It is a common misconception that sports massage is just for professional athletes. Instead, this powerful therapy can be utilised by anyone – including gym goers, amateurs and even those who haven’t exercised in a while.
What Are The Benefits Of Sports Massage?
Sports massage therapy is an excellent tool for improving performance, preventing injury and relieving stress. During the massage, your therapist will be able to focus on areas of soft tissue that are injured, fatigued or aching. This increases blood flow to those areas, boosting the withdrawal of waste products and leading to a faster recovery time.
The massage can help to avoid injury before it happens – your therapist can find abnormalities in your muscles and ease them before they become a problem, making it an excellent tool for athletes of all standards.
In general, the benefits of sports massage are:
- Decreased muscle tension and muscle spasms
- Increased range of movement and flexibility
- Increased sense of well-being and better sleep
- Reduced recovery time post injury
- Decreased muscle stiffness and soreness after exercise.
What Will The Massage Feel Like?
This massage type utilises deep tissue techniques, leading to an intense and healing experience. The massage may use a variety of different techniques, including:
- Effleurage, a technique which introduces you to the massage. This is gentle, and warms up the soft tissue, relaxing the muscles and linking together the other techniques.
- Petrissage. This is a class of massage movements which include kneading, rolling and wringing. The soft tissues are compressed against each other or underlying bones, improving muscle tone and breaking down adipose tissue.
- Tapotement – potentially the technique that comes to mind when you think of sports massage! This involves pounding, pummelling or tapping and it is through this technique that the greatest benefits from a sports massage occur.
Your massage therapist will discuss any areas of pain with you beforehand, and use effleurage to find any tricky areas. They will then apply a variety of techniques to relax, ease and heal your muscles.
When Should I Have A Sports Massage?
Many athletes will opt to have a sports massage both before and after an event. Pre event massages can activate the muscles and help to avoid injury, leading to a better performance during the training session or competition.
Afterwards, the massage allows the muscles to relax and heal, and it helps to prevent delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).
Non-athletes can opt to have a sports massage at any time. If you haven’t had one before, your therapist will be able to answer any questions you may have and advise you about how frequently you should enjoy them.
Sports Massage In Cheshire…
At Northwich Foot Clinic, our skilled massage therapist will be happy to help with your massage needs. It’s easy to book online – we look forward to welcoming you to our friendly clinic in the heart of Northwich.
