Recovery has become a huge part of the fitness industry. One area in particular that has seen rapid growth, is sports massage. You may have use or have used this yourself as part of your training. I wanted to shed a little light on 3 types of sports massage and when/why you may use them!
Pre, Post & Remedial
- Pre Event Massage – This is used to prepare the body for an upcoming event. It creates a state of readiness within your muscles and tissues. The massage increases the circulation of blood to the muscles, ensuring they are well oxygenated and flushed of any harmful toxins. As a result, tight muscles will relax allowing for full Range Of Motion (ROM) throughout the joints. This can significantly reduced your risk of injury.
- Post Event Massage – Purely aimed at reducing the length of time it takes you to recover from physical activity. It helps to relieve immediate soreness of the muscles & tissues and reduce the effects of Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS). Enhancing blood flow to the muscles removes built up toxins. Post event massage also aims to lengthen and relax the muscles to re-establish full ROM.
- Remedial Massage – This is deep tissue massage used to treat injuries. The massage efficiently treats injuries and helps to reduce pain. As with the both pre and post, the massage increases blood supply to the soft tissues, removing blockages and damaged cells. In turn, speeding up the overall recovery. The removal of damaged cells allows for healing and recovery to begin, while removal of blockages allows for the increased blood flow to fully reach the area.
See What Works For You
As always, you may have to give all 3 of these a go before you can decide what is best for you! When Personal Training in Richmond, London, we always make sure the sessions are tailored to YOU. There is no reason your recovery and massage shouldn’t be the same.