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Sports Massage

Sports massage is an effective and beneficial form of physical therapy, not just for Active sports people, or those requiring soft tissue treatment, but also for those seeking relief from muscle tension or for the maintenance of healthy muscles,

Sports massage involves a lot of skills to manipulate the soft tissues of the body and isolation individual muscle groups using specific and specialised techniques including stroking, kneading and compressing,

The principle aims for a sports massage are:

  • The enhancement of a sports person performance
  • The prevention of injury
  • The recovery of an athlete after an event

The benefits

Physical/mechanical effect of a sports massage

  • Relieves muscle tension
  • Reduces swelling
  • Improves flexibility
  • Improves movement of blood and lymph
  • Loosens adhesions
  • Stretches soft tissues
  • Mobilises fibres

Physiological effects of a sports massage

  • Increases blood circulation
  • Reduce/relieves pain
  • Helps in the removal of waste products
  • Promotes healing
  • Can help to improve the range of movements at joints
  • Promotes muscle relaxation
  • Increases lymph flow

Psychological effects of a sports massage

  • Reduces tension
  • Reduces anxiety
  • Prepares the athlete for the challenge ahead
  • Mentally relaxing
  • Stimulating
  • Reduces pain

Preventing an injury is vitally important by incorporating regular sports massage treatments into a training regime, the treatment can help prevent injuries from occurring.

After an event or training, the muscle will become fatigued, due to an accumulation of lactic acid, which causes cramping and pain.
At this stage a massage would be appreciate and will help to-

  • Increase the flow of blood to the area
  • Improve blood and lymphatic circulation
  • Disperse lactic acid

Pre Event Massage

Before an event or activity massaging major muscles which are to be used will help an athlete to prepare for the challenge ahead both physically and psychologically. A pre event massage can be performed a few minutes or hours before the athlete is due to compete or it can be performed in the days leading up to the event as part of the athletes training regime.

Aims of pre event massage;

  • Raise the core temperature of the muscles, thus helping the athlete to warm up
  • Stretch tissues- mainly to minimise injury and maximise performance
  • Increase range of movement, improve joint mobility and blood circulation
  • Prepare the athlete both physically and psychologically before a sporting event

Post event massage

After an event, competition or physical activity, it is important that the athlete allows the body to recover from the stress that has been placed upon it. The recovery process of an athlete after an event or training will usually start with physical cool down, performing a series of exercises, which will gradually, reduced the heart rate and effective stretching to reduce the risk of muscle soreness.

Aims of Post event massage

  • Acceleration of the recovery process
  • Removal of waste products from the muscle tissue
  • Stretching of the muscle tissue
  • Helping to reduce the discomfort and pain associated wit delayed onset of muscle soreness (DOMS)