We offer sports massage here at Synergy Chester but is it for you? If you've never experienced one, you may be asking yourself... What exactly is a sports massage, what can it do for me and how is it beneficial?
Well, as an experienced massage therapist I can say with confidence yes, they are certainly beneficial in many different ways which we'll go through later.
So what is sports massage?
It is a manual therapy of deep tissue massage techniques aimed towards those who participate in many disciplines of sport or exercise. It is carried out to prevent injury and enhance recovery from injury or training. A good sports masseuse will ask you what areas you want to focus on and what problems/challenges you are looking to fix or overcome. The massage treatment will then be tailored to helping resolve those issues. The more you work with a masseuse the better they get to know your bodies restrictions and can further tailor the treatments to help benefit you. Just like a good personal trainer would adjust the exercises as they get to know their client better.
There are 3 main stages for when people may use sports massage:
Pre Event sport massage helps your body cope with the increased training load leading up to an event significantly reducing the chance of picking up an injury as well as aiding the recovery process. Sports massage is the perfect tool for helping you to cope with those extra miles when training for a big running event such as a 10k, half or full marathon.
Post Event sports massage is an amazing treatment to get the body back to full health as fast a possible after a big event whether you’ve done a triathlon, rugby match or football game. Getting the blood flowing with massage is essential for effective recovery.
Maintenance is primarily aimed at those who are recovered from any injuries or event and have massage on a less regular basis than those pre-event or rehabbing from injury. This is often used by athletes or gym goers to stay supple, reduce muscle tension, prevent injuries and improve general recovery times.
Who is it for?
Sport massage is not just for elite athletes. If you spend most of your day sat behind a desk or driving deep tissue massage is a great way to help fight against poor posture and back pain. Sports massage is an essential tool for any runner or triathlete looking to improve their PB’s and stay injury free. Any regular gym goer will have experienced niggles and mobility restrictions which sport massage can help resolve. Many athletes such as CrossFitters, rugby players, footballers, swimmers all regularly use sport massage to take their performance to another level. To summarise, if you care about moving well and feeling supple, sport massage can help you!
What are some of the main benefits of sports massage?
When having massage regularly, many benefits can be gained which can have an extremely positive effect on your physical lifestyle. Such benefits include:
- Increase in flexibility of muscles which can prevent injury
- Reduced back pain and muscle tension
- Decreases anxiety and blood pressure
- Increase in mood and wellbeing
- Reduces tension, stress and muscle pain
- Aids injury rehabilitation
- Improves blood flow and oxygen delivery to muscles
- Lowers heart rate
- Lowers injury recovery time
- Improves healing of connective tissue
- Myofascia tissue release
Experience the benefits yourself & book a sports massage with us in Chester or check out our sports massage services.
Article by Lee Davies (Chester based Sport Massage Therapist)