The Benefits of Sports Massage and How to Find a Sports Therapist

Sports massage is a kind of massage that targets muscles relevant to a specific sport. The world’s first Olympians are believed to have included sports massage in their performance enhancement strategy, from boxers to equestrians and more.

A lot of movements and techniques are applied in sports massage, like effleurage (stroking), friction, tapotement (rhythmic striking), stretching, Swedish massage, and many others. The said movements and techniques are intended to help the sportsman attain peak performance while minimizing pain or injury risks, and promote speedy recovery.

Sports Massage Benefits

Most benefits of sports massage - physical and mental alike - are known from the accounts of people who have actually experienced them first-hand.

There are many, but some of the most prominent ones include heightened flexibility, a more positive sense of self, better range of motion (ROM) and higher sleep quality, accompanied by controlled neurological excitability (or simply feeling more relaxed) and minimized muscle tension and spasm. Moreover, there is ongoing research that seeks to establish even more medical benefits provided by sports massage, including more vigorous blood circulation and waste product elimination (lactic acid, for example).

In addition, other studies have shown that people experience less delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and feel more revitalized and optimistic about recovery after receiving sports massage.

Looking for a Sports Massage Therapist

If you would like to enjoy all the above benefits of sports massage, you need to find a good therapist for starters. You can find a local practitioner by checking the databases of the American Massage Therapy Association and the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB). Learn more about this service now! 

In any case, before deciding to go with a specific therapist, inquire about their professional background, especially in terms of their certifications and massage therapist license in the state that you’re in. Massage therapy is regulated in almost all of the states, so therapists need to have specific credentials before they can provide professional services - at least legally. As well, ask them about the types of sports massage they re particularly trained for, as well as whether they can help resolve your specific health and fitness problems. Here are more related discussions about chiropractor, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_in_chiropractic.

What’s great is that, though sports massage is highly appreciated by most athletes, you need not be involved in sports yourself to benefit from it. If your goal is to relieve soreness and tension in your muscles post-workout, or even on any day as a form of relaxation, you can always count on sports massage. Again, to get the best of its benefits, make sure to find yourself a good therapist, even if it means spending a bit of your time and effort to do some research.