Sports massage is for managing, manipulating and rehabilitating soft tissues throughout the body.
When your muscles are strong and elastic they stabilise motion, produce more power and reduce impact stress.
For runners, sports massage helps with:
- Relieving tightness/tension – obviously this is one of the main aims of a sports massage and often one of the reasons people get one. A sports massage will stretch and lengthen your muscles in a much deeper and possibly more specific way than when you stretch after your run.
- Improving blood flow – when blood flow to a particular area is increased and improved, healing can take place and so the fatigued or injured muscles are rejuvenated.
- Increasing flexibility – with increased flexibility your range of motion and the mobility in your joints will be improved. This could well then reduce the chance of an injury occurring or re-occurring.
- Breaking down scar tissue – when scar tissue is left to repair by itself it will form a criss-cross pattern rather than the healthy linear formation. Massage can be utilised to promote the healthy formation of scar tissue so that it forms in a natural, strong linear pattern. A build up of scar tissue can cause tightness and weakness in the muscles.
- Lymphatic drainage – this helps to reduce inflammation and swelling. It can also help with the removal of lactic acid and other waste products caused by slight tears or over use in the muscle.
