Therapeutic Sports Massage has physical , physiologic and psychological benefits to its recipients. A comprehensive training program, healthy diet coupled with sports massage will maintain the athletic body in optimal condition which is vital in longevity and progression of an athletic career.
Key Benefit of Sports Massage
- Maintains Body in Better condition
- Reduce Injuries
- Increase mobility
- Restore mobility to injured muscle and tendinous tissue
- Increase performance
- Extend the duration of athletic career
Tissue Profusion
Increased Tissue profusion and permeability, also known as the bodily fluids ability including blood and lymph to exchange between tissue, organs and the flow through its vessels. Increased profusion results in faster and more efficient removal of lactic acid and other metabolic wastes as well as the introduction of nutrient filled oxygenated blood which will improve on muscle recovery, decrease muscle injury, fatigue and improve overall performance.
Improved tissue elasticity is an effect which results from the coupling of the stretching, increase blood flow as well as exercise/training. Intense training will result in tissue hardening and plateau effect in performance. Tissue hardening will decrease flexibility increasing the chances for injury. Sports massage will reduce the negative effects of intense training to create the optimal environment for physical performance.
Thorough Sports Massage involves certain properties of stretching as well. Conventional stretching is important for athletes because it elongates the muscle lengthwise, however sports massage will increase a muscle’s flexibility even more stretching the muscle fibers lengthwise which is especially important to larger force producing muscle groups including the Quads, Hamstrings and Glutes. Sports massage techniques will result in the stretching of the sheath and the fascia which connects to muscle all around and not just at the ends, reducing tension and pressure build up.
Injury Recovery
Sports massage is vital to athletes performance as well and recovery from injury. Common injuries that athletes encounter include sprains, strains and muscles tears. A your body’s response to these injuries is to create scar tissue of the injury site which will reduce motion while allowing it to heal with increased blood flow (swelling). After the initial stages of these injuries when swelling is gone, scar tissue still remains as well and the decrease flexibility which leaves that muscle to a higher chance of re-injury at that site. Sports massage incorporated with a stretching protocol will break down and reduce scar tissue while increase flexibility, and muscle elongation. Research from the America Sports Orthopedic Medical journal states that a torn hamstring has a 70 % reaccurence of re-injury.
Structural Benefits of Therapeutic Sports massage:
o Improved range of motion
o Improved general tissue flexibility and muscle relaxation
o Reduction of muscle cramps and spasms
o Relief of Myofascial trigger points and neuromuscular trigger points
o Reduction of adhesions and enhanced collagen remodeling during healing cycle
Psychological effects
Anxiety Reduction- with the physiological effects massage mentioned relaxation induced resulting in decreased anxiety levels.
Invigoration- when the proper massage expertise and technique is performed coupled with the necessary situation, a feeling of increased vitality can be produce which can be the winning edge in competition.
- Enhanced Circulation
- Lower Traumatic swelling
- Reduce pain
-Massage increases local blood flow creating hyperemia which is indicated by the reddening of the outer tissues or more blood flow to a specific area.
-Massage is well documented as a technique which reduces swelling aka edema uptake. The result of the massage is facilitation of the lymphatic system.
-Reduction in pain via massage is a well reckognized and documented benefit of massage . Massage is considered a pain relieving modality and accomplishes this via Gate Theory of pain. Pain relief can also be obtained through improvement of flexibility, reduction of muscle spasms and trigger points which indirectly decrease the stimmulation of pain through nerves. Cllinical research has proven that massage reduces muscle pain after strenuos activity also known as DOMS.
Nutrient Flow
Increase nutrient and blood flow due to the tissue manipulation increasing blood flow throughout blood vessels and lymph vessels. This is accomplished as a result of increased flow pressure ahead of the specific stroke techniques applied creating a void, causing a suction effect directly behind the massage stroke resulting a rush of blood flow to fill that void. With that flow of blood comes newly oxygenated and nutrient/energy filled blood along with the removal of metabolic wastes resulting in the optimal environment for muscle performance involving flexibility, strength, neural activation, stamina and overall performance.
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Hot Stone |
Postural Assesment |
| Sweedish |
Sports Massage |
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Scalp Massage |
Muscle Energy Technique |
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Trigger Point Therapy | |