Massage Therapy
One of the most commonly known types of massage is Swedish massage. The benefits of massage include:
Sports Massage
Massage therapy has been used to prevent overuse injury and injury prevention in general. It can be beneficial in the management of delayed onset muscle soreness occurring from training, which can lead to more serious problems if suppressed. For the recreational and professional sportsperson sports massage offers a realistic preventative measure.
Timing
The body needs to recover from the effects training has on the soft tissues. As training builds performance can level off if the chance to recover is missed. It can be a good idea to develop your experience of massage during normal training to get an idea of your individual requirements. If problem areas are highlighted it is better to continue massage until the problem is resolved. If the interval between treatment is too long the problem will continue.
Massage should be more frequent when in training early in the season. This allows tissues to recover from training and any areas of tension can be eased. In competition sports, a deep massage can be done weekly. Should the sportsman have more regular massage therapy, lighter massage should be sought. The area treated should also be varied if massage is more frequent. No deep massage should be given just before competition as the relaxation induced in the muscle can interfere with reaching optimum performance.
Amateur and recreational sports people can benefit from massage twice a month. If no regular massage is taken a deep massage may be helpful one week before an event. This allows time for the benefits to be gained without affecting performance and may help lessen effects from minor problems.
Read about the five uses of sports massage.
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