While playing sports, athletes require their bodies to handle tremendous loads, dynamic movements and forceful blows. As a result, the body's muscles become tight and tense as they twist, turn, stretch and support. To prevent muscle strains, athletes use a variety of muscle relaxation techniques to relieve the tension and ease pain.
Jacobson Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Developed by Edmund Jacobson, the progressive muscle relaxation technique involves tensing and relaxing muscles in a specific pattern from head to toes. Perform the exercise while reclining in a comfortable chair in a quiet room. Extend your arms in front of you and squeeze your fists together tightly. Once you have reached peak muscle tension, allow your arms to relax and drop naturally. Repeat again, this time focusing on tensing the muscles in your lower arm and elbow. Move on by tensing the muscles in your forehead a few seconds and then relaxing. Continue this same tensing-relaxing pattern as you move from your forehead to your face, neck, shoulders, upper back, lower back, chest, stomach, abdomen, buttocks, upper leg, lower leg, feet and toes. Hold the completely relaxed position for two to five minutes.
Contrasting Tension and Relaxation
Unlike the Jacobson technique, these muscle relaxation exercises involve tensing and relaxing multiple muscle groups at once, as opposed to one muscle group at a time. Begin by standing with your feet hip-width apart and back straight. Extend your arms straight in front of you, squeezing your hands into tight fists. Hold for 10 seconds and then abruptly drop your arms and swing them behind you. Repeat the exercise with your arms extended above your head. Another relaxation exercise involves lying on your stomach with your arms extended above your head. Lifting your arms and legs off the ground, tense the muscles along your arms, back, buttocks and legs. Hold for five to 10 seconds and then abruptly drop to the ground and relax.
Autogenic Relaxation
According to the Mayo Clinic, autogenic relaxation techniques can also be used to help athletes relax muscles during or after vigorous activity. With autogenic relaxation, your body does not move. Instead, relaxation comes entirely from your mind. Close your eyes and imagine a peaceful setting. As your breathing becomes more relaxed, focus on relaxing each body part. In your mind, imagine your muscles letting go and melting into total relaxation. Since this relaxation technique involves total body and mental awareness, it may be slightly more difficult to achieve.
Massage
A therapeutic massage is one of the most common ways athletes reduce muscle tension. When administered by an experience massage therapist, a sports massage can help relieve muscle tension and tightness. However, a sports massage also provides a variety of additional benefits. The Sports Injury Clinic says massage therapy helps break down scar tissue, improve the elasticity of muscle tissues and increase circulation of blood and nutrients to the tissues. However, the disadvantage of sports massage is that you cannot effectively perform the massage on yourself. For athletes, sports massage is generally used after games or between practices.
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