What Is a Sports Massage?

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Sundae with Natural Sundae. If you've ever wondered what a sports massage is I can tell you. Now a sports massage is a specialized form of massage therapy focused at athletes. Usually this is given at three specific times. The first time is in between workouts, the second time is pre-event and the third time is post-event. Now in between workouts it's very important for a athlete to be able to get a massage because this does many things. It helps increase muscle range of motion, muscle flexibility, range of motion, mobility, increases circulation and it takes away muscular aches and pains. It also helps them remain nice and soft and supple and flexible. One of the most important things it does however, in between workouts is it helps flush out all that lactic acid out of the tissue. Now lactic acid is a toxin, a natural toxin in your body that is released through strenuous exercise. If it is not flushed out, it can build up and build up and cause the muscles to become sore. So it's one of the most important factors in deciding whether to do a sports massage, in between as you need to flush out that lactic acid in between workouts. It reduces muscle recovery time. The second time is pre-event. Obviously pre-event sports massage and post-event sports massage are going to be totally different because your objectives are different. Pre-event you're going to want to wake up that athlete, you're going to want to wake up the nerves and muscles, you're going to want to wake up and revitalize their mind. Therefore you're going to give nice brisk movements, you're going to want to give a lot of stretching and mobilization and getting ready, getting that athlete ready to perform at this peak. Post-event, you are really trying to bring down that athlete, you're trying to bring down that heart rate. You're trying to bring down the energy. What you're doing is you're going to do some relaxation movements. You're going to flush all that lactic acid out of that body. You're going to bring fresh clean blood and help that muscle recover. During a muscular performance when an athlete is performing, micro tears can occur in muscle and this fresh rush of blood with oxygen and nutrients can help recover those micro tears in the fiber. So a sports massage is wonderful for three things, in between workouts, pre-event and post-event. So that's just a little bit about sports massage. I'm Sundae with Natural Sundae."