Sports Massage.

Sports massage therapy involves pre event and post event massage, maintenance massage and the treatment and prevention of sporting injuries.

Within 48 hours before or after a sporting event it is considered to be pre or post event massage. The intention with pre event massage is to loosen up and prepare body for the event/game or in the case of post event massage it is to facilitate recovery and decrease muscle soreness.

Maintenance massage is a general deep massage designed to loosen the muscles used a lot. Any sport or performance requires repetitive use of certain muscles and these become tight and sore. It is important to flush out these muscles providing good blood flow to remove any toxins and provide new nutrients to tight, tired muscles.

In the treatment and prevention of injuries a range of different techniques may be applied to correct musculoskeletal problems causing pain and dysfunction. Techniques include Trigger Point therapy, for the release of short or weak muscles, Transverse Friction Massage for the treatment of tendon and ligament injuries or muscle tears, joint mobilization and various stretching techniques. Generally this treatment type massage is done away from competition or serious training as the body may feel fatigued or slower after the massage.

In the practical application of sports massage these different approaches, described above, are not so clearly defined. For this reason it is important to have an experienced sports massage therapist, who understands the needs of the athlete or sports person. For example the sports person can be going into competition with some degree of injury or soreness which needs treating, for them to be in the best shape possible. This is when the pre event massage becomes the treatment of an injury. If the injury is not treated it may affect performance and if the injury is treated inappropriately, such as working too deeply on the muscles with no recovery time, it may affect performance.

The experienced sports massage therapist will treat the area of soreness without disadvantaging the athlete in any way, by being specific and effective.