What is Sports Massage?

Despite the name, sports massage is designed for more than just gym goers or athletes. It's a form of deep tissue work that is used to restore length and movement to achey, dysfunctional, injured or stiff muscles, whether caused by over activity or just sitting at a desk. In fact, many people require sports massage to deal with tense muscles caused by stress, looking down at their phones, driving, sitting for long periods at the desk, or even just from sleeping.

Both inactivity and over activity cause adhesions in the muscles, causing them to become stiff. Over time, this then begins to affect posture, and causes other muscles to over work to compensate, and they too can become stiff. This domino effect can eventually cause serious dysfunctions in our bodies. Sports massage aims to break down these adhesions. whether old or new, and is therefore both targeted and preventative healthcare, without the drugs.

Is Sports Massage Relaxing?

Sports massage works to mobilise the soft tissue, which may include stretching or taking your limbs around their range of movement. These activities are not particularly relaxing. However, a warm room, therapeutic music, dimmed lighting, a selection of massage oils, a room diffuser filled with essential oils will collectively help you forget about the day.

What to Expect:

When you arrive on the day, you will be given a consultation form to complete, detailing the reason you've come to me, any health problems I need to be aware of, and a few other details for my records. These are kept completely confidential under lock and key. We will then head to the massage room and discuss your presenting problems in more detail. Massage works best on bare skin, so I will ask you to remove your clothes from the area I will be working on. However, I will leave the room while you undress, and provide you with a towel to cover yourself with. If you do not feel comfortable taking off your clothes, please let me know.

The aim of the session is to work deep into your muscles. I will ask a few times during the massage how the pressure is for you. Please be honest and let me know if it is too light or too deep.

Why have a Sports Massage?

There are a number of reasons why you would want to have a sports massage:

• Pain relief – Massage can reduce the feeling of pain throughout your muscles by releasing endorphins. This can help to decrease anxiety, lift your mood and offer pain relief.
• Feelings of relaxation – During the session, heat is generated throughout your muscles, helping them to relax.
• Reduction in anxiety – The release of endorphins helps overall relaxation, and reduces anxiety levels.
• Invigoration – Sports massage often involves fast paced movement and stretches, which can produce a feeling of invigoration.
• Increase in flexibility – During massage, the muscle tissue expands and stretches in a number of different ways allowing for stored pressure to be released.
• Prevents or relieves DOMS – Delayed onset of muscle soreness – OR ‘DOMS’– is assisted by the enhanced blood flow delivering fresh oxygen to the injury area.
• Increased blood flow – Through massage, the circulation of blood is increased to the muscle area, in a similar way to exercise. The main difference is that deep tissue massage causes your blood vessels to become wider, increasing the ability of nutrients to flow through.
• Scar tissue breakdown – Previous injuries may result in the creation of scar tissue and can affect muscles and tendons. An increase in scar tissue can then lead to a higher risk of injury in that area. Massage has the ability to break it down.