Sports Massage is the application of massage therapy and neuromuscular techniques to enhance athletic performance and to promote and preserve the optimal health of the athlete. It involves a series of individualized soft tissue treatments to help each athlete achieve his or her personal performance goals by relieving muscle pain and stiffness, speeding up recovery after training sessions or competitions, and increasing energy and stamina.
Irrespective of the level at which one competes, anyone who is looking to improve their performance does so by adopting a training schedule specific to their sport. This usually involves a regime aimed at enhancing their skill, strength, endurance and/or speed. In seeking continuous improvement, the athlete generally
commits to a systematic increase in the level of training thereby subjecting their bodies to additional stress and controlled overuse.
Such stresses and overuse can often lead to muscular imbalances which may impede performance and cause discomfort. If ignored, these problems can become chronic and lead to more serious injuries which ultimately may prevent an individual from training or competing at all.
Applied skillfully, sports massage can be a very effective technique for releasing tension and restoring balance to the musculo-skeletal system and has invaluable benefits to athletes. Since they regularly train their muscles hard for peak performance, and then go out a push their bodies to the limit and beyond, they are prone to constant and chronic injuries.
Sports massage is an excellent treatment in helping to prevent some of those injuries, as well as speed up recovery time and relieve extreme muscle cramping and tension.
Benefits of Sports Massage
- Relieves acute and chronic muscle pain
- Speeds recovery from training sessions
- Increases mental focus and clarity
- Restores range of motion and flexibility
- Increases energy and stamina
- Strengthens resistance to injury
- Enhances athletic performance
