Advantages Of Different Sports Massage Techniques

By Edna Booker


Those sports persons who find their bodies stressed might need some sort of sports massage therapy. There are plenty of different types of sports massage techniques that are commonly used to relieve stressed muscles among professional as well as casual athletes.

Those individuals who are regularly involved in sports activities, sometimes overuse their body muscles which wears them out and they feel tired and exhausted. Sometimes too many repetitive movements can cause stress in between your muscles and to get rid of that stress you are required to undergo certain type of sports therapy to ensure your muscles are in perfect working condition.

Besides using it as a healing tool, many sports person use it as their basic tool and to enhance their performance. During the training process or after they are done with the event, they undergo such massage therapy to relieve their body and prepare it for future activities. It is a good way of preventing injuries in the future because you are regularly exercising your muscles which makes them flexible enough to withstand undue pressure.

Skimming is one of the popular techniques used in sports massage and the professionals use the French word Effleurage for it. Stroking movements are used with different levels of pressure in order to help release tension in your body. From strong deep strokes to light strokes are used in varying manner.

Kneading is also a useful technique and for professionals it is known as Petrissage. This includes the process of squeeze and release with the help of hands in order to relieve stress from your body tissues. You could apply direct weight on your skin or different areas of the skin are squeezed and released simultaneously. It helps in enhancing the circulation of blood and muscle tension is released as well.

Friction is another expressive technique used in sports massage. With the help of your fingers and thumbs pressure is applied in a forceful manner on certain body parts. The purpose of this technique is to realign tissue fibers and it could be a painful process to start with but once it is done, it will bring long term positive results.

A technique that is not used very often is the Tapotment which is another French word and means to hack and cup the skin. The skin throughout the body is stroked in a manner that it sounds like clapping and then cupping involves creating air tight pockets with the help of hands and then compressing and releasing the skin which creates certain sort of vibration and aligns the body tissues and clears out any tensions in between the muscles. This is the most complicated technique therefore it is used very less often.

All these techniques have their own effectiveness provided how frequently and how accurately you use them. Its always better to go to a professional for such type of massage because if you go to someone who has no professional expertise, you may hey yourself injured instead of getting your muscles healed.




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