Every day, more people are addicted to the sport, discovering its benefits both physical and psychological and social. It is for this reason that sports massage is becoming increasingly important in society.
This massage is used both as advance preparation for athletes who will perform a physical activity to stretch and relax the muscles after performing a full year. This does not include cases where the injuries from the sport make it indispensable.
The sports massage differs from other types of massage because it is addressed directly to benefit the specific muscles and helping those who have been subjected to (or are going to be) a training effort.
Types of sports massage
The sports masseuse will use a variety of techniques to achieve the desired goal. There are 6 types of sports massages:
Sports warm up massage
The sports warm up massage that is done to improve muscle elasticity and prevent muscle injuries. It is a stimulating massage prior to competition or training. It is performed with movements of rapid cadence and superficial intensity, with the aim of activating the circulation and heating the muscles. Thus, the athlete is provided with a passive heating mode, which reduces energy expenditure with respect to active warming, provided that it takes place at most 10 minutes before the competition or training.
Thanks to the warm-up sports massage, in addition to psychically preparing the athlete’s body, it manages to increase the range of movement of your joints and improve the oxygenation of your muscles.
Sports massage during competition
During the competition, sports massage is usually used at rest or between breaks. The athlete can recover overloaded muscles and reduce fatigue, as well as keep the muscles in good condition and that they do not cool down. It is also a good form of psychic relaxation.
Sports massage after the competition (recovery)
The massage after the competition is an excellent form of recovery, since it increases the reabsorption of toxins and favors the venous return and the diffusion of the lactic acid to the lymphatic system. It also helps eliminate fatigue promotes relaxation to the athlete.
The sports massage applied after the competition is a general massage that focuses mainly on the overloaded muscles to encourage a return to training as quickly as possible. In this case, it is a slow massage and medium intensity.
Sports training massage
Sports training massages are very important to keep the athlete’s muscles in good condition. These types of sports massage can be performed once a week, are protocols that will be applied slowly and with great depth, so they should run the day before the athlete’s weekly rest day and, at least three days before the competition.
Sports massage as part of the rehabilitation of an injury
Sports massage as part of the rehabilitation of an injury is usually used to improve muscle tone and increase circulation in the area.
Benefits of sports massage
For athletes, massage is beneficial both physically and psychological level, as it not only relaxes the muscles and condition but also restores the harmony of a troubled mind and tense body, avoiding stress.
In sports massage, performed on a regular basis, we find the following benefits:
Improve flexibility
The flexibility is an important aspect in many sports. The fact of applying sports massage periodically helps the expansion of muscle tissue in a multidirectional direction and promotes flexibility of muscles and joints. In addition, massage can also impact the muscular sheath around the ligaments, which promotes the release of stored pressure and stress.
Increases permeability
Applying a sports massage causes the microscopic holes in the membrane of the tissues to expand and the fluids and nutrients to arrive more easily. Likewise, disposable material such as lactic acid is expelled at a higher rate. This benefit means that the body recovers more quickly.
Improves blood flow
The circulation of muscle tissues improves with sports massages. This therapy favors the dilation of the blood vessels to collect fresh air and that the nutritious components are transported with greater comfort by the organism. Also, a discharge massage after running helps you recover more quickly.
Helps control pain
The stress and retaining waste materials into one or more muscles of the body can result in pain or injury. Applying sports massage helps the disappearance of this sensation. In addition, it reduces the feeling of anxiety and gets rid of waste.
Stimulates the relaxation of the organism
The therapeutic massage create an environment in the body that generates warmth, increasing blood flow and improving the flexibility of muscles and joints. This type of characteristics can favor the performance of a situation of stimulation of the physical receptors of your body, and the generation of relaxation for the athlete.
Sports massage does not have to be performed when you feel discomfort or are injured. Now you know the benefits of applying this therapy. It not only serves to prevent future injuries, but to condition the body and make you feel better during the performance of any type of physical activity.
Effects of sports massage
Sports massage produces basically two types of effects on the organism of sportsman:
The mechanical effect is the produced directly by the contact of the hand of the massage on the body of the athlete, at the point where the massage is appropriate.
The reflection effect is one that occurs to the point where distance is doing the massage itself, and is the result of a mechanical effect at a given point.