What Are The Benefits of Sports Massage?
Sports/ deep tissue massage is a form of manual therapy which utilises specific techniques in relaxing and reducing tension in the muscles and is a deep form of soft tissue mobilisation. A sports massage can be applied in a sporting and non-sporting context. Sports massage carries a host of benefits, including, but not limited to:
1. Reduce Effects of Long-term Stiffness and Pain
If you’ve been dealing with long standing pain/stiffness due to previous injury, surgery or arthritis, that has affected your mobility, or stopped you from doing your hobbies, then Sports Massage can be a great tool to help improve your mobility and reduce symptoms. Sports Massage can help your joints and muscles feel more mobile and allow you to move more freely, meaning that you can continue to move and exercise as you would like. This means keeping your fitness levels and independence for longer!
2. Helping to Reduce Stress and Anxiety
Sports massage can be used as a tool to help reduce stress and anxiety. At some point in our lives, we’ve probably all experienced stress or anxiety at some level due to our jobs, families, money but to name a few. This stress can result in muscles becoming extremely tight and start to hold a lot of tension which in turn can increase the incidence of migraines and general muscle soreness, particularly in the neck and shoulders. Sports massage helps to loosen off these soft tissues and reduce the effects of stress and anxiety with the release of the “feel-good” hormones oxytocin and serotonin.
3. Common Pathologies
Common pathologies such as sciatica, plantar fasciitis (presenting as sharp pain in heel), shin splints, shoulder impingement, tennis elbow and general back and neck pain amongst many others can be effectively treated with the appropriate sports/ deep tissue massage. In highlighting the muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints that may be affected, your therapist will be able to work effectively in helping to reduce pain and improve range of motion and function of the affected area. All pathologies differ in recovery times but most can be treated with soft tissue work as well as exercises and stretches to be done at home which will be prescribed by your therapist.
4. Can Help Reduce Pain from Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)
If you are a regular gym-goer or exercise regularly, there is no doubt that you will have experienced delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) at some point. You may not have heard of it but this is the soreness you’ll get on the days after exercising a muscle group you maybe haven’t worked in a while and can normally last up to 72 hours. It can be extremely painful and inhibit your daily activities such as bending down to reach a bag, reaching up to a cupboard etc! Sports massage can help reduce the effects of DOMS by increasing lymphatic flow which will help get rid of any toxins in the muscles as well as soothing the worked muscles. This will not get rid of the soreness completely but can help reduce the level of pain and the length of time you may experience it for.
5. Improved Flexibility & Circulation
In working through the deep tissues and joints, sports massage can be used effectively to improve flexibility through stretching and lengthening the muscles while targeting specific areas. If you feel stiff or inflexible when getting up from a chair, lifting your leg over obstacles at home or out a walk, or general neck stiffness for example, soft tissue work combined with stretching (while is also part of a sports massage session if appropriate) can be a great tool in alleviating this. Improved circulation which stimulates blood flow to desired area which promotes delivery of nutrients around the body. This ultimately aids in the recovery process. This in turn aids in lymphatic flow which can help remove any toxins from the bloodstream through lymphatic drainage. A reduction in metabolic waste can help in reducing inflammation and swelling. This can also help in reducing the effects of the blood becoming more acidic post-exercise (lactic acid build up).
6. Pre & Post-event Sports Massage
If you are a keen sportsperson who takes part in competitions (fighting events, marathons, swimming, tennis, golf, weightlifting etc.) or even just play and train football or rugby a few times a week, then a sports massage is great way of both stimulating (pre-event) and relaxing (post-event recovery) the muscles. Pre-event sports massage (from 48hrs before right up to minutes before the event) can help increase muscle flexibility, power and crucially reduce the likelihood of injury. Post-event massage, which is generally performed from immediately after exercise up to 48hrs post-event, elicits the opposite effect and is used to relax the worked muscles while promoting blood flow to the desired area which in
turn aids with the recovery process.