7 Key Benefits of Sports Massage
Sports are a vital mechanism in order to have a healthy and active lifestyle. Hence, while playing regular sports in order to keep the body fit usually the bones do get tired and do need some relaxing massage to rejuvenate them. These type of massages were originally designed specifically for the athletes to relieve them of their sport injuries.
Later on its physical and psychological benefits had made this massage commercialized so that non-athletes can also take a benefit of it, which is why sport massage training is a prominent component in physical education course in several universities.
As sports is a huge industry worldwide there have been group of scientists who have been working round the clock looking into how the athletes ‘s performance can be improved further by looking into how the sport massage techniques could help them improve their performance. This was been done by looking into several factors that are being discussed in detail in this article. Sports massage not just helps the athletes, for non-athletes, it enhances their physical abilities so they can do their daily chores in a more efficient manner as well as have a positive impact on their mental health.
Here are the massage therapy benefits that will be discussed in detail
Types of Sport Massage Techniques
- Effleurage – Here the therapist does slides the hand smoothly over the skin in a rhythmic manner which gradually builds up the pressure that warms up tissue, increases blood flow and relaxes the patient.
- Petrissage – Here the soft tissues are being compressed as well as relaxed. The main aim of this technique is to improve the flow of lymph and other tissue fluids.
- Friction – In this technique the pads of the fingers and thumb is being used used to apply a large amount of pressure over a small area. Useful in repairing the sore tissues and restore elasticity of the muscle tissues and tendons.
BENEFITS OF SPORTS MASSAGE
- Reduces Mental and Physical Stress – Regular massage sessions do help relieve stress. According to a study by the University of Miami, getting a regular massage continuously for three consecutive weeks helps fight anxiety to a greater proportion. Thus the quality of sleep increases so does the outlook towards life.
- Improves Blood Circulation – This stands alone as one of a long term benefit of the massage remedy. This falls under the snowball effect which is a process that begins slowly and gradually gains a significant momentum, i.e. greater the number of massage sessions, the blood circulation gets even better. This helps to supply blood to the stiff or tensed muscles thus making them more active.
- Immune System Fortifies – When the daily stress is being linked with poor diet as well as no exercise then it does have a bad impact on the body’s immune system that dos protect the body from all sort of infections and parasitic activity that takes place in the environment. Research done by various organization to find the link between the massage therapy and its effect on the body’s immune system have suggested that not only does the massage reduces tension but it also increases the strength of the body’s natural killer cells that performs the task of removing any pathogenic substance from our body. Henceforth, the level of nutriment received by the body also increases. Massage can act as a great addition along with physical activity such as exercise do help keep the body strong and resilient.
- Posture – Nowadays, people often are affected by back, neck or muscle pain after their daily work more often as the daily lives are so busy that they can hardly afford to maintain a proper exercise routine. Excessive back pain can eventually result into the posture distortion that can happen due to various reasons such as poor sitting or standing position, weight gain, overuse of particular movements- thus it is a good practice to get a massage whenever possible in order to retain a good body posture. This is done by relaxing the muscles that got tensed and distorted the position in the first place.
- Lactic Acid Removal – When the body does workout for a longer periods of time, the body struggles to supply oxygen to the muscle and when the requirements are not being met, lactic acid is being produced that is being experienced by the heat sensation experienced after a workout which means that the body needs to recover and cannot handle any more pressure. According to a leading journal, massage helps remove the lactic acid being produced sooner thus quickening the recovering process, so that the body is ready for yet more physical activity.
- Injury Prevention/Recovery– Massage helps generate a mechanical pressure that increases the amount of pressure that muscle can sustain thus decreasing the stiffness in the joints. Muscles that are warmed up due to the massage are least likely to suffer any sort of injury as no one would like their career and future to be in disdain due to the muscle injury. Also common sports injury such as ankle strain or groin pull, that are usually caused by the sudden movements that pulls off the tissues way beyond its limit can be recovered from, away lot quicker than usual by performing a massage over the injured area.
- Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness- This is generally referred to the pain experienced after the body feels like it has been working out more than it can tolerate. This is experienced a day or a half after the workout has been done. This limits the body movements, flexibility. The sore takes time to disappear usually for those suffering from DOMS. Massage is here to the rescue by not just removing the soreness but it also ensures the recovery is to the maximum.
CONCLUSION
Sports Massage has so many benefits that range from physical to psychological and physiological that everyone should consider making it the part of their everyday routine.
Massage therapy can also help reach the next level performance with the help of the right amount of nutrition as well as the perfect training schedule. Therefore a massage session can help gain strength to to retain your goals as well enjoy your life along the way as you work towards achieving them.