How Does Effective Sports Massage Increase Athletic Performance?
The difference between ordinary and extraordinary, in many instances, is what separates the best from the rest. As an athlete, your commitment to excellence has taken you to new heights, but to reach the peak of your performance, the hack you may need in your training regimen is sports massage therapy. Top athletes, trainers, and coaches use sports massage therapy as a part of the secret to their success and as a means to achieve consistent growth. Even Traditional Chinese medicine dating back to as early as 2500 BC has used massage therapy, called Tui Na massage, due to its numerous benefits and ability to enhance athletic performance. Sports massage has a proven link to increased athletic performance; below are some of the key reasons it grows in popularity.
What Is Sports Massage Therapy?
Sports massage therapy refers to the different techniques applied to athletes to aid recovery from events, treat athletic injuries, support injury prevention, and enhance athletic performance. The most common forms include Swedish massage, Trigger point, Deep traverse friction massage (DTFM), Petrissage, and Effleurage.
Benefits Of Sports Massage Therapy
- Reduces Breathing Pattern Disorders
Muscles in the chest and back regions contract and relax to aid in breathing. Sometimes, stress and other conditions cause these muscles to become tight, resulting in breathing inefficiencies. There are physical massage techniques that help break up the tensions created by the tightened muscles and expand the lung volume to optimize breathing. As an athlete, shortened breath can greatly hamper your performance. With proper breathing, athletes can support improved blood flow to muscles and recover more quickly during and after games. Proper breathing promotes increased stamina, which leads to better performance.
2. Decreases Muscle Stiffness and Fatigue
Stretching your athletic limits and trying out new workouts will naturally cause muscle stress, which may result in muscle pains. In such instances, the energy and oxygen demand on your muscles typically becomes higher than normal, which often leads to burning off your energy store into a deficit. To respond to this energy deficit, the body tends to burn stored energy without the use of oxygen, a process that releases lactic acid, which, when accumulates, reduces the efficiency of your muscles by making them sore and tired.
Our pre-event massage techniques help increase blood circulation to allow fresh oxygenated blood to reach your muscle for longer periods resulting in improve and sustained performance. Post-event, we massage you to help your muscles recover and quickly eliminate the built-up lactic acid. This way, you will recover faster from strenuous events and workouts. Many people literally spend the rest of their day after a strenuous workout or event sleeping due to fatigue and body discomfort.
3. Enhancement of Sports Performance
Improving your blood circulation (as described above) delays the onset of lactic acid, carbonic acids, and creatinine build up. Such build-ups are natural but reduce your athletic efficiency due to muscle sores and discomforts associated with them. A good massage will also help reduce swelling caused by microtraumas (small swellings caused by tiny muscle tears during heavy activity), so you can focus and win events. Coupled with the increased range (aforementioned), you will take your athleticism to the next level.
4. Regular Massage Plays a Key Role In Injury Prevention
Highly effective transverse massage strokes stretch muscle fibers and make them more flexible. It helps improve muscle tone by activating all muscle reflexes and preventing the knotting of muscle fibers. This translates into an increased range of motion of athletes and reduces the probability of picking up muscle cramps or spasms during events. Many sports massage techniques are good complementary therapies in the treatment of several athletic injuries.
5. Psychological Readiness
There are many sports massage techniques that can prepare you to become psychologically ready for events. It is commonly understood that victory in any challenging human activity begins from the mind. Rigorous practice alone is not enough to make you a successful athlete; a good level of composure is as well needed. Sports massage includes highly effective massage techniques that go a long way to enhance your body to optimally produce endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin, all of which are hormones that evoke positive feelings, calm nerves, relieve stress, improve focus and improve sleep.
Our fully qualified and accredited massage therapists take a holistic approach in giving you a personalized massage that will enhance your physical, mental, and emotional faculties.
If you are looking for the best sports massage to prepare for events, games, aid you in post-workout, and post-event recovery, or help you with injury recovery, contact us now to reach the apogee of your athletic performance.
