A Hamilton massage centre has just introduced a new “Revitalise” service.

And Sabai Thai Body Balancing and Massage Centre has introduced a series of special offers to cut the cost of feeling good.

The Front Street centre’s new Revitalise massage is aimed at not just relieving stresses in muscle and bone, but boosting the efficiency of organs like the heart had lungs.

The new service — based on Thai techniques dating back more than a thousand years — has joined the spa’s existing range, including the body balancing massage.

Sabai Thai owner Waraporn Harris, known as Nu, said: “It’s similar to body balancing, but more detailed. It’s different from other kinds of massage.”

She added: “Revitalise opens up the abdominal cavity and help the body function better.”

I have suffered off and on from lower back pain for years after an unfortunate incident involving a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter and me having to jump out of one wearing full diving gear.

As a result of an awkward landing, I ended up with a slipped disc and torn muscles in my back — which has periodically come back to haunt me ever since.

The disc slid out recently due to an awkward lift and turn, which left my back quite a bit out of alignment. I was also unable to walk properly and had trouble getting up after I’d been sitting down for a bit.

But — after an hour and a half being pushed and pulled around — I can say the last twinges from my latest episode had all but gone.

Ms Harris worked on my hip and upper body and all I felt — at worst — was a mild discomfort at times. And the results proved to be more than worth it.

I learned that, like everyone else, my legs are fractionally different lengths — which also explains why people lost in wilderness conditions without a compass invariably walk in circles, which can also affect spine alignment.

Ms Harris may be slightly built — but she’s got fingers like vices and considerable power to move when she’s got her knee pushed into your upper arm or hip.

While she worked, I could actually feel my spine shifting and, by the end, when I stood up, I felt a whole lot better.

Apparently, most of my muscles were too tight, so pressure was applied to relax them.

Ms Harris said: “It has other benefits too — if your body is relaxed, your mind is relaxed too. If people have a problem, we look deeper to see what caused that problem. Muscles shorten under stress and pull bones out of their proper position.

“When you look at the muscle being shortened, it’s often muscle fatigue, which has many causes, lack of muscle energy, things like that.”

And she said that modern life, where people tend to be office-bound and sitting in front of computers all day, had contributed to an epidemic of ills.

Ms Harris added: “There is a problem with the way people sit and with their hands. That affects the muscles in the bicep and triceps and the shoulder blades.

“That causes problems in the back, shoulder and neck — if you leave it, it will cause problems in the lower back as well.”

Ms Harris said that if the shoulder blade — or scapula — is pulled forward, it can cause spinal problems and affect lung function, which reduces the amount of oxygen in the blood circulating around the body and brain.

She added that the body balancing massage helps with spine alignment and helps put shoulder blades back where they should be, which in turn helps align the spine correctly.

She added: “If you have upper back pain or lower back pain, we will relax the muscles and refer people to a chiropractor as well.”

And she stressed the ancient Thai techniques were complementary to modern medicine, not in competition, and she and her staff — who all have Thai degrees in massage backed by the country’s ministries of education and public health, did not hesitate to refer clients to doctors or chiropractors if necessary.

Ms Harris said: “It’s important to work together and sending people to a doctor or chiropractor is something we do a lot.”

Sabai Thai is based at 131 Front Street, Hamilton. For more information on the massage techniques and special offers, call 292-6456 or visit www.thaimassagebermuda.com.