The Benefits of Massage Therapy for Athletic Performance

Posted by MAKING PROGRESS On Thursday 0 comments
Massage Therapy is one of the oldest, most traditional forms of healing. For thousands of years, and through many cultures, Massage Therapy has been a powerful healing tool. Think of the last time you had a sore foot or bumped your elbow. What was your first reaction? To rub it, right?

Touch is our natural reaction to pain. Based on this, and many scientific results, Massage Therapy is a natural and effective means of healing. Beyond just ‘rubbing sore muscles’ – which is very beneficial in itself – massage also increases circulation, decreases blood pressure, increases oxygen & nutrients to body tissues, decreases stress levels and increases immunity, just to name a few benefits. So for any of you out there with no pain or tension, there are still many benefits to receiving a regular massage treatment.

But really, what does all this mean in ‘real terms’ for you as an athlete? Increasing circulation will aid in moving toxins through your body to be quickly eliminated so they don’t become stagnant. This will decrease post workout soreness because the lactic acid build up will be filtered through your body faster. With less post workout soreness, the next time you train you will be able to push yourself harder, therefore, increasing the effectiveness of your training. Moving toxins through your body more rapidly allows for oxygen and nutrients to come to our muscles and tissues sooner as well. So not only will the lactic acid and other toxins be removed sooner, the oxygen and fresh nutrients that we need for our muscles tissues will arrive sooner, allowing our bodies to function at optimal performance.

If you have an injury preventing you from training, we can help with that as well. A specific treatment to the injured area will decrease pain and inflammation, which will decrease recovery time and have you back training sooner than not having treatment.

Massage therapy can also be beneficial during a competition or event. Before your event, massage can warm up your muscles and stimulate your body so you feel ready to compete. Between events, massage can flush out any toxins, stretch muscles and stimulate your body again, for the next event. After your competition the benefits are obvious; flush the body of all toxins built up from the competition, stretch the muscles used, decrease any pain and tension in the muscles to prevent soreness and injury following your competition.

Massage therapy could be and added asset to your training and performance goals. Why not get a massage today?

Karyn Schinkel has been a Registered Massage Therapist for 14 years, currently working at Essential Kneads Massage. She has spent the last 7 years teaching at CCMH - Foothills College of Massage Therapy. If you have any questions, please feel free to email Karyn at k_rmt@hotmail.com

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