How Sports Massage can help enhance physical performance, injury recovery and prevent muscle soreness

What is a Sports Massage?

A sports massage is a specialist, deep-tissue massage technique, predominantly performed on athletes or very physically active people, to boost recovery, mobility, strength, and endurance. Massage techniques are done to manipulate soft tissues, such as muscles, tendons, and ligaments, to speed up recovery times, prevent or treat injuries, and, in some cases, enhance performance. Applying focus on areas of tightness, deep kneading, tapping, effleurage, and cross friction of those areas helps to alleviate muscle tension and reduce soreness from physical activity.  We’re proud to perform regular Sports Massages to customers from all over Dorset and beyond, but how exactly do sports massages enhance performance and aid recovery? We’ve written this blog to explain the science behind it.

How do Sports Massages help enhance performance?

Sports massages can enhance performance in several ways. Firstly, they increase blood circulation through the physical pressure, vasodilation, and improved venous return. Not only does this help deliver oxygen and essential nutrients to muscles, but it also removes metabolic waste such as lactic acid. The nature of stroking and kneading specific muscle groups stimulates blood flow by relaxing blood vessels, allowing improved circulation. By performing sports massages on active individuals, we can reduce muscle tension and stiffness by using techniques such as deep tissue pressing and kneading. This helps to relax and unknot certain muscle fibres and reduce the tension that they carry. This reduction in tension not only reduces pain but also increases recovery speeds.

How does Sports Massage help you overcome an injury?

Injuries can occur through acute trauma such as falls, collisions or twists. For athletes training multiple times per week, sports injuries can occur due to repetitive strain on muscles and joints. Sports massage can help you overcome a wide range of injuries because brings so many benefits, including:

• Breaks down scar tissue & reduces muscle tension: Sports massage can help you overcome a wide range of injuries by breaking down scar tissue and reducing muscle tension. As we’ve already explored, the very nature of massaging in specifically affected zones helps improve the blood flow to and from those areas, delivering essential nutrients and oxygen to help speed up the repair process.

• Improves Flexibility: The techniques used in sports massage also help improve flexibility because it releases chronic muscle tension and knots. This not only reduces pain, but it also helps with lymphatic drainage by increasing the disposal of metabolic waste such as lactic acid.
• Reduces Swelling: Any swelling or inflammation caused by the injury can be reduced quickly by the use of long, smooth strokes with the palms of the masseuse’s hands, which help to relax and soothe the muscles, boosting circulation.
• Improves Mobility: In addition to reducing overall muscle tension or muscle pain, these massages are great for improving mobility because the technique works to increase the elasticity of your muscle tissue, allowing your body to return to its previous normal function as quickly as possible. The psychological benefits of sports massage cannot be underestimated either.
• Promotes Relaxation: An active person who has regular sports massages will not only feel their muscles relax more, but they will also experience heightened levels of relaxation, which can help to reduce stress and anxiety.

How do Sports Massages alleviate muscle soreness?

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is the pain or tenderness experienced in the muscles some 24 – 72 hours after exercise. It can be brought on if the person starts training intensely or if they haven’t trained certain muscle groups for a while. Given that muscle soreness caused by such exercise can be unpleasant and temporarily debilitating, sports massage offers a great way to treat and reduce the soreness. As mentioned earlier, sports massage increases blood flow to deliver nutrients for repair, while it also increases lymphatic drainage to remove waste and relax knotted or tight muscle tissue. All of these massage outcomes can help soreness subside and help the athlete resume exercising within a matter of days.

Our Sports Massages:

We offer award-winning Sports Massages through several of our in-house therapists. Our specialist sports massage therapist is Harry, who is a level 3 sports massage therapist and is in his final year of a Chiropractic degree at the University of Bournemouth. He has built up his experience by treating various conditions, and his sports and chiropractic background give him a deeper understanding of both anatomy and physiology. Harry combines his passions for fitness, weightlifting, and sports with his ability to give high-quality sports massages.

Book a Sports Massage Today!

Book a massage with Harry today by calling Back2WellBeing at 01202 805334 or by requesting an appointment here. At Back2WellBeing, we’re proud to offer affordable, scientifically-based massage and pain therapy for all your aches and pains in Bournemouth and nearby locations.

Book an appointment today

Our other services include Acupressure Massage, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Treatment, Deep Tissue Massage, Hot Stone Massage, Indian Head Massage, Manual Lymphatic Drainage, Reflexology, and Swedish Massage.