There's a short answer to this and a long answer. The short answer is - yes! Absolutely you can have a sports massage, even if your last sporting experience involved a pair of plimsolls and trying to forge a note from your mum (just me?). For the long answer, and to find out a bit more about sports massage - read on:
A sports massage is a targetted deep tissue massage. Rather than being delivered as a full-body treatment, a sports massage will focus in on particular areas of interest. So this could mean your back, neck and shoulders, or perhaps your legs. It aims to relieve aches and pains by reducing levels of muscular tension.
These tensions can be caused by sports of course, but there are plenty of other things that can lead to tension too. Sitting for long hours at a desk can be a key culprit for sore backs and necks. Lifting heavy objects (or heavy small children!) can leave with aches and pains. Or jobs where you spend a lot of time on your feet - these can leave you with sore, heavy legs and an aching back. All of these issues may be improved by sports massage. And that's before we get into the realms of stress and emotional tension - we all know that our emotions can affect our bodies, and massage can help with that, too.
It's possible that it will. Many of my clients report feeling immediate improvements in their aches and pains, and leave with a greater range of motion in their joints. That said, the effects may not last forever - it might have taken weeks, months, or even years for the problems that you are experiencing to develop. As such, it could take time and a number of treatments to really get on top of these. And you might have to make some other changes too, away from the massage couch - perhaps reassessing your desk setup, or undertaking some stretching or strengthening work.
That really depends on you and your particular issues and needs. Some athletes may choose to have weekly sports massages, and do really well with that frequency of treatment. Other people may just have an occasional treatment, as and when they feel they need it. For many clients though, a massage every 4-6 weeks seems to work really well in keeping on top of any issues that may arise in their day-to-day lives.
Sports massage uses more pressure than some other forms of massage, and can be an intense experience. However, please don't be alarmed by this. I will always work with you an an individual, and check in throughout our treatment to make sure that you are having a good experience. I use a scale system to make sure that both of us are clear about what you like from your massage and what you don't. If we encounter areas of strong tension during the course of your treatment, I will communicate with you about pain levels, making sure that we work together to make the session as useful and pain-free as possible. I also work with a number of clients with underlying conditions that affect their tolerance for pressure, and offer more gentle treatments in these cases.
Yes - there are some things that will make sports massage unsuitable for you. Contraindications include fever, vascular conditions, severe heart disease, contagious skin conditions, inflammation, abrasions, cuts, hematomas, cancer, neuritis, recent surgery, infectious diseases, diabetes with vascular dysfunction, fractures, and acute injury. This list is not exhaustive, so please do get in touch when booking if you have any concerns, complete the form I use at your appointment as fully as you can, and if you are in any doubt at all, contact your GP for advice.
If this sounds good to you, why not get in touch to book your treatment?
Author Hannah Tabram. Category Blog. First published Mon, 31 Jan 2022 10:43:00 +0000
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