subject: Fight Stress But Also Promote Healing Using A Soothing Sports Massage [print this page] Sports massage therapy - beneficial for everyone from weekend joggers to world-class professionals - is gaining popularity as an important component in the balanced training regimen of athletes everywhere.
Participants in a variety of sports, everywhere in the world, are discovering that a specially-design sports massage will:
Improved range of motion and increased flexibility;
Better endurance and less fatigue;
Looser muscles, resulting in less chance of injury;
The ability to compete at their very best level;
Lesser recovery time between their practice sessions;
Better circulation, which results in more nutrients and oxygen going to the body;
Rids the body of unwanted toxins resulting from exercise.
Sports massage therapy was designed to heal and rejuvenate an athlete's body after an intensive workout. By identifying the various areas of the body that need to be fortified or repaired, a massage therapist can devise a sports massage program to effectively reduce the potential for injury and relieve the strain and tension that so many athletes experience.
Our muscles tend to lose their capacity to relax after heavy exercise, resulting in tight muscles and a loss of flexibility, which can cause muscle tears and pulls. A regular routine of sports massage therapy has proven to be quite effective in combating these - and other - ailments of muscles that have been extended to their limit. But the goals of sports massage therapy are different at various stages of sports activity and competition as follows.
Before the event: A sports massage administered before a sporting event is slightly shorter than a normal session and is designed to warm up the major muscles that an athlete will be using. It's also known to improve the mental health and muscle tension needed for top performance.
Throughout the sporting event: For the ultimate training performance with lower risk, a sports massage administered during a competition will be altered to fortify an athlete for the particular sport in which they are participating.
After a sporting event: After the competition has ended, the sports massage is designed to decrease metabolic build-up and spasms in the muscles that sometimes result from strenuous activity. A sports massage performed after a sporting event is designed to promote mental calming, overall relaxation and tissue repair.
Over-training: This type of sports massage is used when the body is not allowed to recover adequately between instances of strenuous exercise. It helps avoid over-training via general relaxation and can by recognized by irritability, increased heart rate when resting, a change in appetite, and an increase in the number of injuries that occur.
Maintaining an athlete's body: Everyone knows the importance of maintenance and athletes have found that engaging in a regular program of sports massage therapy is an excellent tool. Incorporating sports massages into an athlete's normal regimen significantly decreases the possibility of serious injury at all stages of a competition.
Rehabilitation Massage: Even with preventive maintenance, muscles tend to cramp, tear, bruise, and ache; a sports massage can speed healing and reduce discomfort during the rehabilitation process. Performing a sports massage during the secondary phases of healing can improve the formation of strong and flexible repair tissue during rehabilitation.
