What to expect from a sports massage?
Like a deep tissue massage on steroids, a sports massage is ideal for anyone struggling with pain or discomfort in a specific area. Usually, a combination of Shiatsu and Swedish massage techniques are employed to ensure maximum benefits, but your therapist will tailor the treatment to your needs. Whilst sports massage is the ideal remedy for athletically-induced aches, it’s also brilliant as a preventative treatment for the active to keep injury at bay.
With an emphasis on increasing circulation and minimising inflammation, the sports massage can be slightly uncomfortable at times, but it shouldn’t become painful - be vocal and let your masseuse know if it feels uncomfortable.
Usually, a combination of Shiatsu and Swedish massage techniques are employed to ensure maximum benefits, but your therapist will tailor the treatment to your needs.
Unlike other kinds of massage, you’ll usually just be asked to remove any outer layers of clothing from the affected area, rather than totally stripping off. The treatment can be as speedy as thirty minutes, or it can take up to a couple of hours - it all depends on the ailment.
Good to know
The sports massage will also lower your blood pressure and heart rate, whilst boosting your lymphatic drainage system and helping to improve flexibility, making it ideal as a performance aid for seriously sporty types.
The sports massage is a treatment probably best avoided if you have any open wounds, varicose veins, thrombosis, tumours, melanoma or haemophilia due to the nature of the massage, and it’s not suitable for anyone with infectious skin diseases.
Ever thought of adding a medical taping treatment to your sports massage? These brightly coloured tapes are designed to support and correct muscles and joints and prevent injuries. Physiotherapists and sports massage therapists usually apply the medical tapes on the shoulder, arm or leg area. By applying the adhesive tapes, one overlapping the other, the skin is lifted from the underlying fascia and blood flow is stimulated and pressure on the swollen area is reduced. Contrary to what you might think, the tape is very flexible and not sturdy at all, so showering and working out poses no problem when you're wearing the medical tapes. It's best to remove the hair surrounding the application area first, because the tapes have great adhesive power.
At last, the name 'sports massage' can be a bit misleading. Surely, a sports massage can be a great performance aid for sporty types, but the massage is also suitable for the non-sporty types. So if you engage in physical labour or have a stiff neck, back or a poor posture at work, you will also reap the benefits from a sports massage. No ailments needed! Or if you simply prefer a massage with a firm touch, then this is the massage for you.
