The best athletes in the world include sports massage in their training so why aren’t you?
Usain Bolt has his massage therapist at every event, as well as every training session, Jessica Ennis-Hill saw her massage therapist twice a week on top of seen her physiotherapist.
Whether you are a weekend warrior or training 6 days a week, injured or ‘fit as a fiddle’ you would feel the benefits of including regular sports massage as part of your training regime.
So why should you have a deep tissue massage?
After training your muscles will be tight and you may suffer from Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), stretching at the end of your session will help a little but you only stretch the muscle you feel is sore.
What about the rest of your muscles?
Sports massage promotes relaxation of these tight muscles and those muscles that you didn’t even know are tight. In doing this it helps with your range of motion and ease of movement allowing you to perform to your full ability.
The actions of deep tissue massage also increase blood flow to your muscles, this carries along with-it oxygen to help the breakdown of lactic acid as well as other nutrients. It will also help rid your muscles of any waste products, such as carbon dioxide, helping you recover faster.
Sports massage is also great for assisting in treatment and prevention of injuries. Injuries, whether it be to bone or muscle will have an impact on the soft tissues surrounding them. Muscles around injured sites tend to restrict movement in the area to limit further damage, but you still require the ability to move so other muscles will compensate to create this movement.
This will build up tension in other areas of the body, potentially leading to further injuries. Sports massage will help to restore length to the tight muscles and re-balance the body. It can also help to breakdown scar tissues caused by trauma to the body optimising muscle function and helping you get back to training as quickly as possible.
Why do I need to have regular massages?
Like exercise, the benefits of massage therapy are cumulative, the odd session here and there won’t make a difference to your wellbeing, however regular massage treatments will help to improve your performance as well as your state of mind.
Over a prolonged period, it can also help to address postural imbalances that might limit your performance or predisposing you to an injury. Addressing these imbalances early and at regular intervals can reduce the risk of injury, therefore helping you avoid the long road to recovery after an injury. Prevention is better than the cure.
Why not book your appointment online or call us on + 44 (0) 203 893 5100 to secure your 30 or 60 minute deep tissue massage with one of our Sports Massage therapists.