What Is A Sports Massage?
Sports massages are oriented towards anyone who is active, and wants to take their health to the next level. While initially thought of as just being for serious athletes, it soon became clear that any person could benefit from this kind of treatment. It is not a completely new technique, but it is true that it is becoming more popular, due to major athletes, trainers, and coaches endorsing this kind of training routine. The results make sense intuitively, but it does take some research to understand fully what a sports massage is.
Typically, sports massages tend to focus on regions of the body that are overused and stressed from repetitive and sometimes even aggressive movements. Aspects of the sports massage are becoming more and more popular, with more and more training programs including elements of sports massages. Especially if the massage is specialized for that specific type of sport, the benefits of properly stretching and relaxing critical muscles is undeniable. It not only helps you to stretch and relax your muscles, it also helps in fighting injury, which is the number one enemy of any athlete. It increases flexibility, increases endurance, and helps your muscles be less tired during performances.
Sports massages are not the typical spa day massage however. They are meant to really get into your muscle, so expect it to be slightly unpleasant.
Most importantly, perhaps, is the specific application of the sports massages to typically hard to stretch locations on the body, which were previously hard to take care of with a typical static stretching regime. In this case, muscle-tendon junctions. A 2010 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that even something as little as a 30-second massage proved to improve the hip-flexor’s range of motion. This discovery could be particularly applicable to female athletes, who struggle more with hip strength. Particularly for runners, ensuring that the hip-flexor is not torn or injured is crucial for the sport. Finding something as easy as a 30-second massage to counteract that potential injury is a big deal. With hardly any effort at all, there can be a huge increase in the quality of females experience in athletics.
However it’s not just athletes that can really benefit from this kind of treatment. Anyone who is active will notice an immediate difference in their performance. Stretching is recommended even for the casual athlete, and people who participate in a proper stretching routine consistently report a better experience in whatever activity they are engaging in. Now imagine the impact that sports massages could have on these casual athletes. Especially in combination with a static and dynamic stretching routine, the results will be clear. They will see an even larger improvement in their overall health, endurance, and flexibility. From hiking to jogging to swimming, even casual sports can, and will, see an improvement in their performance after a sports massage. A massage doesn’t have to be daily for the recreational athlete, but a massage a week or even every two weeks would yield huge results.