Techniques Used In Sports Massage Therapy: A Comprehensive Guide
All athletes, from beginners to professionals, who participate in all levels of competition understand the importance of fitness in their professional lives. Fitness is fundamental to their careers; no sport can be performed well if the sportsman lacks fitness.
Sports massage therapy is a crucial part of the fitness-building process because it prevents injuries, and an injury-prone player can never reach his goals. Athletes should receive sports massage not only before the start of the game but also at the end of the game to remove fatigue and stress.
In this blog, we will discuss some of the benefits of integrating sports massage therapy into your daily life and several sports massage techniques.
Sports Massage Therapy and Its Benefits
If you are an athlete, then you are probably aware of the benefits of sports massage. However, even if you are not an athlete, you can always take Sports massages in Worli to keep the body healthy in various aspects.
The benefits of sports massage are:
A sports massage involves the manual manipulation of the body’s musculoskeletal structure, including muscles, tendons, and ligaments, to enhance its functionality. It has been established that sports massage can alleviate muscle tension, boost blood flow, and facilitate the elimination of toxins such as lactic acid, which accumulates during periods of intense physical activity.
Improvement in Muscle performance
Sports massage relaxes and loosens tight muscles, thereby improving muscle movement and blood circulation. It also helps flush out toxins from the body.
Prevention from critical injuries
Sports massage relaxes the ligaments, tendons, muscle tissues, and joints in your body and helps in their smooth functioning. As a result, it reduces your chances of getting critically injured while playing.
Stress Reduction
‘Stress is not good for the body’- This is not entirely true; a limited amount of stress motivates you towards your work. However, excess stress also causes various mental diseases like hypertension. In that case, sports massage therapy is very effective in maintaining body stress to a certain level.
Protection from Runner’s knee
If your job causes overuse of your knee, your risk of developing The Runner’s Knee increases. However, getting sports massage on a periodic basis will prevent you from creating The Runner’s Knee.
Muscle Cramps
The leading cause of muscle cramps is an unfit body. Regular sports massage therapy prevents your muscles from cramping.
Joint pain or stiffness
Most people experience joint pain and stiffness daily after 40. However, if sports massage therapy is done regularly, the chance of having them even in one’s 60s is very low.
Wiping out the fatigue
Be it the daily training sessions of athletes or the work pressure of ordinary people’s lives, at the end of the day, it causes one’s fatigue. Sports massage therapy is a very effective way to remove the entire day’s tiredness instantly.
Relaxing the body and mind
Sports massage helps release stress-relieving hormones and nourish the various muscles in your body. This calms your body and mind and helps them connect.
Who Can Benefit From Sports Massage?
Sports massage offers benefits for a wide array of individuals. It doesn’t matter if you’re deeply involved in sports, striving to enhance your performance and reach new personal bests, just beginning your athletic journey and seeking relief for sore muscles, working on making a comeback post-injury or aiming to sidestep potential injuries after light runs. Regardless of your situation, considering a sports massage might be a wise choice for your well-being.
Various Sports Massage Techniques
Effleurage
As we all know, athletes warm their bodies up before an intense workout. Similar to that concept, Effleurage is a massage technique through which the therapist completes the warm-up of the client’s muscle tissue for the upcoming petrissage or intense massage. In this Sports massage technique, the therapist uses his palms, elbows, forearms, fingers, and thump to apply light pressure on the client’s body and move his hands in a long-gliding motion. This measures the client’s muscle sensitivity. When the therapist gains good knowledge about the client’s placement of muscles and trigger points, it becomes easier for them to pursue the upcoming techniques.
Petrissage
Petrissage is a crucial technique of sports massage therapy and an amalgamation of four hand techniques, such as kneeling, Rolling, Squeezing, and Friction. The primary purpose of applying this technique is to increase blood circulation in the body, stretch muscle fibers, break up the knots, and release muscle tension.
In this technique, the therapist gently lifts the muscle, squeezes it, and rolls it between the hands and fingers. They apply pressure in a rolling motion on the muscles by using their thump. Squeezing of muscles helps to improve blood circulation in specific areas. Those who perform sports massage in Worli do most of the techniques using oil to make it more comfortable.
Tapotement (Rythmic Striking)
The tapotement technique is usually provided to the muscular parts of the athlete’s body before the start of an event. The therapist uses the ulnar portion of his hand to deliver a series of light, rhythmic, brisk, percussive strikes to the client’s body.
The main reason for giving it at the pre-event is that it stimulates reflex muscular contraction and nerve endings and also increases local blood circulation in the body. As a result, the athlete can perform to their full physical potential.
Friction
In this sports massage technique, the therapist rubs his palms continuously on the client’s body, following a specific pattern. This creates natural heat that penetrates deep into the muscle and provides comfort, usually on the muscles that need more emphasis on friction. This natural heat produced due to friction helps to break down pain- producing scar tissue and increase lymphatic flow which helps in faster muscle healing.
Vibration
Vibration, also known as shaking, is a technique where the therapist uses their fingertips, the palm’s side, and the palm’s heel to create a rhythmic motion by moving their hands back and forth. The technique is very effective in warming the muscles up before performing at any sporting event. Runners, swimmers, and wrestlers widely use this technique.
Conclusion
In this blog, we have shared with you all the theories we know about sports massage and mentioned the benefits of adding sports massage to your daily life, whether you are an athlete or an ordinary working person. We hope today’s blog will increase your interest in your health. Keep following us.
Suppose you’re looking for different sorts of massage, including those mentioned above, contact Sparadisespa-Sports Massage in Worli. Our sports massage services not only aid in relaxation but also support the body’s recovery process and minimize the likelihood of experiencing muscle injuries.
If you’re susceptible to repetitive strain injuries, you will find sports massages beneficial between training sessions. The massage allows the muscles to unwind and recuperate thoroughly before undertaking the next round of activity.
