Sports Massage is a therapeutic technique that can be applied to the body before, during and after sports. It increases flexibility, improves range of motion and reduces muscle fatigue. It can also prevent injuries, improve performance and recovery. It relieves micro-trauma (tiny tears), reduces swelling and toxins, increases circulation to rehydrate the muscles, loosens stiff muscles, and reduces lactic acid build-up.
Increased Flexibility
A sports massage uses techniques to loosen tight muscles, increasing flexibility in the soft tissues. This can prevent the formation of painful knots and enhance movement patterns that will help your body deal with stress, preventing injury from occurring. If you are an athlete, a sports massage can also break down scar tissue formed from injuries such as sprains and tears, and increase circulation, which delivers oxygen to the muscles and cells. For more information, you can also check Carlsbad Massage Reset.
Muscle stiffness and discomfort are a common result of strenuous exercise or workouts, especially when it involves repetitive motions. When this happens, tense muscles can restrict the joints’ range of motion, which increases the risk of injuries like hamstring and calf strains. A major purpose of a sports massage is to alleviate muscle rigidity, loosening the tight muscles and tendons so that you can move more freely.
Athletes use sports massages regularly to improve their performance and prevent injuries, as well as to recover from competition or training. The massage helps to remove metabolic waste products such as lactic acid, which causes muscle fatigue and soreness. It also helps to relieve muscular imbalances, release trigger points and increase range of motion.
The massage technique involving the kneading of the soft tissues of the body also helps to increase blood flow, which eliminates waste products and carries nutrients to the area. This can prevent clots and promote healing after an injury. It can also increase the efficiency of your heart and lungs, which can help you achieve a better athletic performance.
In addition to this physical improvement, a sports massage can have positive psychological benefits. It reduces the body’s psychological stress levels, which can be a big hindrance to an athlete’s ability to perform at his or her best. It can also boost a person’s self-esteem, resulting in increased confidence and motivation to participate in physical activities.
Although there are few studies that have directly compared the effects of a sports massage to improved athletic performance, the results indicate that the massages do have a positive impact on an athlete’s fitness level. In one study, athletes who were given a deep tissue massage performed better on a time trial than those who did not receive the same treatment.
Reduced Soreness
Sports massage loosens tense muscles and increases the flow of blood to those areas. It can help prevent injuries by reducing the buildup of lactic acid, which is one of the primary causes of muscle soreness after exercise. It also improves the flexibility of the affected muscles, which can make a huge difference in your performance.
You may experience some soreness after a sports massage, but it shouldn’t last more than a day or two. It is normal and a good sign that the treatment worked.
However, it is important to note that if you engage in strenuous activity too soon after your massage, you could increase your chances of injury. This is because the muscles and tissue will be more pliable after the massage, making them more susceptible to strain.
In addition to the physical benefits of sports massage, it can also improve your mental performance. This is because the release of endorphins following a sports massage can help decrease anxiety and depression. This, in turn, can improve your mood and increase your confidence levels.
Another benefit of sports massage is the increase in venous return. The deep effleurage strokes used in sports massage can increase the speed of blood flowing back to the heart from the affected area. This reduces venous stasis and edema, which is the swelling of the fluid in the veins.
This also means that you can train harder and faster, which can lead to improved performance. You can also achieve the same results in less time, which will be beneficial if you are training for an event or competition.
In a recent study, it was found that sports massage can significantly reduce muscle soreness by 13% after exercise. It can also increase muscle flexibility by 7%. This is a significant reduction and is ideal for improving your recovery times so that you can get back to your peak fitness level sooner. It’s worth noting that if you don’t hydrate properly after a sports massage, your muscles can become dehydrated which will slow down the recovery process.
Prevents Injuries
If you’re an athlete, it’s no secret that injuries are a major cause of time lost from training and competition. The good news is, sports massage is one of the best tools to prevent injuries and keep you at your best.
Our treatments help to prevent muscle injury by increasing circulation and promoting tissue healing. Massage stimulates the production of collagen, a natural protein that helps to strengthen muscles and ligaments, and promotes a quicker healing process after an injury. It also aids in breaking down lactic acid, a chemical that causes soreness and stiffness after strenuous exercise.
During a sports massage, the muscle tissues are massaged vigorously, which increases blood flow and breaks up any stagnant pockets of lactic acid that can contribute to delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). When this build-up of toxins is not removed, it can lead to tight muscles and decreased range of motion.
The therapist can also use massage techniques to prevent injuries such as strains, muscle pulls and sprains. For example, massage reduces tense muscles and improves flexibility which can prevent tight hamstrings from pulling on a muscle in an awkward position. A massage can also prevent a muscle from becoming too stiff before an event. Tight muscles restrict movement and make injury more likely after short bursts of activity like sprinting.
A massage also improves oxygenation which can help prevent injury by supplying the muscles with more healthy oxygen. Oxygen is essential to energise and sustain healthy muscle fibres, and also for the utilisation of nutrients and removal of waste products.
In addition, the therapist can apply pressure to specific areas of the body that are most vulnerable to injury, such as a sprained ankle or pulled hamstring. This can help to guide the growth of any new tissue and increase the speed at which the injured area heals.
It is recommended that athletes receive regular sports massage as part of their overall wellness and health routine. It can be used as part of a pre-event warm-up, a recovery strategy between events on the same day or as a regular maintenance practice to prevent injury and optimise physical performance.
Increased Sleep
Sports Massage is a specific form of ‘hands on’ therapy technique employed by Chartered Physiotherapists that involves the mobilisation and manipulation of the bodies soft tissue and myofascial structures. It was developed for athletes to help prevent and relieve injuries that can manifest after repetitive strenuous physical activity or injury but non-athletes can gain physiological and psychological benefits as well.
The therapist applies pressure against the skin and muscle and uses techniques such as kneading, circular movements, gliding strokes and friction to release tension and reduce stiffness and improve range of motion and muscle balance. It is also beneficial for the rehabilitation of soft tissue injuries, such as strains and sprains that occur in sport.
It increases the flexibility of muscle fibres, fascia and ligaments and reduces the risk of muscle strains and sprains by increasing the flow of blood to the muscles which makes them more elastic. It also improves the efficiency of muscle contraction. This is achieved by reducing the accumulation of metabolites, such as lactic acid and pyruvic acid in the muscles which reduces the time it takes for them to recover and decreases the intensity of the exercise needed to cause a muscle strain or sprain.
Sports massage also has a positive effect on preventing injury by helping the muscles to recover more quickly after training and competition. This is a result of less post-exercise muscle soreness and inflammation, which in turn results in the ability to train harder and more frequently, leading to greater improvements in athletic performance.
In addition, the improved circulation and lymphatic drainage of a sports massage helps to reduce the build-up of metabolites such as lactic acid in the muscles. These waste products interfere with recovery and lead to muscle soreness and fatigue, so a good massage can reduce DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness).
Some studies have shown that the effects of sports massage on endurance and sprint performance are short-lived, but the majority of research suggests that a sports massage prior to a hard effort will improve that effort. One study found that 18 male cyclists performed better on a time trial after cycling at an easy effort, having first had a pre-race massage, than those who didn’t receive the massage.