Unlock your potential with Sports Massage in Horsham
Sports Massage is an accepted and hugely beneficial complement to fitness training which is why it is often called “Sports Massage”. Even if you are not currently doing regular fitness training you can receive very significant benefits from a regular sports massage in Horsham.
Whether you are an athlete, occasional exerciser, stay at home Horsham mum or desk worker you will experience tight shoulders or muscles, aches and pains and postural issues at some point in your life.
Deep tissue sports massage can help ease away tension, help you pinpoint the area responsible for bad posture and provide relief from chronic muscle pain.
Deep tissue massage or sports massage can help you to unlock your body’s potential, solving muscular problems that may be a stumbling block to your physical progress. Combine this with targeted exercise to strengthen deep postural muscles and live your life free from pain!
Tools available to a Sports Massage Therapist
Trauma occurs to the soft tissues by overuse, adaptive shortening, postural imbalance, strains, stress or nutritional deficits. This trauma leaves the soft tissues in a state of involuntary spasm, leading to pain and a restriction of movement. This spasm triggers a ‘trigger point’ to form in the soft tissue structure which will feel like a knot. Deactivation of these trigger points will:
Reduce local and referred pain patterns
Restore muscle imbalances
Increase soft tissue mobility
Improve circulation
Provides a local and general relaxation
Increase flexibility of the affected muscle
Improve range of movement (ROM)
Soft Tissue Release
This is an advanced and very specific sports massage technique. It’s a combination of stretching and deep friction that illicits a specific stretch to a muscle. It’s commonly used with frictions to;
Reduce adhesions in soft tissue structures
Improves local circulation
Increases functional ROM
Develops flexibility in tight muscles and muscle groups
Muscle Energy Techniques (MET) stretching
MET is a form of passive stretching from the world of osteopathic techniques. MET’s target the soft tissues primarily, although it also makes a major contribution towards joint mobilisation. The purpose of MET stretching is to improve a client’s flexibility and therefore range of movement at a joint. Its effects are:
Releases muscle spasms
Decreases muscle hypertonicity (tension)
Improves muscle flexibility
Restores muscle balance
This technique is directed pressure over soft tissues that manipulate their structure by softening up adhesions and returning the muscle back to its full function. Along with Soft Tissue Release, it provides a stretch to a highly specific area of tissues. Its effects are;
Reduces congestion in a local area
Increases local circulation
Reduces the effect of scar tissue post injury
Improves the mobility of soft tissues
All about Sports Massage
Enhances sports performance (Pre, During or Post event)
Stretches tight muscles for increased flexibility and suppleness
Pain relief and management
Helps identify and correct postural problems (along with correct strengthening exercises)
Releases tension and aids in relaxation
Improves circulation + lymphatic drainage
Breaks down old scar tissue and adhesions - it can help with painful or unsightly scars, helping them to shrink and perform more akin to surrounding tissue.
Identifies weakness before injury
Aids recovery after injury
Improves mobility, posture and physical performance
Increase in flexibility and range of movement
Improved balance between muscles
Greater postural awareness
Improve the speed and quality of soft tissue repair
Stimulates peripheral nerves i.e. keeps your nervous system healthy
Increases muscles relaxation so increases your sense of well being
Can reduce the effect of muscle soreness
Can calm the mind as well as the body.
Aids reduction of fat – in conjunction with appropriate exercise.
Can help with cramp.
Can help bring healing to areas that have healed inappropriately and are now causing pain and dysfunction.
Stimulates circulation
Decongests the tissues and improves tissue drainage
Removes metabolic waste
Increases the uptake of oxygen and nutrients to the tissue cells
Increases the rate of tissue repair by improving soft tissue mobility and formation of collagen
The frequency of a SM depends on your lifestyle. If you are an active person involved in regular sporting activity of any kind, your muscles will frequently experience microscopic tears as they are used and recover during sessions.
SM can help your muscles to recover in a faster time period so that you are ready to perform at optimum capacity at your next session. Regular SM can also help prevent major injuries from occurring such as muscle, tendon or ligament strains or tears by keeping your muscles functioning optimally.
A good SM would be performed within your tolerance level so continued communication with your therapist is very important.
It is important that you understand what your therapist is doing and why, this way you are more likely to be able to co-operate with the procedure and understand why it feels uncomfortable – if it does.
Where there are very tight muscles and tissue that has healed inappropriately, treatment may be uncomfortable but it is always done with the purpose of bringing true healing and restoring proper function.
Having said that, within a full SM treatment there will be times of relaxation and it can also feel good as the muscles relax and let go.
You need to understand why you have bad posture in the first place and then do what you can to eliminate those factors from your life. If you don’t, anything your therapist does in a session will be undone when you return to your normal life.
SM can definitely help release tight muscles that cause bad posture but you may need to retrain your muscles by doing regular exercises such as Pilates to strengthen your back and core muscles, enabling you to maintain correct positioning.
Each profession has it’s own benefits. SM deals with soft tissue, which includes muscle, ligaments, tendons and skin. These tissues make up around 70% of the body so SM has a huge part to play.
A SM therapist uses various skill and tools to manipulate, stretch, de-tone and release these tissues according to the need presented.
Where a client has issues that fall outside of this ambit, such as joint problems in the spine or hip, a referral will be made to the appropriate profession.
At BodyFix Therapies we are able to help with joint problems with Tuina Massage which is used along side Sports Massage and is another tool within the box to help where appropriate.
Sports Massage Prices
Includes postural assessment and diagnosis