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Sports Massage and the Competitive Athelete
All athletes look for an edge that can help them train more effectively, perform better or overcome injuries quickly. The last several decades have witnessed a dramatic rise in the level of athletic performance.
Advances in training and conditioning techniques are allowing the human body to become a finely tuned machine. The limits of speed, endurance and strength are pushed every day and each year brings new world records.
The leap in performance can be attributed to any number of key factors:
· Enhanced understanding of how nutrition fuels the body.
· Enlightened attitudes about psychological aspects of competition.
· Scientific advances in the study of body structure and function.
The growing awareness and inclusion of sports massage therapy has become a key component of the high performance mix, it is now considered as much a part of an athlete’s training or quest for performance enhancement as a carefully monitored diet.
Massage Therapists are now an integral part of the new athletic regimen. From the sports clinic to the sports field, Massage Therapists are helping athletes work their way to even greater success.
Added Performance Edge: The Contributions of Sports Massage.
Professional sports massage by a qualified Massage Therapist can provide an athlete with several performance advantages. Each sport and athletic event uses muscle groups in a different way. Sports massage therapists are familiar with each muscle, the muscle groups and how they are affected by the specific movements and stresses of each sport.
Sports Massage should play an important part in the life and training regime of any serious sports person or athlete. With competitive athletes sports massage can be used for different needs at different times, whether they are injured or not.
Each type of sport has different demands on its players, and each sport uses muscle groups in a different way. Sports Massage is designed to address those specific concerns and may differ according to the sport the athlete plays.
Athletic trainers know that keeping an athlete in top physical form requires a regular prevention and maintenance program, as well as on-site treatment before and after an athletic event. And, when strains, sprains, bruises, or other major injuries occur, a variety of treatments may be necessary to speed healing and reduce discomfort. Sports massage therapy can help sport teams, clubs or individual athletes in all of these areas.
No matter what sport, an athlete’s aim is nearly always to systematically increase and improve the level of training and thereby subject the body to gradual and controlled overuse. It is this overuse that can often cause problems and muscle imbalances in the soft tissues. If these are ignored and allowed to become chronic, they will not only hinder the athlete’s rate of improvement, but may also cause their level of competitive performance to suffer, and this may lead to the athlete becoming more susceptible to developing more serious injuries. They will obviously be unable to perform at their optimum level, and leave themselves at risk of more traumatic forms of injury.
The 3 main areas of Sports Massage for athletes are:
Maintenance Massage
An effective maintenance program is based on the massage therapist’s understanding of anatomy and kinesiology, combined with an expert knowledge of which muscles are used in a given sport and which are likely candidates for trouble. By zeroing in on particular muscle groups and working specific tissues, the sports massage therapist helps the athlete maintain or improve range of motion and muscle flexibility. The overall objective of a maintenance program is to help the athlete reach optimal performance through injury-free training.
Event Massage
Pre-event and post-event massage therapy is tailored for distinct purposes. Pre-event massage is used as a supplement to an athlete’s warm-up to enhance circulation and reduce excess muscle and mental tension prior to competition. It also improves tissue pliability, and stimulated blood flow readying the athlete for top performance.
Post-event massage, on the other hand, is geared toward reducing the muscle spasms and metabolic build-up that occur with vigorous exercise. Various sports massage techniques enhance the body’s own recovery process, improving the athlete’s return to high-level training and competition, and reducing the risk of injury.
Rehabilitation Massage
Even with maintenance massage, muscles may cramp, tear, bruise, and ache. Sports massage can speed healing and reduce discomfort during the rehabilitation process. Soft tissue techniques employed by sports massage therapists are effective in the management of both acute and chronic injuries. For example, friction massage in the acute stage of an injury will have the benefit of breaking down the early formation of scar tissue, while lymph massage will improve control of secondary, oedema formation and enhance lymphatic uptake of fluid throughout the healing cycle.
Trigger point techniques reduce the spasms and pain that occur, both in the injured and the secondary, compensation muscles. Cross-fibre friction techniques applied during the sub acute and maturation phases of healing improve the formation of strong and flexible repair tissue, which is vital in maintaining full pain-free range of motion during rehabilitation.
In all cases, such massage techniques are employed alongside appropriate medical care. For example, encouraging circulation around a bruise, but not directly on it, through the use of compression, cross-fibre techniques or even long, deep strokes is only used after appropriate medical referral and diagnostics indicate that there are no clots formed in the area which may embolise