What is a Sports Massage?

Sports Massage is Pain Relief

Are you an athlete looking for ways to help your body achieve more?  A sports massage may give you that extra athletic edge and help you achieve your goals. Sports massage therapy’s main purpose is to help alleviate stress and tension which build up in your soft tissues as a result of physical activity.

Athletes often endure minor injuries in the soft tissue due to overexertion and overuse.  A sports massage can help you break down these lesions more quickly.  In doing this, it will prepare you for peak performance by helping to reduce fatigue, relieve swelling and decrease muscle tension.  Sports massage will also help you promote flexibility which will help prevent injures.

Different Techniques for Different Sports

Every sport uses different muscle groups in different ways.  A sport massage is designed to address those specific muscles groups aiming to heal your strained muscles and allow your healthy muscles to reach their peak performance.  The result will be you will have improved performance with minimized risk of injury. For example if you are a runner I would likely include focus work on your calf muscles, hamstrings and buttock muscles while if you are a golfer you will need focus on the hips, low back and shoulders.

Benefits of Sports Massage

Sports Massage is Pain Relief

Sports massage therapy can include pre-event, post-event and maintenance techniques, each having numerous benefits for you.  As in a typical massage, you experience reduction in heart rate, blood pressure and stress, as well as feeling better and more relaxed.  I add focus to specific muscle groups that are used for your specific sport.  Blood circulation is increased to the muscles which promotes faster healing to strained and injured muscles.  Your flexibility is improved which minimizes your risk for injury. Pain is also reduced allowing you to continue to train, as well as promote greater athletic performance and endurance. This can be beneficial for athletes of all abilities and levels.  Click here to learn more about Sports Massage Therapy.

In addition to a traditional sports massage, I also incorporate hot stones into my massages.  The heated stones penetrate deep into the muscle layers, improving circulation even more and promote your muscle healing.

Yours in Heath,

Suzanne Sarro RN BSN LMT