Who can benefit from Sports Massage?
What does Sports massage offer compared to a more traditional Swedish massage? Is Sports massage designed to treat only elite athletes? Who does it benefit? In this post we will go through all of these questions with Vancouver RMT Michael Scottnicki, and hope to shed some light on the topic of Sports Massage.
Let’s start with Swedish massage- it is designed to decrease sympathetic nervous system activity. Your sympathetic nervous system is in charge of regulating the nerve and hormonal response to stress, also known as the “flight-or-fight response.” The stress fighting relaxation technique often involves long kneading strokes working through the superficial muscle layers.
Sports massage is designed for injury prevention, increased muscle awareness, increasing and maintaining range of motion and removing adhesions and muscle trigger points. Both techniques use petrissage (kneading) and effleurage (stroke, light touch), but Sports massage further incorporates stretching, myofascial release, jostling (shaking of muscles), and active techniques that insure proper range of motion as a more high intensity treatment.
With this in mind Sports massage can be easily applied to the everyday person, and not just athletes. In our jobs, our muscles tend to perform repetitive motions which can result in tension build up and shortened muscles in some places and stretched muscles in others. Sports massage techniques are designed to keep the body moving with little restriction as possible. So why not use Sports massage in conjunction with regular massage to help your body move as effectively as possible during your work day or any activities that you enjoy doing on a regular basis?Broadway Wellness is a multi-disciplinary clinic in Vancouver, BC offering services in Vancouver Registered Massage Therapy, Vancouver Naturopathic Medicine and Vancouver Chiropractic Care through Network Spinal Analysis. Contact us with questions or come visit!