Research tells us that between 35-43% of the UK population is estimated to suffer from chronic pain, that’s 28 million people. 40% of time off work is due to chronic pain and it costs the NHS over £10 billion pounds a year.

https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/6/e010364

It is one of the most common reasons for people to visit physical therapists accounting for up to 40% of visits.

Other common reasons include rehabilitation of sports injuries, relief of pain from accidents, relief of stress and to help prevent possible future injury.

What is massage therapy?

A Graduate Sports Therapist will spend at least three years training, with a large proportion spent on manual therapy/massage techniques, they receive skilled instruction in the manipulation of the body’s soft tissues, including muscles, connective tissues, tendons, and ligaments.

To use massage effectively therapists require detailed knowledge about anatomy and physiology, and they are often able to get to the root of chronic issues using massage techniques.

The underlying idea behind massage therapy is that a relaxed and loose muscular structure promotes the flow of energy through the body, which enables the body to maintain health and heal itself, without resorting to drugs or surgery.

Here are the most common massage techniques I use as a Sports Therapist.

Swedish Massage

This is your standard relaxation massage, which you’ll generally find offered in spas.

Swedish massage is one of the most popular forms of manual therapy, the overarching goal is relaxation of the entire body. It is an excellent tool for achieving this, easing tension while promoting the release of toxins stored in the body’s fat and epidermis layers while also increasing oxygen levels in the blood.

Studies have also shown that Swedish massage can produce significant reductions in the stress hormone, cortisol.

Trigger Point Therapy and Myofascial Release

A trigger point is a small area of tightly bound and ‘knotted’ muscle that can produce localised pain or can refer pain elsewhere when pressure is applied. For example, a trigger point in the rhomboid muscle in the upper back can produce headache-like pain at the base of the skull (often misdiagnosed as migraines).

Trigger points range from non-symptomatic to completely debilitating. The affected muscle fibres are in a permanently shortened and tense state, affecting the structures around them and potentially causing postural problems, which leads to further related symptoms.

Massage therapy treats these by the application of sustained pressure directly to the trigger point, going over time from light to very deep. This pressure will cause the tightness in the muscle to dissipate, relieving tension and stress from the whole muscle and other affected structures.

There will usually be a significant improvement in symptoms after a single session, however, follow-up treatment is nearly always needed to retrain the muscle fibres to lengthen and “smooth” back out. Gentle strength or stretching exercises may also be prescribed to prevent recurrence. A good massage therapist can often boast a near 100% success rate with trigger point therapy, even when other treatments have failed.

Myofascial release is an application of a similar technique that aims to restore mobility and function to the body’s network of connective tissue that is present throughout the muscular system and plays a vital role in its function. It is an effective technique for improving lymph circulation (keeping the blood clean, a helpful boost for the immune system) and enhances the muscle’s natural stretch reflex, keeping the body supple and strong.

Sports Massage

The focus of sports massage is to optimise athletic performance and recovery, while reducing injury risk.

Pre- event treatment may involve stimulating a stretch reflex in the quadriceps muscle of a runner to help lengthen their stride, with repeated treatments this will result in a faster runner who is less prone to injury.

Post-event will usually be a light, relaxing massage to stimulate blood flow to a specific muscle group, allowing the athlete to recover more quickly and safely, in turn enabling them to perform at the top of their game sooner than would otherwise be the case.

Rather than a specific technique as in trigger point or myofascial therapies, sport massage focuses on the dual goals of athletic performance and recovery and may borrow heavily on other modalities to achieve these ends.

In short massage can be used to:

Relax muscles/reduce stress
Improve circulation of blood and lymphatic system
Relieve pain, both chronic and acute
Improve flexibility
Improve athletic performance
Speed up recovery from physical exertion
Reduce the risk of injury

PST

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