WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF SPORTS MASSAGE?
Sports Massage can offer many benefits, whether you are an elite sportsman are someone who enjoys the gym from time to time!
Well, what makes a sports massage different from your regular massage? The critical difference between the two is the classification; sports massage comes under the clinical category, while a massage you’d treat yourself to at a spa focuses more on relaxation and finding some zen!
Sports massages involve moving and stimulating different muscles through quick hand movement. The techniques will differ depending on your exercise or injury, tailor-made to you and your needs! You can have a sports massage whenever, before or after exercising, offering the chance to warm up or stretch, reduce soreness or increase flexibility — add a sports massage into your routine and perhaps you’ll be able to do the splits as a party trick!
While the focus on health has increased through the growth of the internet, sports massage therapy isn’t a new concept or technique. One of the first recorded sports massages used is by a “renowned roman physician” (source) who would implement the methods of sports massages on gladiators before and after exercising. A sports massage session would typically include:
- Direct compression on soft tissue.
- Picking up and squeezing the skin and muscle.
- Adding cross-fibre friction if the physiotherapist believed it was beneficial for your needs.
THE TOP 5 BENEFITS OF SPORT MASSAGE
Now that we know what a sports massage is, it’s time to understand the benefits of sports massages.
1. PAIN RELIEF
Sports massage can potentially decrease the feelings of pain in the muscles by releasing endorphins — which also helps mood improvement. To maintain optimum performance, you must be able to recover swiftly and efficiently, which is why sports massages are an excellent tool for those looking to improve their exercise session. If you don’t recover safely, you could be affected by fatigue and eventually overtrain your body – resulting in more aches and pains!
2. PREVENTS AND RELIEVES DOMS
Erm, what is DOMS? Delayed onset of muscle soreness. The prevention and relief happens through different techniques in sports massage, such as trigger point therapy, soft tissue release, and myofascial release. These methods ensure your muscles return to their optimum state quicker; this means pain-free movement — shockingly, we know you want free movement!
3. INCREASE BLOOD FLOW
A sports massage will also dilate and widen your blood vessels, allowing a more significant blood flow of oxygen-rich blood; this improves the delivery of oxygen and nutrients throughout the body, which helps feed your muscles, allowing them to work harder. A sports massage also aids the removal of waste products and toxins at a quicker rate, again allowing the body to work without feeling the effects of fatigue for longer.
4. INCREASE IN FLEXIBILITY
Sports massages allow the physiotherapist to get deeper into the muscle tissue, decreasing muscle tissue’s inelasticity and improving your range of movement and flexibility! So, sports massages can help your flexibility. A recent study found that sports massages were ” associated with small but statistically significant improvements in flexibility and DOMS”. (source)
5. SCAR TISSUE BREAK DOWN
The final benefit of sports massage is that during a sports massage, as we just mentioned, blood flow increases, raising the temperature of muscles and tissues. A rise in temperature decreases tissue inelasticity, decreasing restriction and allowing scar tissue to be broken down with more speed.
WHO BENEFITS FROM SPORTS MASSAGES?
Anyone and everyone! Whether you are an athlete, novice sportsman or someone who promises to go to the gym five times a week but only goes once or twice a month; you will find some benefit from a sports massage; fundamentally, you’ll find it relaxing if anything else!
You can now see how sports massages are beneficial for all and a helpful tool for anyone to take advantage of, as they offer a wide range of physical and mental benefits! As the focus on our health increases through social media, whether it is influencers discussing their new health journey or your old friend from school, we will see sports massages being implemented more and more as a valuable tool for our health.
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