Sports massage was originally developed to help athletes prepare their bodies for optimal performance, recover after a big event, or function well during training. Sports massage emphasizes prevention and the healing of injuries to the muscles and tendons.
Sports massage is a form of bodywork that uses Deep Tissue and Swedish Massage techniques. The specific techniques used in a Sports Massage have been specifically adapted to deal with the effects of the intense physical exertion athletes place on the body. The primary purpose of Sports Massage is to ease the stiffness and pain in both muscles and joints, increase mobility in muscles and joints, warm muscle and connective tissue prior to exercise and help in removing the toxins and lactic acid that envelope the body after a workout.
This modality can and should be used before, during and after many athletic events. It has been found to enhance athletic performance by keeping muscles at their peak of flexibility and strength, while warding off injury.
Sports Massage should play an important part in the life of any sportsman or woman whether they are injured or not. Massage has a number of benefits both physical, physiological and psychological. Sports massage is a form of deep tissue massage that concentrates touch only on the part of the body that needs the repair or strengthening. The stretching of muscles is incorporated in focused areas. The targeted tissues are worked deeply into the muscle grain and this friction between tissues helps break up scar tissue and stimulate the body's natural healing abilities. In this way, Sports Massage is also an effective form of preventative therapy.
