1. It's More Than Just Maintenance
Sports maintenance massage allows athletes something they rarely get but desperately need--time to heal chronic injury under the focused eye of a massage therapist. Unlike sports rehabilitation massage, maintenance massage both helps to prevent injury and treat chronic problems on a holistic level by looking at the entire body, the biomechanics, the posture and the regular workout and training of the athlete to make correct, global changes that enhance performance.
2. The First Step Is Talking and Watching
An experienced sports maintenance massage therapist treats the athlete as a person, not as a collection of tense muscles. This means that the first interaction between the therapist and athlete is not one of touch but of talk. The massage therapist should glean as much information as possible from the athlete regarding the athlete's training, his strengths, weaknesses, things he enjoys and things he hates doing on the field or in the gym. A detailed knowledge of previous injuries and observation of the athlete in training and in regular motion of daily life (such as walking) are also essential parts of the preliminary phase of maintenance massage.
3. Acute or Chronic Injury Treatment Differs
There's only one thing worse than wasting an athlete's time by performing useless massage and that's doing contraindicated massage or activity. This means that you must first determine whether an injury is in the acute or chronic phase. If acute, the area of injury will be swollen, red, warm and very painful to the touch. In these cases, direct massage to the area will only do harm. If the injury is in the chronic stage then you still need to do a bit of investigation since direct massage to the injured muscle will help alleviate symptoms but won't treat the underlying cause. Think about the chain of muscles that's causing pain or keeping the injury chronic, so you can proceed with a correct course of massage and therapy.
4. Continue to Talk
As the therapist, you must continue conversations with the athlete and continue to monitor him on the field or in the gym whenever possible. Guiding the athlete when it comes to injurious movement or bad posture will make your maintenance massage course infinitely more effective than if you simply approach the athlete with a static, unchanging course of treatment. You might get some resistance from athletes and coaches but the more you show that you're there to enhance overall performance, the better your reception will be.
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