Recovery Day At Solent Hotel And Spa

Last week I found myself suddenly sofa bound due to Torticollis (a locked neck caused by a severe strain). I’d say bed bound, but the pressure on my neck when lying down was incredible and getting back up after lying down was simply not an option. Hah. Fat chance in that! 

Last Monday I woke up with a slight discomfort in my neck (to which I thought I had slept funny) and come night time I was in quite possibly the worst pain I’ve ever experienced. Dang, who knew a locked muscle could cause so much pain? To cut a long story short, my doctor told me that I had Torticollis which may last for up to 3-5 weeks. She put me on pretty strong tablet’s, “These will make you sleepy so don’t drive”, “These are strong and will upset your stomach” and “Take all of them everyday or the pain will get worse”. Fab. The cause? From what I told my doctor, she (and I) believe it was from sleeping at a funny angle the night before, but more importantly, caused over time by a lot of strain on my neck, back and spine from looking down on my laptop, all day, everyday. The sleeping at an angle thing… that probably knocked it on the head.

So yes kids, it turn’s out computer’s can be pretty lethal. Thinking about it now (I’ve now brought a brand new laptop stand and desk chair), my posture was pretty bad. My eyes were never inline with my laptop, my neck always tilted forward and downward as the day went on and after a few pretty hectic weeks, I’ve had some very long days staring at the, big, bad screen. Not good.

Coincidentally, I already had two treatments booked in at the Solent Hotel and Spa that week and after getting the all ok from my doctor, “It’ll do your neck some good actually. It will help relieve the tension in your muscles and hopefully, help to ease the strain” I decided to go ahead with my appointments and spa day visit – despite still not being able to move my neck much.

Luckily, the two treatments I decided to go ahead with were based on fitness recovery (I have a post coming up this Sunday all about that) – a back, neck and shoulder massage and a ESPA salt and oil scrub.

Upon arrival, my friend, Sophie and I were greeted by probably one of the friendliest team of ladies (that I’ve experienced at a spa, anyway) and we were soon led to a quiet area where we were given a locker that contained our dressing gowns, slippers and towels for the morning. Soon after changing, we grabbed a cuppa (they provide you with complimentary refreshments including teas, water and delicious little treats) and headed to the relaxation area where you can wait for your treatment or simply just relax.

We spent most of the morning in the jacuzzi (swimming was a big no no) as it helped a lot with easing the pain of the strain in my neck and plus, who doesn’t love a good ol’ jacuzzi? It was definitely a bubbly one! The general area of the pool was lovely. It was clean, modern, bright and most importantly… quiet! Lovely jubbly. Although, perhaps a few more loungers would have been nice?

My first treatment was the ESPA salt and body scrub. Now, you’re probably wondering how on earth that’s linked to fitness recovery but actually, it can. Firstly, rough exfoliation of the skin is known for improving blood circulation which increases the flow of blood throughout our bodies and this in turn helps to maintain our overall health. Good circulation also helps to increase our bodies biological systems by delivering oxygen throughout the body. Poor circulation can lead to tired, or heavy legs, fatigue and most common of them all – cold fingers and toes. Not to mention dull skin, also!

Secondly, I chose this treatment simply because recovery can be anything you wish – as long as you’re looking after your body! Sometimes for me, that means looking after my skin too and after weeks of sweating, lifting and putting my skin through all sorts of temperatures – it needed a little TLC.

I’ve never had a full body exfoliation apart from the DIY bright pink flannel hand scrub that you can buy from your local drugstore and lasts roughly for one use therefore, this treatment was quite a difference. Let me tell you that. The scrub itself combines the use of sea salts and nourishing and essential oils and trust me, when they say ‘nourishing‘ they really mean it, too. Crikey. I couldn’t stop smoothing my skin afterwards! At first, the scrub felt quite rough (oooohh, ahhh) but after a minute or two, you get used to the sensation and actually, the hard brush felt heavenly against my sore muscles. The treatment itself lasted 25 minutes but really it felt like 10 minutes of pure, skin scrubbing bliss. Would I have it again? Absolutely. My skin felt like a baby’s bottom afterwards… only better.

After our first treatment, we then headed back to the pool area to relax a little before lunch. We both had two courses which, having no appetite at all thanks to my medication, I was a little dubious about. I went for a light Caesar salad (which I haven’t had in years) for my first course and a delicious chicken and pasta salad for my second course. See, told you I had no appetite with the salad theme!

Honestly, I’m not really a salad fan when it come’s to eating out but to my surprise, both courses were delicious. The Caesar salad was light and not over dressed in sauce and the pasta – well actually, I really quite loved it. The flavours were light with a kick of spice and the chicken was just right. I mean, you can’t go wrong with pasta and chicken can you?

The general area of the spa restaurant was rather pleasant. It overlooks the pool (which was nice) and it was again, another lovely area to relax in. What I liked most about the entire spa actually was the light atmosphere throughout. It was quiet, the furnishings fitted in with the mood and all in all, it was a place where you could 100% relax in and feel at home.

After lunch we both went to our second and final treatment, the back, neck and shoulder massage. Now here’s my confession: I’ve never had a massage before. Nope, really. Never. It’s just something that has never appealed to me – mainly because I can’t sit still for 5 minutes, let alone lay on a bed being massaged by a complete stranger for up to an hour! Well, that was however until last week when I possibly had the best, most relaxing 25 minutes of my life.

The ladies from both of my treatments were very cautious of my neck so they knew exactly what they were doing. The massage itself combined traditional massage techniques to help relieve the common areas of stress and tension in the back, neck and shoulders. I didn’t ask for a particular area to be focused on at first, I simply let the masseuse work her magic. However, after a lot of focus on my back and shoulders and just a little on my neck, I asked if she could work the tension out of my neck for the remaining time. At first, it was a little tender, but crikey, it felt nice.

After the massage I could definitely feel the difference in my muscles and how much more relaxed they felt. Especially my neck – the weight of my head felt slightly less (which sounds odd but trust me, you don’t know how heavy your head is until you have a strain in your neck!).

Since experiencing my very first massage and instantly feeling the benefits, I’ve already planned to work them regularly into my recovery days and to enhance my body’s ability to perform at it’s best ability. As much as we love working out, it’s also incredibly important to take care of our bodies and give them some TLC. Like I said, I have a recovery and rest day post coming this Sunday so I’ll talk more about that then!

For now though, I’ll finish with this… Out of all my spa visits, the Solent Hotel and Spa has by far been the most warm and welcoming. The atmosphere is incredibly relaxing, the staff are lovely, the food is delicious and the treatments – well, they were just quite perfect. I simply have nothing negative to say and for someone as picky as me, I’d say that’s a winner.

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Note: This post is not sponsored and all opinions are my own.