The Ultimate Guide to Sports Massage: Everything You Need to Know

What Is a Sports Massage?

Sports massage is the perfect therapy for the active and working body. It was developed as a long-term massage technique to help athletes increase their performance or recover after an event or injury. It can be used for any active individual, whether you’re a yoga instructor with sore joints or an amateur boxer gearing up for the next match. Even if you’re just a casual gym-goer or fitness buff, a sports massage can be highly beneficial.

Here’s sports massage in a nutshell:

• Focuses on the musculoskeletal system, much like musculoskeletal physiotherapy.
• Promotes balance and proper functioning.
• Reduces pain, improves mobility and flexibility, and relaxes the body.
• Involves soft tissue manipulation with a variety of techniques.
• It is suitable for pre and post-event training, recovery, and injury rehab.
• It should always be conducted by a professional!

There are various different types of sports massage, each adapted to your goals. We’ll explore these in our guide too. 

The biggest misconception we encounter is that sports massage hurts. It shouldn’t! During some massage techniques, you may feel discomfort or a “good kind of pain” Importantly, it shouldn’t hurt or damage any injuries, and the discomfort should not last far beyond the sports massage session.

The best way to ensure your sports massage is highly effective at reducing pain and inflammation is to choose a professional sports massage therapist.

Sports Massage Therapists (What They Do)

A good sports massage therapist should be highly trained, often with a college or university education background – a degree in sports therapy or a level 4 certificate, for example. Look for sports therapists with good qualifications, testimonials, and years of experience.

Other key skills a sports therapist should have include communication, empathy, and sensitivity. You need to feel like you can trust your sports therapist!

When you’re looking for a sports therapist, look for experience with the type of sports therapy you need and your sport or activity. At One Body LDN, you can find out exactly what our therapists specialise in, from rugby and football physiotherapy to athletic recovery or gym-based rehabilitation.

One reason we are considered the best clinic in London for sports massage and physiotherapy is that we know exactly what you’re feeling right now. We know what it means to dedicate, commit, excel, compete and recover at sports. Just watch our team go:

Techniques We Use

During your first session with a sports massage therapist, you can discuss your ailments and your goals. They will give you a physical assessment too, checking your posture, mobility, flexibility and strength. This will determine the type of sports massage we focus on, the body area we target, and the techniques we use. 

In general, sports massage uses targeted deep tissue massage to penetrate and soften deep layers of muscle – this is similar to physiotherapy and why the sports massage price is comparable too. Some of the techniques include:

• Stroking (effleurage): using oils and lotions, we stroke and massage the body to stimulate, warm, and relax the tissues.
• Kneading (petrissage): applying pressure to squeeze, lift, and manipulate muscles, increasing blood flow and nutrient circulation.
• Hacking and cupping (tapotement): rhythmically striking the tissues to increase muscle tone, soften hard tissues, and stimulate muscle reflex. Great for pre-event massage!
• Vibration: simply vibrating the muscles to relax and soothe.
• Friction: deep muscle tissue penetration, ideal for injury rehabilitation.
• Wringing: twisting, squeezing and lifting tissue away from the bone to release tension and enhance elasticity.
• Trigger Pointing/Knot Release: applying pressure to painful areas of the muscles (trigger points or knots) to reduce pain and muscle tightness.
• Releasing (myofascial, positional and soft tissue): releasing involves relaxing the body. Myofascial focuses on connective tissue/fascia, positional focuses on hyperactive muscles, and soft tissue is self-explanatory!
• Swedish-style: light, smooth stroking techniques to reduce tension and stress. A more relaxing form of sports massage.

Who Can Get a Sports Massage?

How do you know if you need physiotherapy, a sports massage, or just a relaxing spa massage? First, if you are being referred by a doctor, you’ll typically need to see a physiotherapist. 

If you have no ailments and your desire for a massage has nothing to do with sports or athletic performance, then you can still massively benefit from a deep-tissue sports massage. This is a great idea for reducing stress and promoting relaxation.

Sports massage, on the other hand, is ideal for:

• People leading highly active lifestyles – runners, bodybuilders, fitness instructors, etc.
• Corporate workers with stiff necks, upper backs and shoulders.
• Both amateur and professional athletes.
• Anyone with a sports injury.

Whether you are training, sitting all day, want to prevent sports injuries (or heal from them), or are preparing for a sports event, sports massage is ideal. You don’t need to be a pro athlete either. Even if you just hit the gym or go for a run a couple of times a week and want to improve your performance or soothe some aches, you can book a sports massage.

You can get started today with One Body LDN, so we can melt away your aches and pains with deep massage techniques. A sports massage session with one of our highly qualified therapists will help you reconnect with your body and take it to the next level, whatever your goals. Learn more about the different types of sports massage below, or book an initial assessment to speak to one of our sports massage therapists to get things rolling.

Types of Sports Massage

The types of sports massage are split by their purpose and the scenario in which they are appropriate.

Massage should be part of a long-term training regime, as many of the benefits (listed below) take time to emerge. Once you have found a sports massage therapist, they will create a schedule based on your sport and goals, using the different types of sports massage outlined below.

Maintenance Sports Massage

Maintenance sports massage is just as described – regular sessions to help you maintain your performance. Depending on your lifestyle, activity levels, and goals, this could involve weekly or biweekly sports massages.

The benefits of maintenance sports massage include injury prevention (see below), reduced recovery times, easing away soreness, and taking a moment to focus on wellness. We know that you want to train as hard as possible, but with regular sports massage sessions and a better connection to your body, you can work smarter as well as harder!

Training Sports Massage

Training sports massage sessions are designed to fit between personal training sessions – they are very popular with athletes. During these massage sessions, deep-tissue massage relieves tension and soreness while reducing inflammation. This can reduce the risk of injury during intense training.

Injury Prevention

This type of sports massage focuses on identifying imbalances and tightness in the musculoskeletal system. By ensuring your body is in the best shape possible, we can help you reduce the risk of injury during training or events.

Injury Rehabilitation

Although sports massage can be quite intense, it is also suitable for sports injury rehabilitation, including both chronic and acute cases. Make sure your therapist knows of your current and past injuries so they can adapt the techniques used to suit them. This ensures we can work around injured areas, applying light pressure and relieving pain. Once swelling and pain subsides, more intense techniques can be used to rebuild strength through recovery.

Pre-Event Massage

A pre-event massage is designed for professionals and amateur athletes before an event or competition, whatever the sport. Received around 8 to 72 hours before the event begins, this sports massage utilises deep tissue massage techniques to release any tension that’s built up from event training.

For sporting events where having relaxed muscles is ideal (boxing and running fit this category), a light pre-event massage can actually boost performance. It can increase blood supply, improve flexibility and mobility, and get your mind into the zone. You can incorporate the massage into a pre-event warm-up routine.

Post-Event Massage

Post-event massages are best within 72 hours after the event, ideally within the 24 to 48 hour window. It’s all about reducing inflammation, relaxing the muscles, promoting blood flow, and ultimately making recovery a smoother process. The aim of post-event sports massage is to help return your body to its strong, pre-event state.