When you practice any physical activity, especially a sport or training that requires high demands and discipline, even competition, the body and tissues suffer or need to be prepared for the effort.
That is the moment when a sports massage makes sense and can provide you with the best help, being one of the physiotherapy techniques most appreciated by patients who practice sports regularly.
WHAT IS A SPORTS MASSAGE
It is a type of massage whose main purpose is to prepare the tissues of your body to perform a significant sporting effort and, at the same time, to recover and/or prevent injuries that you may suffer during training or competition.
There is no sports massage that is universal for all sports and muscles, but there are massages that vary depending on the sporting activity you practice and the desired therapeutic objectives.
Objectives of sports massage
- Warm up your muscles before doing extreme exercise, oxygenating them and making them more flexible.
- Properly prepare the muscles for sports efforts and keep them in optimal condition.
- Promote muscle recovery from sports injuries and generally strengthen the athlete’s physique.
- Contribute to the reduction of inflammation, regeneration and remodelling of micro-tears in the tissues that may affect the sporting activity to be carried out.
- Improve sports performance.
- Recover and release muscles through lymphatic drainage and venous return massages.
- Relax your muscles, just like the athlete does just before the competition.
SPORTS MASSAGE: TYPES
There are several classifications of sports massages, depending on the objectives to be achieved.
Preparatory massage
It is an invigorating massage that is usually performed 6 to 24 hours before a competition, before starting a training session or before practicing some activity. Thanks to its effects, it is possible to optimize the elasticity and contraction capacity of the muscles.
Purposes of the preparatory massage
In addition, other objectives are achieved with sports massage:
- Improve blood circulation in muscle tissues.
- Increase the internal temperature of the muscle so that it responds better to tension and contraction.
- Help eliminate localized muscle pain.
Recovery massage
It is applied half an hour to 6 hours after finishing a sports activity. As a requirement before the massage, the athlete must do an active cool-down in order to slow down the heart rate, normalize breathing, stretch the muscles and hydrate properly.
Purposes of the recovery massage
- Drain metabolic waste.
- Reduce muscle hypertonus (stiffness) and painful spasms.
- Increase blood supply to the body.
Maintenance massage
It is performed periodically and is part of the athlete’s physical preparation. In this type of massage, various techniques can be carried out, according to the objectives of the massage. This maintenance massage also allows for the application of appropriate techniques if any specific findings are made, during the initial examination of the area to be treated.
Maintenance massage helps eliminate muscle fatigue and contributes to maintaining a good level of elasticity. These massages are performed with creams and oils through small stretches in the muscle areas that were most worked during the week.
Purposes of maintenance massage
- Eliminate episodes of muscle fatigue.
- It promotes the maintenance of the elasticity of muscle tissues and ligaments.
- Detect and properly eliminate those areas where there is muscle pain.
In summary, always keep in mind that massages vary depending on the sport you practice and the goals you seek, whether it is to achieve strength, flexibility, endurance or speed. This is because the physiological responses produced by these messages are different. Therefore, it is necessary to regulate the speed, rhythm and depth of the massage depending on the main objective.