill your extended health provider directly, so you only pay the part your plan doesn't cover, and the card we keep on file isn't charged until your insurer has paid its share. We can bill your primary plan only. If your plan needs a doctor's referral for massage, send it to your benefit provider before your appointment, not to us.
Alberta Blue Cross – Sun Life – Canada Life – Telus Health (Manulife, Canada Life + 20 more) – Medavie (incl. Veterans Affairs & RCMP) – Green Shield
Nadine Munro has been a Registered Massage Therapist since 2000 and founded Got Knots in 2009. Every therapist on our team is an RMT with at least 2,200 hours of training, and together we've treated more than 4,300 clients since the clinic opened.
Yes, they can. Children can get a massage from a registered massage therapist, with lighter pressure, a shorter session and a parent nearby if they want one. At our clinic that covers everyone from babies to teens, and each session is adjusted to your child’s age and comfort.
Most of our young clients start at around 3. A professional session usually makes the most sense from about 5, when a child can lie still for half an hour and say what feels right. We see babies too.
The research says it can be, especially for sleep and stress. A review of the research on massage for children found better sleep and less stress in children with sleep problems. An earlier study found that massage reduced anxiety in children and teens in psychiatric care. Growing pains and sport soreness rest on our own experience with young clients.
That’s up to you and your child. You can stay, wait in the waiting area or come back for the end of the session, and we encourage parents of younger children to stay. If another therapist is free, you can book your own massage at the same time.
Anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on your child’s age and what they can comfortably manage. Younger children usually need less time, and a teen may be ready for a full hour.
A few sessions often settle soreness from a season or an injury, while sleep and stress tend to take regular visits over a longer stretch. Your therapist will suggest how often after the first visit. What fits your family is your call.
Often, yes. Many extended health plans cover massage by a registered massage therapist for dependents as well as the member, and where yours does, we handle direct billing for you. Check with your insurer before you book.
Planned around your training. A hard season, a new sport or an old injury each loads different muscles, and each appointment targets the ones doing the most, so recovery keeps pace with the schedule.
Every one of our massage therapy services in Edmonton on one page, with what each is for.
Book a kids massage in Edmonton and let your child set the pace
If you wait, the restless nights and sore legs may carry on for a while, and your child keeps learning to put up with them instead of saying what hurts.
Find us at 13220 St Albert Trail NW #104 — right on the commute between downtown Edmonton and St. Albert. Open Monday through Saturday, with direct billing to most major benefit plans.
Serving north Edmonton and the St. Albert corridor
