Sports massage is a technique that involves a ‘deep’ massage to help improve circulation, muscle tone and pain relief.
What is Sports Massage for?
Despite it’s name, Sports Massage can benefit everyone. It doesn’t matter whether you sit at a desk all day, play with the children at home, work in the garden or on a building site; or whether you play sport at any level, Sports Massage is for you.
For many of us stiffness and pain are a fact of life to which we have become accustomed, and it is often not until we receive massage that we realize that our muscles are tight and that a great deal of our energy is consumed by tension.
Will it help me?
Massage can help maintain your entire body in better physical condition.
Regular treatment can help prevent injury and loss of mobility in potential trouble areas.
Sports massage can be used to restore mobility to injured muscle tissue.
With advice on exercises and personal fitness you could speed up your recovery.
Sports massage can extend the overall life of your athletic ‘career’.
Some reasons to have a sports massage:
- Back pain
- Joint discomfort or painful movements
- Neck and shoulder tension
- Headaches including migraines
- Stress
- Repetitive strain injury
- Recovering from an injury (sports or general)
- General aches pains or stiffness
- To relax
How is it done?
Body massage can help relaxation and improve recovery through rhythmic movement, pressure and kneading of the muscle groups. Massage can help to improve circulation and relieve the effects of muscle spasm and tension. It can also help to improve muscle tone and break down scar tissue.
What is Sports Massage?
Whether you are a top level athlete, the regular person who enters the gym once a week, or a couch potato looking to get fit, you can benefit from sports massage. The intensities placed upon the body can be enormous, especially for those who have been sedentary for a while and suddenly embark on a new fitness regime. Prevention of an injury so that the individual can sustain their level of exercise is the secret to reaching ones goals. Through massage, with hands on treatment, problem areas can be identified to reduce the effects of injury.
Sports specific
Sports specific treatments can benefit further from the timing of a treatment. This includes:
- pre-competition massages which aid in warming and mobilising the muscles to enhance your performance.
- post competition or training massages will help to minimise the after effects of a hard session or competition, reducing fatigue and speeding recovery.
- maintenance massages throughout the training season help to maintain or enhance performance and reduce the risk of injury.
- rehabilitation massages promote recovery during or after an injury. A treatment will also include stretching and strengthening exercises specific to your sport.
