By certified massage therapist Heather L. Fenity

Sports massage is a form of massage therapy that is tailored to treat the needs of athletes. The use and application of specific techniques is the foundation of sports massage, yet what distinguishes it from other types of massage is the intention behind the massage. Most of us think of massage as relaxing and holistic. Sports massage, in contrast, is designed to achieve specific goals, such as increasing performance or treating or preventing injury. The intention behind a sports massage session can vary, dependent upon numerous factors that are unique to each athlete, but the common thread in all sports massage treatment is that there is an intention to affect change by addressing specific needs. For instance, sports massage can be used effectively to treat conditions such as tendonitis, strains, sprains, and adhesions. Sports massage can also be used in conjunction with training schedules and conditioning programs to enhance performance, aid in recovery from competition and reduce the potential for injuries.

The major applications of sports massage are recovery, remedial (to improve a debilitating condition), maintenance, and event (pre, inter, and post). By knowing when to incorporate sports massage into a training routine, an athlete can enhance his or her performance by increasing performance potential. Healthy, injury-free muscles perform better, for longer and with less chance of injury.

Sports massage helps to optimize the positive factors that affect performance such as healthy muscle and connective tissues; normal range of motion; high energy; fluid and pain-free movement; and mental calm, alertness and concentration. It can help minimize negative factors such as dysfunctional muscle and connective tissue, restricted range of motion, low energy, staleness, pain, and high anxiety^(1a).

Sports massage decreases injury potential by preventing acute injuries (muscle tears) as well as chronic injuries stemming from wear and tear (tendonitis). Regular massage allows the muscles and soft tissue to stay supple and healthy, lengthened and flexible, and free from adhesions, thereby reducing the potential for injury. By increasing circulation and assisting the body’s healing processes, and breaking down scar tissue and adhesions, sports massage can help chronic injuries improve.

Important Primary and Secondary Effects of Sports Massage^(1b)

Primary effects refer to the physiological and psychological condition of the athlete and include:

• Improved fluid circulation (blood, lymph);
• Muscular relaxation;
• General relaxation;
• Functional separation of muscle and connective tissue (i.e., breaking up adhesions);
• Formation of strong mobile scar tissue;
• Connective tissue normalization (releasing areas of tension, etc.);
• Increased mental alertness and clarity; and
• Deactivation of trigger points. (A trigger point is a nodule of tight muscle tissue that can refer pain locally or to other areas of the body.)

Secondary effects refer to performance-related outcomes and include:

• Greater energy;
• Greater flexibility and range of motion;
• More fluid movement (i.e., referring to the quality of the range of motion);
• Faster recovery;
• Pain reduction; and
• Appropriate level of emotional stimulation.

It’s important to find a well-trained therapist. Find out if a practitioner has had training in sports massage from an accredited school. Currently, there is no national credentialing that signifies a person who has passed a test demonstrating a solid understanding of the foundations and techniques of sports massage, so you will have to ask a few questions. How many hours of training (in general) did they have? Was their school accredited by the American Massage Therapy Association? How many hours of training in sports massage did they receive? What kind of athletes have they worked with? Were the athletes training or competing at the time? Is your therapist an athlete (on any level)?

Many sports massage practitioners participate in races or competitive events, which increases their understanding not only of the uses and benefits of sports massage, but of other factors that go into being an athlete. For example, the distance between the massage session and the athletic event directly relates to the depth of pressure a therapist should use. A knowledgeable therapist will know that a pre-event massage, which is meant to encourage general looseness, calls for less deep work than a regular “maintenance” massage. It is important that your therapist always errs on the side of caution when using deep pressure, and that they have an understanding of the psychology of an athlete and the work that goes into training.

A benefit of working regularly with the same sports massage therapist is that the therapist learns to feel what is “normal” for your tissue and body type and can keep watch for any changes, in hopes of heading off potential trouble spots or injuries. If an injury does occur, the therapist can join the team of health care practitioners helping you to recover. Here, the focus is on healing the injury quickly and effectively, minimizing the side effects of the injury and decreasing the chance of re-injury.

The use of sports massage in training routines varies depending on the athlete, the sport being trained for and the level of competition of the athlete. It is important to note here that every body, every athlete, every situation is going to be different, and that each person should research and find a plan that works well for them. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how two different athletes used sports massage in conjunction with their training.

When Uta was competing in 5K-10K races, she received sports massage twice a week. Usually, she scheduled her massages the day after one of her harder training sessions for the week. If that wasn’t possible, she would allow herself a treatment session on the same day as her hard workout, but she would wait at least 3-4 hours, to let her body recover some from the training, before addressing soft tissue needs. Getting regular massage while training hard and consistently also helped Uta psychologically, by allowing her to give back to her body and take some time for herself.

Training for my first triathlon, I used sports massage regularly. I noticed that I could identify potential problems and head them off before they became a stumbling block in my training. I also felt, during the most intense training periods, that taking the time to give back to my body really helped to feel like I was rounding out my training program. Having time to recover, making the effort to work my muscles out and being really “in” my body, all played integral roles in my ability to train as hard as I did, without hurting myself (and having a blast at the same time!!).

Getting regular massage during training is a great way to get feedback on how you’re doing. The more feedback you can get about performance and training, and how your body is responding to it all, the better you can compete and recover from competition. Sports massage, therefore, can be an important tool for athletes in their training, increasing performance potential and having a myriad of other benefits, including speeding recovery time and reducing the prevalence of injuries. All this in addition to the wonderful stress relief, relaxation and whole body integration that everybody, not just the athlete, gets from massage!

Reference:

(1) Benjamin PJ, Lamp SP: Understanding Sports Massage. Human Kinetics Publishers, 1996; pages 6-7 (a) & 9 (b).