Benefits of Sports Massage & BodyWork

The demands of endurance training result in excessive amount of stress being placed on an athlete’s muscles. Without proper recovery, your muscles will begin to break down.  If an athlete continues to train through an injury or continues to over train, his or her body will begin to self heal the damaged tissue. Two of the ways our bodies attempt repair the damage are through the formation of scar tissue and the development of muscular trigger points.

Scar Tissue Formation

If there is trauma (an injury such as a strain), or even just repetitive micro traumas to a muscle over time, your body will attempt to heal the damaged tissue by laying down scar tissue. Scar tissue is a very brittle, fibrous tissue, which is not as flexible and not as strong as the original tissue. This results in a loss of flexibility and weakens the muscle, which can result in increased likelihood of re-injury and decrease in overall performance.

Specific deep sports massage techniques can improve flexibility of scar tissue by re-orientating the fibers of scar tissue. This will improve the muscles ability to elongate and stretch, which reduces the risk of re-injury, while allowing the athlete to increase intensity of training.

Trigger Point Formation

Trigger points are hyperactive points in a tight band of muscle. They produce pain locally and in a referred pattern.  Acute trauma or repetitive micro trauma may lead to the development of stress on muscle fibers and the formation of trigger points.  Studies have shown that muscles with trigger points do not respond as well to training stimuli such as strength training or aerobic training.

Specific trigger point massage techniques can eliminate the trigger points, which will result in decreased pain, improve flexibility and improved muscular response to training.