Sports Massage Clinic

 Sports Massage

 

Sports Massage is the application of massage therapy and neuromuscular techniques to enhance athletic performance and to promote and preserve the optimal health of the athlete. It involves a series of individualized soft tissue treatments to help each athlete achieve his or her personal performance goals by relieving muscle pain and stiffness, speeding up recovery after training sessions or competitions, and increasing energy and stamina.

Irrespective of the level at which one competes, anyone who is looking to improve their performance does so by adopting a training schedule specific to their sport. This usually involves a regime aimed at enhancing their skill, strength, endurance and/or speed. In seeking continuous improvement, the athlete generally

commits to a systematic increase in the level of training thereby subjecting their bodies to additional stress and controlled overuse.

Such stresses and overuse can often lead to muscular imbalances which may impede performance and cause discomfort. If ignored, these problems can become chronic and lead to more serious injuries which ultimately may prevent an individual from training or competing at all.

Applied skilfully, sports massage can be a very effective technique for releasing tension and restoring balance to the musculo-skeletal system and has invaluable benefits to athletes. Since they regularly train their muscles hard for peak performance, and then go out a push their bodies to the limit and beyond, they are prone to constant and chronic injuries.

 

Sports massage is an excellent treatment in helping to prevent some of those injuries, as well as speed up recovery time and relieve extreme muscle cramping and tension.  

 

Benefits of Sports Massage

 

• Relieves acute and chronic muscle pain
•  Speeds recovery from training sessions
• Increases mental focus and clarity
• Restores range of motion and flexibility
• Increases energy and stamina
• Strengthens resistance to injury
• Enhances athletic performance

Special Techniques

• Deep Tissue Therapy 
• Neuromuscular Re-Education 
• Trigger Point Therapy 
• Muscle Energy Techniques 
• Therapist Assisted Stretching 
• Myofascial Release Therapy

 

How is Sports Massage Used?

Sports Massage is beneficial before and after training sessions and competitions, and on a regular or "maintenance" basis. For optimal health and peak performance, a regime of weekly or bioweekly sessions lasting 60-90 minutes is suggested for the active athlete.

 

This type of massage is also used in treatment of sports injuries and as a post -rehabiltation intervension when injury has occured. 

 

Sports massage is used at events in the form of pre-event (enhancing muscle peformance)  or post-event ( to aid recovery).

 

Events Massage

 

Pre-event Massage 

Pre-event sports massage is given within the 12 hours or four hours preceding an event to improve performance and help prevent injuries. It is used as a supplement to an athlete's warm-up to enhance circulation and reduce excess muscle tension prior to competition. It is normally shorter treatment (10-20 minutes) than a regular conditioning massage, and focuses on warming-up

the major muscles to be used, and getting the athlete in a good mental state for competition.  It also improves tissue pliability, preparing the athlete for top performance.  

 

Inter/ Intra-event  Inter- and intra-event massage is given between events or in time-outs to help athletes recover from the preceding activity, and prepare for the activity coming up. It is also short, and focuses on the major muscles stressed in the activity.

 

 

Post-event massage 

Post-event sports massage is given after a competition and is mainly concerned with recovery. It is geared toward reducing the muscle spasms and metabolic build-up that occur with vigorous exercise.Recovery after competition involves not only tissue normalization and repair, but also general relaxation and mental calming. A recovery session might be 15 minutes to 11/2 hours

in length.