Why Massage?

With London Marathon just around the corner many people are at just about the half-way point in training programs.

 

You may be feeling like your body is running smoothly, or that parts of your body you didn't even know existed are starting to niggle away or even that you just need that extra boost for your recovery or training runs. Something you may not have considered is that your body is crying out for some TLC in the form of a sports massage. For whatever your need, a sports massage will aid you in several ways.

 

Firstly, if you have recently increased your mileage or are training for a long distance event like a half or full marathon I would highly recommend you book in to receive what we call in the business ‘maintenance or preventative massage’. These are designed for those who haven’t got an injury as such but focuses on the muscles that are being placed under the heavy demand of typical half or full marathon training plan. For my personal training plan I like to book these every 2-3 weeks. This really helps me in the assistance of the recovery process, relaxes tight muscle groups, stimulates circulation, reduces potential soreness and minimise fascial adhesions.  

 

Another reason I book in for sports massage is pre-event. You may have some warm up races planned or tempo runs with goal times. A pre-event massage will create a state of readiness of the muscles by stimulating circulation and generating a fresh supply of oxygen. Specific tension can be reduced; flexibility enhanced as well as potentially decreasing anxiety, nervous tension and enhancing your state of focus.

 

Finally, if you do pick up a ‘niggle’ in your cycle of training, sports massage can help with certain types of injury. A brief assessment is done as part of the appointment and it may be that certain massage techniques used could alleviate any pain, reduce swelling, reduce muscle spasm along with previously mentioned effects.

 

I am sure many would agree that we invest a great deal of time and effort into our running/sporting goals, many sacrifices are made, social lives take a great hit, so whatever your aims why not invest in our bodies too and reap the rewards on race day?