There are many benefits associated with sports massage for athletes. Sports massage can be used pre-performance or post-performance and also during training or as a rehabilitative modality. Each of the benefits of sports massage are either physiological or psychological in nature and may prevent injury or loss of mobility, boost performance and extend the life of an athletic or sporting career.
Tissue Permeability and Fluid Transport
Massage opens the pores in the body's tissues, allowing nutrient-rich fluids to flow more freely. This increased permeability assists in removing waste products like lactic acid. The sustained and repeated stroking movements of massage assist in the movement of pooled body fluids like blood, and more significantly, lymph, which lacks a natural pumping system. When a muscle is overworked it becomes overactive and tight, causing the muscle to squeeze out essential nutrient-rich fluids needed for recovery. Massage allows the manual transport of oxygen and nutrients to the tissue needed to speed recovery.
Tissue Flexibility
Massage can increase the flexibility of muscle tissue in ways not possible through typical static stretching. Static stretching only increases flexibility in one direction, but sports massage stretches it in all directions, and also can break-up overactive and tight connective tissue and fascia. Scar tissue, which is similar to tight fascia, benefits from massage to release the tension in the tissue that causes immobility and pain.
Pain Reduction and Relaxation
Tension and waste products in the body's tissues cause stiffness and pain. Massage provides heat and pressure to stretch the tissue and assist in circulation. Specialized nerve receptors in the tissue sense touch, pressure and heat. The stimulation of these receptors through massage leads to the release of endorphins, providing euphoric relaxation that energizes and invigorates the body.
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