At Acubody, our highly-skilled therapists use London sports massage on athletes both before and after an event. Participating in sports has become more popular in recent years, and athletes are having to continue to push themselves further. What was seen as a great performance perhaps 30 years ago, today is seen as normal. Remember the four-minute mile: until 1954 it seemed impossible to achieve, but after Roger Bannister cracked it more athletes followed very quickly. Today, you are seen as pretty slow if you DON’T run a mile in under four minutes.
This means that sportsmen and women are having to do more, and they are stretching themselves both physically and mentally. Sports massage is a great way of improving performance, and a regular massage is now simply part of the training programme for all people at the top of their sport. We have professional sports people who come to us for a massage two or three times a month. Indeed, it is fair to say that if you play sport regularly you should have at least one sports massage every month.
When you first visit one of our therapists, they will take details of your medical history in order to understand your health past and present. They will ask about any injuries you have suffered, and they will prepare a programme that is unique to you with regard to your particular sport, your current state of fitness, and the goals that you want to achieve.
The massage techniques that are used may involve neuromuscular techniques, trigger point therapy, acupressure, soft tissue release of muscles, tendons, and fascia, and more. The aim will also be to increase the range of movement in your joints.
A sports massage usually involves deep tissue massage, but when you have a massage before an event in order to increase circulation and tone up the muscles we use lighter strokes because too much pressure can reduce muscle tone and make the limbs feel heavy. A pre-event sports massage will also have a psychological effect, making you feel good.
A massage after an event, within six hours or so, can help relieve possible muscle soreness by loosening and releasing the muscles, while at the same time increasing oxygen flow and circulation and removing waste products such as lactic acid from cells. There is also a psychological effect here too because the massage will make you feel relaxed mentally as well as physically.
