A Sports Massage appointment is only advisable for those that have a general and recent feeling of fatigue such as tight calves or shoulders. We advise to focus on a specific region in a treatment session to allow a change in muscle tone to occur. It is not realistic to be able to work on the full body in such a short amount of time. We generally advise those with longer standing discomfort of longer than 4 weeks to book a Sports Therapy appointment.
This appointment will also involve Sports Massage treatment, but the Therapist will look at the causes of injury and pain and design an appropriate strengthening programme to ensure the discomfort does not return.
Techniques used during your Sports Massage and Soft Tissue Therapy treatment may include:
Tight, thick, lumpy and aching muscles can produce aching, fatigue and sometimes clients can report headaches and the feeling of nausea. This happens because the muscles are in a constant state of contracting, as they feel they must protect an area of weakness or injury.
This results in the aching and discomfort you feel, and the muscles actually become weaker. When muscles become weaker they lose the strength they need to effectively produce movements.
Following an injury, surgery or trauma the body produces a healing response that may include collagen alignment to effectively stitch the torn fibres back together. Without the manual assistance of soft tissue therapies the alignment may not be smooth, and result in excessive scar tissue and restriction of movement.
Myofascia is the layer of tissue between your muscles and skin. It is very thick, and has a massive tensile strength. It also links the whole body together from head to toes. The Myofascial system has several courses throughout the body. For example, it follows a spiral route from each shoulder around to the front of the abdomen. It also has another course that runs from the skull down the back of the legs to the toes. It is important that your therapist understands the complex anatomy of the fascia as it is more often than not overlooked by many, yet it is crucial to the force absorption of the body.
Cupping therapy may be used to assist myofascial release and to uplift old scar tissue. Cupping therapy includes the use of plastic suction cups that lift up the fascia and tissues and effectively stretch and release them. It can also lift up stubborn, old scar tissue than has nested onto the surrounding tissues over time..
Muscle energy techniques and stretching may be used to lengthen shortened muscles and fascia to achieve a more elastic and plastic result. They can also be used to help stimulate the brain to remember and or send the required firing signals that can be inhibited following disuse.
