Sports Massage Benefits
9 Benefits that help improve performance
Sports massage benefits include relief of swelling and fatigue in muscles, as well as conditioning the muscles for performance, increasing flexibility, and reducing the likelihood of injuries.
Many sports teams with professional athletes hire a sports massage therapist for their staff because athletes must keep their muscles flexible and strong, and massage helps.
9 Sports Massage Benefits
- Assist in preventing injury - because they help to condition the muscles and stimulate circulation of the blood and lymph
- Facilitate the break-up of lesions and adhesions - to reduce strain and fatigue
- Stimulates the muscles - before an event
- Restores muscles to normal state - after event
- Reduces muscle tension - keeping muscles healthy between events
- Increases range of motions - allowing easy movement
- Lowers anxiety - allowing athlete to be mentally and physically ready
- Increases blood flow - bringing oxygen and nutrients to muscle tissue and organs
- Improves sleep - with better sleep comes better performance
Many practitioners are also trained to aid the muscles in healing by providing manual lymph drainage techniques which facilitates lymph movement, and allows removal of toxins.
Massage schools usually teach sports massage benefits and instruction, which include how to work on common sports injuries. There is great focus on trigger points and common tight muscle areas.
Learning Sports Massage
Usually, massage therapy school will teach the basics of sports bodywork, what to do and what not to do, but specialized training is much more beneficial.
Sports massage schools teach specific techniques for before the event, after the event, and specific massage techniques for maintenance.
Some massage therapists will attend massage continuing education classes to become certified in sports bodywork and active isolated stretching for athletes.
If you want to learn in the comfort of home, this is one of the best massage videos detailing the techniques. Sports Event & Medical Massage Video for Learning 13 Pre, Inter, and Post Event Sessions to Work with Runners, Cyclists, Swimmers, Tennis Players and Other Athletes, teaches stretching and massage techniques for both men and women. It is highly rated, very detailed, and covers essential muscle groups and areas of high muscle stress for athletes.
This is a short clip of the DVD:
Types of Sports Massage
There are basically three types of massage for sports: pre-event, post-event and maintenance.
Pre-event massage therapy techniques prepares the athlete, both physically and mentally for the rigorous work the muscles have to perform. It helps to increase the muscle's flexibility and blood flow, in addition to decreasing the athlete's anxiety level.
Post-event massage helps to decrease swelling and tendency of the muscle to cramp or spasm, due to decreased blood flow to the muscles.
Maintenance massage helps to keep the muscles loosened and support blood flow, to prevent tightening, sports injuries, and scar tissue adhesions. It is often done weekly, but in professional athletes can be performed daily.
You should also be trained on "event massage", which is how to massage during an actual sports event, as some trainers and sports team search for therapists who understand these techniques.
Read more about the benefits of Massage for Athletes!
If you are interested in massage schools for sports bodywork/massage , check out our list of the best schools that teach specialized sports massage training.
Sports massage benefits are well known among those searching for a competitive edge.This appreciation for massage has grown as part of a larger trend toward things that help to boost athletic performance.
Go back to Massage Therapy Techniques from Sports Massage
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