First Place: Back in Action Health Resource Center

4911 Augusta Ave.
254-0200
feelgr8.com

Second Place: Massage Envy Spa

Third Place: RVA Massage and Wellness

At Back in Action Health Resource Center, massage is a medical treatment. Doctors and massage therapists work together to treat the pain that weekend warriors pick up, along with professional athletes and amateur ones. "We don't just do one-hour massages," says David A. Berv, who founded Back in Action in 1998. "It's less of a spa environment and more of a clinical environment." Berv frequently has patients come in with a particular problem, and the therapists will spend a half an hour or more on just one region of the body. "We'll work half an hour just on a shoulder, or just on a hip," Berv says. "Among the six different massage therapists in our clinic, they all have different skill sets and also different depths of touch." With three locations at Willow Lawn, Short Pump and Midlothian, Massage Envy Spa specializes in convenience — it schedules same-day appointments — along with offering facials and hot stone therapy. RVA Massage and Wellness, just off West Broad Street on Dickens Road, specializes in all manner of massage — deep tissue, Thai and sports-focused rub downs.