Hands of Duane

I should be ashamed of myself for not having reviewed Duane yet. I go to him at least twice a month and wish it was at least once a week. If that’s not a 5-​star review then I don’t know what is.

I first tried Duane with a living social coupon and couldn’t believe how great my session was. You never know what type of service you will get with those sites and I was so surprised by how professional and experience Duane was. I was in the middle of training for an Ironman at our first session and Duane really helped with all my muscle tension. I’ve purchased several more sessions and every session has been fantastic. Duane uses a great combination of deep tissue and Swedish massage along with trigger point therapy. The office is always clean, relaxing, and pleasant. And its right next to the Church muni station on Market so super convenient!

I’ve seen Duane twice now and have left my 60 minute sessions feeling nothing less than amazing. I have chronic pain in my back and shoulders due to carpal tunnel and thoracic outlet syndrome and have always been hesitant to get a professional massage; I don’t want to spend a lot of money unless my pain will be completely gone. I first found Duane on Groupon, when I purchased a 60 minute massage for $ 60. His studio is very clean and neat, and when I came in he asked me what hurt and what exactly I wanted done. For my first massage, I opted for a deep tissue massage focused solely on my upper back. I left an hour later feeling the best I have in years! During my second session, the main focus was still my upper back but I also opted for some lower back and legs. Wow wow wow! Duane is a wonderful masseuse and I plan to see him again as soon as possible!

ok, I feel the duty to up my previous review by one star since the owner responded and I believe his response. I can’t exactly say give a 5 star just because the incident even made me question my sanity… but if it were based on quality of the massage, it’d be a solid 5 star. How’s that for a fair assessment?

I’ve now had ten massages from Duane and the most amazing thing is that you really don’t even need to tell him much about what needs attention and with how much pressure or what technique would be best as he seems to have an intuitive sense of what would be most helpful. I am also very physically active (lots of tennis, hiking, swimming, etc.) and so there are always different aches and pains on an ongoing basis and he always seems to pace the massages so that everything gets just the right amount of attention.
Every massage has also been pretty different too depending on what needed to be done and some are more mainstream massage and others may include lots of stretching but each massage seemed perfect for how I was feeling that day. It was interesting to read the comment too about whatever someone else might have been sensing behind Duane’s massage attire (I think the robe creates a more relaxing zen like experience!) but everything about his massages and the whole experience has always seemed completely safe, comfortable, and professional.

I’ve seen Duane at least 8 times now. As Karen said in her review here, Duane has also given me the best massage I’ve ever had. His hands are large and strong, his use of pressure is measured, the flow of each stage of the massage is masterful.
I’ve had about 20 different masseurs in my life (including deep tissue, Swedish, and shiatsu). Duane uses a mix of approaches that takes the best from each. He doesn’t do pokey-​pokey, overly-​finger-​focused, or painful muscle pulling moves. He uses his full hands and the weight of his own frame to generate the massage. As someone who has never liked overpowered pressure during massage, I find Duane’s measured strength to be, in a word, fantastic.
I can’t recommend him enough if you want your body to feel genuinely energized and liberated after a session. Yes, he’s gay… but it’s not a sexualized massage. It’s mellow and very lightly spiritual.
One other bonus: his choice of music is excellent. It’s not your Calistoga-​standard, Asian-​y «spa» stuff. It’s more of eclectic contemporary stuff like Ulrich Schnauss or sounds you’d here on iTunes ‘Air Chill’ radio. Deeply relaxing — just like his body work.
Join his «club» for $ 10/​month and you get 1 hour massages for $ 40 (and the ability to gift sessions to friends at the same rate). Wowza. A great deal for massage. Get into this club while he still offers it.

I’ve been twoce to Duane. The first time was a 90 minute massage which I had a groupon for. It was pretty awesome. Maybe a little rough in some spots but hI have tender muscles. I just went back yesterday fro a 60 minute, and I feel great. I’ll definetely be going back. (Bonus points for the super easy location).

Duane was great overall!
Parking is tricky, but I allowed extra time for that (20 min) and arrived a few minutes early.
Clean, comfortable, relaxing atmosphere. Great playlist coming from his iPhone, good mix of mellow electronica — way better than most massage places’ instrumental or nature sounds.
I’ve had a lot of massages over my lifetime and Duane is definitely one of the better therapists I’ve had. He listened to what I like (deep, not fluffy and soft), explained his style, and got to business. I had a lot of pain from sitting at my desk job and using the mouse and he worked my neck/​shoulders/​upper back really well, it helped tremendously. My low back was much worse than I thought and he helped there too. Overall the massage was really good.
Happy I went. Wish I would have bought more coupons for his 90-​minute sessions, but I wanted to make sure I liked him first! The deal I bought was reasonably priced, plus I tipped him $ 25.

I went to see Duane a couple months ago… I’d bought a coupon on one of the sites, I forget which, and it was expiring. I was very pleased by how convenient it is to set up an appointment. He has a website with a scheduling program, and it’s easy to see when you can go, and just log in. It’s also easy to get to the massage. There are two locations, in castro and in noe valley. The noe valley one is actually closer, but I was busy the days he was available for that studio, so I went to the castro one, but both really convenient. (It seems like everyone else reviewed under the noe valley location). Duane was on time too. Great organization & super easy! The castro location is pretty & relaxing inside. This was my first 90 minute massage, the other two I’d had in the past were 60 min. The extra 30 minutes really counts, it gives you that finishing touch that is worth more than the actual extra time. Duane does have 60 min massages available as well, though. At the beginning of the massage, I let Duane know that as I was having my usual back issues, he should not be afraid to massage hard. He mostly did that, which is good. Overall, the massage was good, not great. I have really tight muscles, & he helped alleviate some of the pain, and of course a 90 minute massage felt good. But I may not have gotten as much lasting effect as I did in the two massages I had before him, or the one since. I also felt we didn’t necessarily click comfortably as well as with my previous people I got massages with. But, he wasn’t bad, so give him a try & see what you think!