Sports Injuries
Sports Massage can be a vital aide to reducing recovery time after injury by:
- helping to relieve pain,
- improving circulation to the injured area
- reducing swelling and scar tissue, and
- facilitating healing.
Scar tissue is poorly vascularised (has less blood supply), weaker and less elastic than muscle. As a result, it can limit strength and movement and therefore it is vital to performance to limit the impact of scar tissue after injury. Sports Massage does this by promoting the proper alignment of the collagen fibres during the healing process and minimising the formation of adhesions.
It can also be used to effectively treat sports related problems such as runners knee, golfers or tennis elbow and shin splints.
Sports Massage is often used by athletes in conjunction with their training regime to help keep them in peak condition and can be particularly useful pre and post event. For pre and post event massage a shorter 30 minute session is generally recommended as techniques are modified for these sessions to focus on readiness or recovery rather than working more deeply on specific issues.