3 Ways A Sports Massage Can Improve Your Game

Whether your ‘game’ consists of shooting hoops with buddies at the YMCA, speed drills on the track or tucking it at the barre weekly,  you want your body to be in tip top shape. Continual improvement is what drives you to run in the cold rain, lift one more rep or rise before the sun for a new class. Unfortunately, unless you are a world class professional athlete, chances are you do not have a training team at the ready to ensure that you are physically at your best everyday. That’s where we come in. The licensed and clinically trained sports massage therapists at Brielle Integrated Healthcare can help restore strained, sore or swollen muscles to ensure peak performance. Still not sure if a sports massage is right for you? Here, we break down three ways in which a sports massage can improve your game:

1. A sports massage can help reduce muscle fatigue, tension and swelling:

If you’re killing it at the gym or pushing yourself and your muscles to the extreme, you most likely experience muscle fatigue that can not only negatively affect your physical activities, but may also make regular activities harder than normal. Tension and swelling can limit mobility and flexibility. Unlike a Swedish massage, sports massage incorporates stretching techniques to loosen muscles and restore range of motion.

1. Recover faster with the help of massage:

You just hit a new PM during the race last weekend, but now you are paying the price with sore muscles and joints. Not to mention the stress you feel from not being able to train or exercise while you recover. Massage can speed up the healing process by dissolving waste fluids such as lactic acid that build up in muscles after major exertion.  By making a sports massage part of your training plan, you will be able to recover quicker and improve overall mobility while reducing muscle soreness.

1. Relax and Refocus:

If the term ‘sports massage’ conjures up visions of painful pressure on sore muscles, think again! Sports massage does not have to be high pressured or painful. In fact, many athletes look forward to the opportunity for relaxation and rejuvenation that sports massage affords. Mentally speaking, sports massage is an opportunity to take time to  refocus your mind and slow down your body before a major race or event.

Sports massage is not just for professional athletes but for people who are active, work out often and expect the most out of their physical activities. By focusing on restoring sore, fatigued and swollen muscles you’re able to prevent injuries and enhance athletic performance.