About Sports Massage
About Our Treatments
Pre-event and Post-event Massage
General Questions
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Treatments
What is Sports Massage?
Sports Massage is a special type of massage focused on the management, manipulation and rehabilitation of soft tissues including muscles, ligaments and tendons.
It covers a wide range of techniques including deep tissue massage, neuromuscular facilitation, myofascial release, muscle energy techniques, soft tissue release and therapeutic stretching.
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I don't play sport, can I still have a massage?
Absolutely, you do not need to be into sport to benefit from Sports Massage. It's a direct therapy that can benefit all types of muscle tension and soreness, whether from hours at a desk or training for a 10k run!
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What are the benefits of sports massage?
Skillful Sports Massage is an effective therapy for releasing muscle tension and restoring balance to the musculo-skeletal system. It can help counteract the constant build-up of tension from regular activity that causes stress and imbalance, leading to injury.
Many benefits of Sports Massage have been reported:
- Increased circulation and lymphatic flow
- Increased range of joint motion and flexibility
- Injury treatment, prevention and rehabilitation
- Elimination of waste products, such as lactic acid
- Release of tension and anxiety
- Remodel scar tissue when required
- Increase or decrease muscle length
- Decreased muscle soreness and tension
- Sedate or stimulate nerve endings
- Decreased muscle soreness
- Increased sense of wellbeing
- Assist in mental preparation for sporting participation
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What conditions can you treat?
Sports Massage can help with many conditions, including:
- Muscular pain
- Stress
- Sore Shoulders
- Headaches
- Stiff neck
- Sciatica
- Sports injuries
- Tendonitis
- Work-related overuse injuries
- Whiplash
- Back, Neck and Shoulder pain
- Chronic pain
- Arthritic pain and Rheumatism
- Epicondylitis
- Hip & Knee pain
- Frozen shoulder
- Plantar fasciitis
- Spasmodic torticolis
- Postural strain and imbalance
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What happens during a treatment?
Each session will be different depending on your needs and how your tissues react as we progress. Often, as we work, we may find areas of tightness that may not yet be causing symptoms, but may benefit from further treatment. In this way, Sports Massage can be excellent for preventing future injuries.
An initial consultation involves us taking a full history, checking for anything that prevents us treating and, together, setting goals for your treatment. Then we observe your standing posture, palpate any relevant areas and possibly ask you to perform some movements to assess fluidity and range of movement etc. There may also be some special tests to help diagnose any issues before treatment begins.
At the end of each treatment you will be given advice including any helpful stretches and possible exercises to perform.
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What should I wear?
We recommend you wear underwear or loose shorts so we can access the attachments of all the relevant muscles.
It's very important that you feel comfortable during treatment so if you need to wear something else, that's fine too, we can work through a towel. The treatments may be more painful afterwards, as it's not as easy to warm up the the relevant areas in preparation for deeper work.
We use towels to cover parts of your body not being worked on, so your modesty is always protected.
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Does Sports Massage hurt?
Depending on the reason you are having the massage, there is a possibility it may be uncomfortable, although this should be a therapeutic pain! You are always in control so if the pressure is too much for you — or too little — we encourage you to speak up and we will adjust accordingly, or use a different technique.
It can sometimes be sore after a massage so our usual post-treatment advice is to drink lots of water and warm the area with a hot water bottle or a hot bath. A special pre-event massage will not leave you sore, just ready to perform well, so please let us know if you have an event coming up.
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What type of massage lotion do you use?
We use the best quality, massage lotion we can source, so it doesn't leave you feeling oily after your treatment. Our current choice is a dermatologically tested lotion, enriched with Allontoin, Vitamin E, Aloe Vera and Chamomile to moisturise and nourish.
Before treatment we will check if you have any allergies and use a different product if necessary.
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Pre and Post Event Massage
Pre-event Massage is a great way to supplement and enhance your warm-up for an event. It can decrease the likelihood of injuries, increase your performance and help you feel you are in peak condition. The techniques are light, fast-paced and aim to:
- Stimulate blood flow, generating a fresh supply of oxygenated blood to the important areas
- Reduce muscle tension
- Increase flexibility
- Decrease anxiety and nervous energy
- Enhance your focus and concentration
Post-event Massage helps you to recover from the physical exertion of an event. We use a range of techniques, including light massage, traction and passive stretching, aiming to help the cool-down process by:
- Stimulating circulation
- Relaxing tight muscles
- Reducing potential soreness
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I am recently injured, can I have a massage straight away?
Within the first 2-3 days it is best not to have a massage and follow the RICE advice:
Rest: Rest the injured area immediately to avoid further bleeding from torn fibres.
Ice: Use a wet tea-towel around some ice (or a bag of frozen peas) and apply it to the area for 10 minutes to reduce inflammation and bleeding. You can repeat this often.
Compression: Compress the injured area with a special bandage, elastic wrap or splint, being careful not to wrap it too tightly.
Elevation: Raise the injured area above the heart to reduce bloodflow.
Once the bleeding and swelling have reduced, 2 - 3 days after the injury, Sports Massage is an effective way to speed up your recovery time. Please seek medical advice if your painful symptoms have persisted for more than 3 days.
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What is your cancellation policy?
We ask that you give us 24 hours notice if you need to cancel your appointment for any reason or we reserve the right to charge you the full price.
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