Benefits of Massage for Athletes
By David Whitley


You train hard, eat right, get enough , and take your supplements. You still, however, must ask yourself if you are really doing all that you can do to improve your health and your performance in your chosen sport. Are you doing everything you can do to minimize injury and speed recovery? Or, do you accept those nagging little aches and pains as “just part of the game?” Do you find that there are some areas where progress comes quickly and others where you just seem stuck? When was the last time you received a massage? If you are training hard and the answer was anything more than two weeks ago, you could almost certainly benefit from a good therapeutic massage.

Regular massage can help you train harder, play better, get stronger, increase the flexibility and range of motion (ROM) at your joints, and help you recover faster.
In short, you will become a better athlete - better than you are now, and better than your competition. We have all heard the human body described as a “machine”. Think of cars and trucks for a moment. Regardless of design, all cars and trucks operate better with regular maintenance. Massage is the human equivalent of this scenario. Whether your body is a sports car or a tow truck, you need to get your oil changed and your tires rotated.

As an athlete, you demand nothing short of optimal performance from your body. Your muscles and nervous system are trained to perform in ways that are specific to your chosen sport. In many cases, sport-specific skills call for the repetitive use of certain muscles at the relative exclusion of others. For example, a competitive cyclist and a baseball pitcher have completely different skill sets. The nature of each sport is to develop the muscles that improve skill at the task at hand; unfortunately, this specific development can also lead to problems.

We must keep in mind that all muscles are neurologically linked to each other. Overly strong or overly weak muscles are called muscle imbalances and will affect the nervous system as a whole. Weakness can result when a muscle becomes chronically contracted due injury or overtraining. Other muscles in the local area will pick up its slack. This is called a compensatory response or, more simply, compensation. This is undesirable because the weak get weaker and the strong get stronger. This can eventually lead to postural problems and the potential for serious injury. Often muscles will adhere to other muscles or connective tissue, restricting range of motion and circulation and ultimately leading to tissue-specific dehydration, especially in the deeper tissues.

Massage manipulations are highly effective in reducing restrictions in muscle tissue function. The biomechanical effects of massage techniques produce reflex reactions and nervous system responses that in turn cause both local and systemic relaxation. With this relaxation comes improved circulation, which removes metabolic waste products from the muscles and brings in fresh, nutrient-loaded blood. The end results are improved performance, faster recovery time, and reduced susceptibility to injury.

For massage to bring about the desired effects in athletes, it must include each of three components: soft tissue manipulation, joint mobilization and stretching.

Soft tissue manipulation includes all pressure, stroking, and friction techniques; it can be done with hands, fingers, elbows, forearms, and even the feet and knees. These techniques target nerve endings in the skin, muscles, fascia, and connective tissues. Soft tissue manipulation will release tension mechanically and neurologically.

Joint mobility deals with moving a specific joint through its full range of motion and is usually done passively. Some modalities - such as Thai Massage and Active Release Technique (ART) - make extensive use of joint mobility in conjunction with soft tissue manipulation. This is especially good for not only the recovery and rehabilitation of old injuries, but also the prevention of new ones.

Stretching is the lengthening of shortened muscle fibers. There are many different passive and active techniques that may be used to stretch the muscles. Stretching increases arterial blood flow, reduces the tendency of the muscle to spasm, and helps restore the muscles' normal resting length.

Used in combination during a session, these techniques produce positive changes in the muscles. By relaxing the chronically contracted muscle, the range of motion is restored and true recovery can begin. When the body begins to move, it will start to heal itself.

If you don’t have a good massage therapist, find one. Ask your friends who train if they can recommend someone. Try a few different therapists and get an idea of each one’s strengths and weaknesses. It helps to have a massage therapist who is also an athlete, as these individuals will better understand your needs, therefore establishing a good working relationship from the outset. If you haven’t had any bodywork done or it has been a long time, get a session every week or two for the first few months. It shouldn't take long for you to notice improvement in your performance as well as your general health. Eventually you will need the work less frequently - perhaps only monthly - just for maintenance. You will be rewarded with improved athletic performance, expedited recovery, and resistance to injury.