Any injury to your body can be a setback. For an athlete, a customizable sports massage therapy treatment plan will ensure you are prepared to stay strong in the game, prevent injuries and speed up recovery time.
If you’ve ever experienced a sports injury, you know how crucial it is to seek out the correct treatment to quickly and effectively heal your body. What makes sports massage therapy different from other injury treatment plans is it’s preventative and restorative elements, taking care to treat the muscles before, during and after a sporting event.
This process ensures an athlete is prepared to take on the strain of performing and is able to quickly recover from any sustained injuries. Whether you’re a professional athlete or only play on the weekends, it’s important to know why sports massage therapy and sports medicine treatment guarantees your success:
The benefits
Massage therapy can be beneficial to anyone suffering from an injury but can also specifically target the needs most important to an athlete.
Massage therapy relaxes the muscles and reduces stress. If you’re someone who deals with competition related stress or anxiety, this could help to put you in the right head space. Using your time in the massage to focus and prepare for you game will give you the confidence boost you need to succeed.
Improved circulation is one of the most beneficial aspects of sports massage therapy. Releasing more oxygen into the bloodstream encourages more nutrients to enter the body. As well, natural by-products of exercise such as lactic and uric acids will be lessened as massage therapy flushes out the toxins from your body. These factors will help the body to more easily repair itself after wear and tear or injury.
Beginning your massage therapy session within one hour of a sporting event, preferably 20-30 minutes before, will improve your flexibility and range of motion, ultimately increasing the power of your performance.
Furthermore, massage therapy during a break period in your sport will keep your muscles warm and reduce the risk of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, as well as maintaining the same flexibility you had at the beginning of the event.
Overtime, the ability of massage therapy to have a sedative effect on your muscles will prevent you from over-training – which could do your body more harm than good. As well, for athletes already injured, massage therapy can flush out swelling in the joints and loosen tight muscles and provide relief for neck spasms and nerve pain.
Treatments
These treatments are the most common in massage therapy. In addition to these, sports massage targets the muscles most used by the player. Most sports players suffer in specific areas of their body that perform repetitive actions. Targeted therapy of these muscles before, during and after an event will improve their strength and flexibility. Below are some common and helpful treatments:
- Trigger point release: This form of therapy focuses on trigger points, or tight areas, in the muscle tissue that cause discomfort in other areas of the body. This massage alleviates pain through repeated, isolated cycles of pressure and release. The athlete should breathe deeply and assist in identifying the source of their discomfort.
- Swedish massage: This common form of massage therapy aids in relaxing the entire body. The therapist will massage the muscles with long strokes in the direction of the blood’s route to the heart. This will assist in increasing oxygen in the blood, eliminating toxins and boosting circulation.
- Deep tissue massage: Similarly to the swedish massage but the therapist will provide deeper pressure to release chronic muscle tension. Deep muscle tissue, tendons and protective layers surrounding muscles, bones and joints are targeted ensuring the therapist gets to the root of your muscle pain or injury.
- Anti-gravity treadmills: This innovative equipment helps patients to rehabilitate faster and more safely because they can exercise without bearing their weight. The treadmill can be adjusted to the patient’s specific needs and will also encourage weight loss. Reducing weight on the lower half of your body can help a patient feel relaxed in natural movements. Seek a physiotherapy clinic that provides this leading edge treatment.
Seeking a Sports Physiotherapist will ensure you achieve your athletic goals. Using a variety of therapies and treatments, you’ll be able to maintain a healthy body and mind and perform at your best, consistently. Unlike other forms of injury treatment, sports massage therapy and sports medicine treatment are targeted to your specific needs as an athlete pre and post game.
The benefits are clear: From improved circulation and increased detoxification, reduced stress and boosted confidence, increased flexibility, as well as the ability to prevent and treat injuries, sports massage therapy is the obvious choice for your training regime.
Overall, effective sports massage therapy will put you back in the game.