Is Sports Massage Right For You?

One thing I encounter time and time again as a Sports Massage Therapist, is people saying to me that they didn’t think Sports Massage was the right treatment for them. Either they don’t practise enough (if any) sport, or Sports Massage has connotations with painful treatments that aren’t conducive to relaxation. 

Although Sports Massage was originally developed for athletes to prevent and relieve injuries that can manifest after repeated strenuous physical activity (sanophysiotherapy.com), in actual fact it has huge benefits for anyone on both a physiological and psychological level. 

I often prefer to call Sports Massage Soft Tissue Therapy, as it’s really about working with what your body is presenting in the soft tissue (in particular muscle); whether that’s injury (from sports or not), or general wear and tear from life. As well as what I find in the soft tissue during assessment and throughout the treatment. I like to think of each treatment as an investigation - what I’ve been told has happened, for example an injury presenting in pain in the neck and shoulders, and what I find, for example an extremely tight lumbar spine and glutes which is affecting the muscles in the neck and shoulders via the myofascial chain. Each treatment is different and completely personalised to the individual’s body and needs. And more often than not, the issue that is causing pain or discomfort isn’t what/where the client expects!

So, if you’re wondering if Sports Massage is the right route for you to go down - the answer is YES! I would recommend everyone to have Sports Massage as regularly as possible. Our soft tissue takes a huge amount of stress and strain throughout our busy lives, and massage can be the antidote for that. In particular Sports Massage which works with your body to maintain healthy soft tissue.