Sports Massage

What is a Sports Massage

Sports massage takes the ancient principals of massage, practised throughout the world for centuries and applies it with a greater understanding of how the human body functions. Whilst the title may imply that you have to participate in sports and it is true to say that there is an emphasis on the more active client, anyone that is suffering from a condition that limits what they do will benefit from having a sports massage.

Regular Massages

If a person has a job that requires prolonged repetitive movements or takes part in a regular sporting activity, I always recommend them to have “regular massages”. This will help to alleviate aches, pains and areas of tension and also help as a preventative towards injuries. When muscles are used a lot whether it be sitting at a desk all day or running around a rugby field, they will become tight and start to cause problems. Regular massages along with PIR (post-isometric relaxation) stretching will help to relieve this.

Injury and Rehabilitation

Injuries can occur by overloading the body therefore causing varying levels of stress on a specific muscle. Sports massage can help address these areas by looking into why the injury happened and were there any biomechanical issues that may have caused the problem. The aim is to return the client back to full fitness through various techniques of soft tissue release, correcting any muscular imbalances and recommending rehabilitation exercises along with stretching.

The Benefits of a Sports Massage

• The improvement to tissue condition will reduce any muscle stiffness.
• Speed up recovery time
• To relieve pain and fatigue
• Increase flexibility and muscles elasticity
• Improve range of movement
• As excess tension is relieved and the hypertonic (decreased or loss of muscle tone) muscles are stimulated, improved balance will be gained and greater awareness of your posture will result and further develop over time.
• Improves the speed and quality of soft tissue repair through effective treatment and post care advice.
• Removal of Metabolic wastes. (changes in living cells by which energy is provided and new material is assimilated )
• There will be a balancing effect of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) because of what will happen as the muscles relax, production of Adrenalin reduces and therefore blood pressure lowers allowing a greater parasympathetic dominance and relaxation.
• Soft Tissues are re-mobilised.
• Exfoliation of superficial cells will occur.
• Vasodilatation (an increase in the size of blood vessels resulting in an increase of blood to an area) of surface capillaries will provide an increased supply of nutrients and oxygen to the reproductive layers of the skin.
• A sense of well-being

Post Massage information and advice

Drink as much water as possible (at least 1-2 litres) as you need to flush out all the toxins that a massage generates.

The next day after a massage you may sometimes feel a little lethargic, or under the weather, or just generally not having much energy.(usually if you have not drunk enough water) This is because of the toxins that get released, so please remember, “always drink a lot of water after a massage to flush the toxins away”.

You may also feel a little sore and this is to be expected. If you do suffer from any soreness then please stretch the area with the stretches I will have shown you and also ice can be applied if necessary (dependant of injury) every 2 hours for 10 minutes at a time.

Very Important – Please ensure that you advise me of any allergies you may have to any oils or creams before you have your treatment

Location

I am a sports massage therapist based near Pulborough in West Sussex and my clients tend to be within a 12 mile radius, but I also regularly visit clients in Surrey.

Terms and Conditions

24 hours’ notice must be given if you need to cancel the appointment, otherwise full payment will be charged.
If the client is late, the session will only run up to the pre-arranged time, should I be late, the session will still run for the full hour as long as this is convenient with the client.