Sports Massage: The Secret to Recovery
Athletes should look at their bodies like Formula 1 race cars.
Before, during, and after every race, they require a full inspection and repairs. Without this maintenance, these cars can’t run full speed.
From training to nutrition, athletes put a lot of time, effort and strain on their bodies. That’s why “tune-ups” along the way are so important.
Sports massage is a crucial part of optimal performance and will keep your engine (the body) running at its maximum level.
5 Ways Sports Massage Helps Recovery
1. Injury Prevention
An increase in circulation and flushing of fluids can help bring oxygen and nutrients to the muscles, prevent weakness and fatigue, and keep the tissue in an optimal state. All of this helps decrease the risk of injury and keep a well-oiled machine.
2. Increases Range of Motion & Flexibility
When your joints are fluid and your tissues are released of adhesions, you get a full-body benefit that impacts all the operating systems. Sports Massage includes many therapies and stretching techniques to help mobilize your joints and restore your range of motion. Locomotives won’t stay on the track if their rail wheels aren’t greased. Motion is lotion!
3. Reduces Muscle Spasms & Cramping
In addition to proper nutrition, hydration, and sleep, massage therapy will help calm the neuromuscular responses in the body. When tension builds, deep-tissue therapy can be applied to help loosen, stretch, and reset those firing patterns to reduce the involuntary contractions and minimize delayed onset of muscle soreness. Less down time makes for training that is more effective.
4. Improves Sleep Quality
The response by the nervous system after a session can influence your serotonin release, which will aid in the relaxation of your body, help calm anxiety, and relieve depression. When we sleep well, our bodies have the ability to reset and rejuvenate. Get up on the right side of the bed!
5. Releases Endorphins
With the increase of circulation from massage, it encourages the autonomic nervous system to stimulate the release of endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine. This allows the body to do more healing naturally, which means the massage will have a longer lasting effect. Who doesn’t want to be more energetic, happy, and motivated to get back on track?!
What is Sports Massage?
The difference in our sports massage therapists at Training HAUS lies in our advanced training in a wide array of technical modalities, including PNF stretching, cupping, and instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization.
Sports massage is not about a particular technique, but rather a combination of therapies with intent to target specific areas of the body to promote healing and recovery.
Our expertise includes in-depth knowledge of how the body functions, while being keenly attuned to how your body feels. This allows us to easily identify areas in need of support.
Why Sports Massage?
Treatments with our team are fully customized based on how you use your body.
Whether you’re looking to improve performance, reduce recovery time, or enhance immunity by increasing lymphatic movement, sports massage offers a wide-array of benefits.
Regular sessions can help prevent injury, increase range of motion and flexibility, reduce muscle spasms and cramping, improves sleep quality, and it also releases endorphins that work as the body’s natural pain killer.
Sports massage is also used in collaboration with our physicians and therapy teams to aid in rehabilitation after injury or surgery to get you back to sport as safely and quickly as possible.
In Conclusion
Whether you are a high-performance athlete getting weekly recovery sessions, a seasoned marathoner keeping up maintenance during training, a weekend warrior, or youth athlete, the Sports Massage team at Training HAUS is here to cater to your specific needs and help you achieve your athletic goals.
– Amanda Davis, CMT | Sports Massage Therapist