Whether you jog around your neighborhood or are training for the Ironman World Championship, peak health and performance means everything to active types of all kinds. When sports lovers become hindered or completely incapacitated due to an injury, they may greatly benefit from sports massage therapy, which helps athletes recover more quickly while also preventing future injuries.
Sports massage therapy is the customized application of various massage techniques such as myofascial protocols, range of motion and flexibility protocols, and strength-training principles with the purpose of promoting faster rehabilitation and preventing future injury when treating an athlete. It differs from standard massage in that the therapy is modified to fit an athlete’s specific needs and is therefore more meticulous than standard massage therapy.
Athletes involved in any type of sport may easily experience a series of setbacks related to muscle overexertion, overextension, or overuse. Even the most minor of lesions and injuries within the muscle tissue can cause a great deal of pain that affects athletic performance. Heavily exercised muscles may lose their ability to relax, which leads to a loss of flexibility that can leave athletes vulnerable to injuries, especially muscle pulls and tears. Athletes with chronically tight muscles may also experience diminished blood flow known as ischemia, which can be extremely painful and debilitating. One of the most common physical obstacles for athletes is delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS, which is muscle pain that develops several hours after an event and restricts or all together halts further physical activity.
Recent studies show that even after one session, sports massage therapy can help begin to significantly alleviate pain and prevent further injury by targeting muscle-tendon junctions and promoting healing on a cellular level. Research has also concluded that sports massage therapy may help reduce and even prevent the painful and disabling effects of DOMS while helping lubricate the joints for improved range of motion. Sports massage therapy works by reducing the production of cytokines, which are compounds that play a vital role in tissue inflammation. It also penetrates the cells to stimulate mitochondria within the skeletal muscle, which are responsible for creating the energy necessary for cell repair, function, and growth.
Three key principles help determine which type of a treatment a sports massage therapist will apply to an athlete at any given time:
Intent: the athlete’s reason for treatment, whether it is as a pre-event warm up, help with blood flow, stimulate neurological pathways, increase flexibility, improve strength, or aid recovery
Timing: whether the massage is given pre-event, post-event, during a maintenance period, or during a recovery period after suffering an injury
Technique: what application is utilized, which can include a variety of techniques that are tailored to the individual patient
For optimal performance, regular sports massage therapy for all types of athletes is recommended to help protect muscles against injury.
Pre-event massages focus on warming up major muscle groups and improving tissue elasticity.
Post-event massages are geared toward reducing muscle spasms and metabolic build-up and promoting recovery.