Latest News

It is vital that everyone understands the importance of sports massage whether it is because of a sports injury or not. Benefits include physical, psychological and physiological.

Sports massage can help everyone! For those who perform sport it can help achieve full fitness post injury, but it can also help prevent general injury by keeping the muscles loose and in top working condition.

When looking for the ideal sports massage therapist remember that they are not just any old massage therapist, they have a deep understanding of the muscles within the body and now how to manipulate them and keep them loose and mobile.

Psychological effects of sports massage – having a ‘normal’ massage can be relaxing, however a sports massage is more vigorous but to a comfortable level and has properties that can achieve a sense of invigoration and drive stress levels down throughout the body, intense relaxation can be achieved.

Physiological effects of sports massage – your muscles which are experiencing touch and manipulation automatically react to achieve a reflex relaxation state. Use of heat generation and stretching also helps to achieve this state of mind which in turn lends itself to a relaxed bodily state.

Physical effects of sports massage – Of course the physical aspect of sports massage is far and away the most important. There are a number of benefits including:

Improving muscle and tissue elasticity – Often when sports people are training hard their tissue and muscle becomes hard and strained giving lead to more possible injuries. This state of muscle tension can also be as a result of stress/anxiety, poor posture and general overuse with activity. Sports massage can make the area more elastic so it means that the give is greater and the possibility of injury less susceptible.

Stretching – much the same as improving elasticity it is important that the muscle is not strained in any way or have an intense build-up of pressure. By using sports massage correctly we can stretch the muscle in ways that may not naturally happen, moving the fibres lengthways and also sideways.

The break-down of scar tissue – scar tissue is the result or historical injuries which can affect muscles, tendons and ligaments leading to muscles that are prone to injury and pain.

Pumping the muscles – the stroking movements achieved by sports massage suck fluid through blood vessels and by doing so create a vacuum which is especially important in tight or damaged muscles. Tight muscles will squeeze blood our like a sponge depriving the tissues of vital nutrients.

If you require any further information about sports massage and how it might benefit you please get in touch!