Massage is often considered a luxury, especially because of the damage it can do to your wallet.
Professionals know that bodywork can make a big difference in performance.
Massage carried out consistently, at least once a week, can help manage and prevent injuries, maintain and improve athletic body shape.
Thanks to massage sports physiotherapists help with the following:
– Warm up the affected muscles by exercising maneuvers
– Relieve contractures by exerting strong pressure
– Restore blood circulation by oxygenating body tissues
– Decrease athletes’ recovery time between workouts
– Prevent contractures and inflammation by constantly taking care of athletes.
Sports massage is designed to help active people prevent and cope with injuries while practicing their favourite sport.
Pre-event sports massage is given just before a competition. It mainly combines quick effleurage to stimulate and warm up muscles with kneading to help muscles move smoothly and to relieve tension.
– It stimulates blood flow and supplies nutrients to muscles;
– It reduces and relieves muscle tension;
– It increases muscle temperature making it more reactive;
– It spurs feelings of “psychological alertness”.
Post-event sports massage is usually given 1 to 2 hours after competition to give the dilated blood vessels a chance to go back to normal condition. Post-event massage is light and delicate so as not to damage the muscles already stressed by the effort.
The goal is to speed up the removal of catabolites and to reduce swelling.
– It helps reduce swelling caused by microtrauma
– It relieves tired and contracted muscles
– It helps maintain flexibility
– It stimulates blood flow to the muscle to eliminate lactic acid (in the very short post-event) and waste (DOMS)
– It reduces the risk of cramps
– It alleviates soreness in the two days following the performance (DOMS – Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness)
– It helps speed up athletes recovery time
– It stimulates metabolic turnover, it reduces blood pressure and heart rate and relaxes both the body and the nervous system – it actually contributes in reducing cortisol and serotonin in the blood to decrease anxiety and improve mood.
According to a meta-analysis published in the journal “Frontiers in Physiology” massage is one of the best recovery techniques to alleviate delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and perceived fatigue compared to cryotherapy, compression garments, and electrostimulation.
Soreness is a normal condition after strenuous exercise and it can even help reveal weaknesses that should be taken care of in the future. Within 48 hours muscle tension should disappear and if massage were given correctly, you might even feel as if you were in a new body.
Dehydration can stiffen both the fascia and muscles making massage more painful. Make sure you sip adequate amounts of water before getting on the lounger.
Sports massage is designed to help correct soft tissue problems and imbalances caused by repetitive, strenuous physical activity and possible trauma.
Sports massage is a beneficial treatment that helps muscles recover, that prevents injuries and prepares the body for future exercise.
Sports massage will help reduce muscle spasms and the metabolic build-up of waste products due to physical exercise.
Regular sports massage interventions to relieve tense muscles can help reduce the chance of injury and maximize performance.
Increased venous return
Increase in body temperature
Increase in lymphatic flow
More elastic tissues
Breakdown of adhesions
Breakdown of scar tissue
Greater overall relaxation
Alleviation of delayed onset of muscle soreness
Relief of soreness
Increased muscle flexibility
Faster recovery
Improvement in muscle performance
Prevention of injuries