It’s critical that you pay attention to your sports recovery process, particularly if you participate in any kind of physical activity. It doesn’t matter if you are an expert or novice athlete—exercise of any kind causes uncomfortable and tender muscles, and you need to give your body time to heal itself properly. For this reason, the majority of fitness enthusiasts choose sports massages, which function as physical rehabilitation. However, sports massages are very different from other kinds of massages.
If you lead an active lifestyle, sports massage services are essential since they aid with healing, injury prevention, and performance enhancement. This massage form can be used for rehabilitation, pre-performance, post-performance, and throughout training. It should come as no surprise that professional athletes favor it. This article will cover every aspect of sports massages, including who is eligible for one and its advantages. But let’s first examine what sports massage comprises in more detail, shall we?
What exactly is Sports Massage?
Sports massage is a type of soft tissue mobilization created especially to support individuals who engage in regular physical activity. It is applicable in both athletic and non-athletic contexts since it supports a variety of individuals with diverse lifestyles, such as those who suffer from chronic pain or injuries. This type of massage uses several techniques to move the musculoskeletal system, which includes the muscles, tendons, and ligaments, for increased effectiveness. In addition, sports massage is frequently utilized for a variety of objectives, including relaxation and injury prevention. Originally, it was created to aid athletes in recovering from major events and enhancing their performance.
To help relieve and release muscle tension, avoid lactic acid build-up, mobilize soft tissues, and enhance blood circulation, sports massage therapists employ a variety of methods, including effleurage, wringing, kneading, trigger pointing, friction, gliding, compression, and hacking. The kind of sports massage you receive should be determined by your overall goals, as there are various forms of sports massage, each with a unique objective.
Before beginning your sports massage with the appropriate tools, your certified massage therapist will need to assess your posture and inquire about your general health and way of life. Don’t be alarmed if they ask you the same question over and over again; they need to know what your objectives are in order to treat you appropriately. In this manner, the sports massage therapist can focus on the parts of your body that require the greatest care. Additionally, while your massage, you should speak with your therapist frequently.
Types of Sports Massage
Because all sorts of sports massages depend on timing, timing is a key aspect in sports massage.
Pre-event Sports Massage
This is typically a short, intense exercise that targets the body parts that will be worked out 24 hours before to the competition or event. This massage not only speeds up recuperation, but it also eliminates cellular waste and eases sore muscles, preparing you both psychologically and physically for optimal performance.
Post-event Sports Massage
The goal of this session is to assist in returning your body’s tissues to their pre-event states. This massage can be administered 24 to 48 hours after the competition or event, depending on the massage practitioner. In addition, this kind of sports massage speeds up recovery, avoids discomfort in the muscles, promotes circulation, and eases muscle tension.
Training Sports Massage
In order to lower the chance of injury and speed up recovery, professional athletes typically receive this massage in between personal training sessions. Because it treats any inflammation or stress that could become difficult if left untreated, this kind of sports massage is crucial.
Maintenance Sports Massage
This sports massage is designed to shorten the time it takes you to recover from workouts, whether you’re an avid fitness enthusiast or not, by alleviating muscle tension and lowering your risk of injury. If you lead a really active lifestyle, you should schedule appointments on a bi-monthly or weekly basis, but your massage therapist can also create a treatment plan according to your needs.
Injury Rehabilitation Sports Massage
The goal of this session is to assist clients in recovering from both acute and chronic ailments. Your body will quickly regain its full health thanks to this rehabilitative massage, which breaks down scar tissue, relieves pain, lowers inflammation, and restores normal muscle flexibility. Also, there is a considerable decrease in the likelihood of re-injury.
Injury Prevention Sports Massage
In order to deliver treatments that will help your body rebalance, this sort of sports massage employs various techniques to identify tight spots and biomechanical imbalances. Hence, injuries are avoided from occurring.
Techniques Used in Sports Massage
There is no one specific technique utilized in sports massage; instead, the techniques employed depend on your goals and the massage therapist’s training. Some of the often utilized techniques that are used into sports massage are as follows: physiotherapy, osteopathy, and other disciplines.
Effleurage (Stroking)
This sports massage technique that involves stroking is highly significant due to its numerous uses and advantages. Using this technique, sports massage therapists warm up the body’s tissues by applying various massage oils and creams. Depending on how quickly it is applied, the effleurage technique can be both calming and effective at stimulating the body. Additionally, this technique is typically used with other techniques by massage therapists to act as a flushing process that promotes blood circulation and lymphatic drainage.
Kneading (Petrissage)
The Kneading Sports Massage technique, also known as Petrissage, includes mobilizing the body’s soft tissue in various ways, such as by squeezing, moving, or lifting. The massage therapist applies pressure to the principal capillaries and veins using pumping motions; as the pressure increases, so does the circulation of blood and nutrients. Furthermore, this technique is frequently used by licensed sports massage therapists to help with waste product clearance, body tissue manipulation, and nutrition and oxygen delivery to the body.
Hacking
Most massage therapists employ percussion massage techniques like hacking sports massage. This technique involves rapidly striking the tissues with the hand’s edges in an effort to stimulate and soften the area. This is a widely used technique, and you can massage yourself with percussion massage guns that are readily accessible on the market. This sports massage method also improves blood circulation, softens hard tissue areas, tones muscles, and triggers reflex muscle contractions.
Wringing
Sports massages that use the wringing technique are very different from others in that the therapist’s hands move in opposite directions while pulling the tissues away from the bone and pressing them aside. This helps remove waste items and enhance the blood circulation in that area since the massage therapists alternate between gripping and releasing the tissues. By stretching the muscles to release tension and increase the flexibility of the body tissue, this sports massage technique is advantageous. In addition, this method helps improve the body’s circulation of oxygen and nutrients, exactly like other methods.
Trigger Pointing
The purpose of the trigger-pointing sports massage technique is to reduce pain, release trigger points, and ease tense muscles in various body areas. The majority of trigger points are touch-painful regions found in muscles that arise from tissue tension. By applying pressure directly to these trigger points, trigger pointing lowers pain and improves blood flow. This is a technique used by massage therapists to help patients recover, maintain their health, or prevent injuries following a workout or sporting event.
