Sports Massage

bio sports massage therapy utilises a combination of soft tissue therapy techniques including trigger point therapy, myofascial release and muscle energy techniques to help your body attain better alignment and hence reduce prevalence of injury. With correct posture your body is more efficient and your muscles are able to fire in the correct sequence during exercise therefore increasing strength and power output.

More than just a treatment for injuries, sports massage produces overwhelming benefits for people physically, physiologically, and psychologically. Sports massage can help to prepare the person for their best performance, reduce fatigue, improve posture, relieve muscle swelling and tension, improve flexibility and can both treat and help prevent injury. Whether you are a serious athlete or simply working out for the health benefits sports massage is beneficial in a number of ways. It can help maintain the body in generally better condition, prevent loss of mobility, cure and restore mobility to injured muscle tissue, boost performance and extend the overall life of your body’s ability to function correctly and without pain.

Physical effects

Pumping

The stroking movements in massage suck fluid through blood vessels and lymph vessels. By increasing the pressure in front of the stroke, a vacuum is created behind. This is especially important in tight or damaged muscle tissue as a tight muscle will squeeze blood out like a sponge, depriving the tissues of vital nutrients and energy to repair.

Increased tissue permeability - Deep massage causes the pores in tissue membranes to open, enabling fluids and nutrients to pass through. This helps remove waste products such as lactic acid and encourage the muscles to take up oxygen and nutrients which help them recover quicker.

Stretching

Massage can stretch tissues that could not be stretched in the usual methods. Bundles of muscle fibres are stretched lengthwise as well as sideways. Massage can also stretch the sheath or fascia that surrounds the muscle, so releasing any tension or pressure build up.

Break down scar tissue

Scar tissue is the result of previous injuries or trauma and can effect muscle, tendons and ligaments. This can lead to inflexible tissues that are prone to injury and pain.

Improve tissue elasticity

Hard training can make tissues hard and inelastic. This is one reason why hard training may not result in improvements. Massage helps reverse this by stretching the tissues.

Opens micro-circulation>

Massage increases blood flow to tissues in the same way as exercise. Massage also opens or dilates the blood vessels and by stretching them this enables nutrients to pass through more easily.

Physiological effects

Pain reduction

Tension and waste products in muscles can often cause pain. Massage helps reduce this in many ways including releasing the bodies endorphins.

Relaxation

Muscles relax through heat generated, circulation and stretching. Mechanoreceptors which sense touch, pressure, tissue length and warmth are stimulated causing a reflex relaxation.

Psychological effects

Anxiety reduction

Through the effects mentioned above relaxation is induced and so reduces anxiety levels.

Invigorating

If massage is done with brisk movements, such as that seen during a pre-event massage, it can produces an invigorating feeling.