Introduction
When someone says “Sports Massage” what comes to mind? Is it a large person with a white golf shirt and khaki chinos pressing their elbow in to a scantily clad football player’s back? Is it a person at the end of a five kilometer run, with a massage table, a bottle of water and a banana for the participant? In many educational environments, sporting events like runs are used to complete student clinical hours, and to “spread to word about massage”, yet many massage therapists do not have specific training about what entails a sports massage education.
Athletes know what to do about their muscle aches and pains. Many employ the services of a sports massage therapist to help them. Sports massage can be used as a preparation for play, during games or events, after events and for maintenance during the off-season. It takes a focused and trained sports massage therapist to know how and when to do the bodywork, and exactly how to communicate about what they do with the athlete and the how to integrate with a sports medicine team. Most athletes are strong believers in the power of a good massage.
You do not have to be an elite athlete to benefit from a sports massage. If you are on an amateur baseball team, play tennis as a hobby, run, or just work out hard every weekend, you may have muscle and joint issues that affect your play and even your general wellbeing.
In this introductory course to Sports Massage, you will learn what a sports massage is, where it all got
A sports medicine expert is a physical therapist. Many people do not recognize it as that but it is. Both fields try assist their patients in their healing process on many levels beyond just the physical. Although the training teaches them to focus on the physical body as the cause of pain and disease, experts have found that many of our physical problems stem from and are modulated by emotional, mental, psychological, and spiritual issues. Not all people heal on the same schedule or in the same way. This is why therapists provide a healing model with a loving environment. They don't deal in disease only deal in healing, which is an active process. The patients are taught to create the concept and feeling of health. they often have to remove a person's diagnosis that he or she has been branded with by other doctors. Pain does not mean that a person is broken. X-rays and MRI scans frequently do not tell the truth. So you sometimes have to run a number of different tests to find out exactly what the problem is with the patient, you would be surprised on how many patients have serious mental problems and think that they are hurt in some way shape or form but most often it is just a mental problem they have.
As I began to realistically consider athletic training as an occupation, Pete assisted me in making an educated decision. One drawback to athletic training is that positions in high-paying professional jobs are limited and highly competitive. Professional sports such as football require very long hours, frequent travel, and working seven days a week. These positions are exceedingly political, and it can be difficult to be an advocate for an injured player while satisfying team management. It is also notable that some players are resistant to athletic injury treatment; this slows recovery time,
“Exercising with a trainer makes the quality of life go through the roof” (Giosia.) This is a quote by Nadia Giosia and she talks about the great feeling of exercising with a trainer and how it makes the quality of life much better.. Athletic Trainers care for athletes that have been injured. Using physical therapy equipment, techniques or medication and asses and report the progress of recovering athletes to coaches or physicians. Being an athletic trainer is a great career choice if one enjoys the feeling of helping people, being close to sports and activities and a good salary and benefits.
It is valuable to take the time to evaluate the effectiveness of your sports massage. An important part of the evaluation is self-evaluation can take place during the treatment as the therapist reflects on how well things are going. This will help you make any instant changes to treatment.
If you are into sports, now days there are also many sports teams that use massage therapists to increase players’ performance. Increased performance is also going into the business world; many corporations are staffing massage therapists because relaxation reduces stress and headaches. When these physical negatives are reduced, more work gets accomplished with fewer complaints.
What does back pain, neck tension, headaches and anxiety all have in common? They are all treatable issues that can be relieved or treated through massage therapy. Stress-related symptoms are one potential treatment option for massage therapy. Massage may also be used to treat muscular pain following strenuous exercise. Tiffany Field, head of Psychology at the University of Miami School of Medicine's Touch Research Institute, explains that massage can limit our bodies fight or flight response associated with stressful or fearful situations. In university, many students will experience stressful moments with assignments, exams, and projects. What many students are unaware of, is how stress negatively impacts mental and physical health. Through the use of massage therapy, students can relieve stress and even sleep better at night. Massage can be used to cope with mood disorders and relieve muscle pain or tension. Field explains massage can increase blood flow and circulation of oxygen or nutrients throughout the muscles, as a method of removing metabolic wastes such as lactic acid that are produced through exercise (58). Massage is an excellent treatment for stress, pain, and sleep deprivation. With a massage therapy clinic on campus, charging at reduced rates, students would benefit by having the opportunity to improve their quality of sleep, limit emotional issues they may be feeling, improve their athletic performance and improve their academic performance.
Many athletes are aware of the benefits of chiropractic treatment, and chiropractors have been used for decades by some of the top athletes in the world. Getting a chiropractic adjustment can help to align the spine, which may then offer better support to the muscles. This can enhance athletic performance – not just for professional athletes, but for anyone who wishes to remain active and healthy by engaging in sports.
Massage therapy is the use of human touch to release the body from physical and emotional burden. Massage escalates blood flow by increasing the amount of fresh oxygen that flows to the tissues. A regular massage boosts the immune system to help avoid diseases and relax and tone the muscles which, in turn, improves joint flexibility.
Many people who play a professional sport see a chiropractor on a regular basis. In fact, it is estimated that half of professional football teams have a chiropractor. The reasons that athletes often choose to see a chiropractor is because spinal adjustments can help improve athletic performance.
The recreation therapist plays a very important role when it comes to pain management. The RT must make the client aware of the potential choice of pain management such as: relaxation techniques, massage, and a variety of exercises including heated pools. In addition to awareness, the RT must also assist with accessing legal pain management options. I say legal because I also believe the RT must educate themselves on the use and availability of recreational drug such as marijuana. I watched an excellent documentary called the ‘The Culture High’. (here is a link to the trailer
Sports medicine physicians help elite and recreation athletes with acute injuries such as joint injuries, ankle sprains, dislocations and fractures that do not require surgery. Many recreational and elite athletes suffer from overuse injuries, especially elite athletes
My body tends to get a lot of knots from stress, unbalanced postures, and sleep. My neck and shoulders would get very tense sometimes. So, every time that I get a massage from someone or me massaging myself, I can feel my muscles loosening up and not being so stiff anymore. I also experience the physical emotional experience of relaxation when I get a massage because of the power of touch from someone else. I think that the feeling of someone massaging me gives me less stress and it clears my mind off of things. It brings my mind and body together and makes me less worry and minimizes my stress. Overall, I think that all the benefits of massage therapy do apply to
Most fundamentally, physiotherapy clinics help in the recovery process of athletes and help them gain the strength and functionality of the affected part. Those suffering from musculoskeletal injuries can undergo different treatments such as massage or manual therapies, besides electrotherapy. After a series of tests, athletes can recoup and start practicing as quickly as possible.
For all you fit folks experiencing sore muscles after a strenuous workout, massages can benefit you. Even just a 10-minute massage can help with inflammation and body recovery. A good massage can actually improve
What is a sports physical therapist? A sports physical therapist is a physical therapist who specializes in the field of sports medicine. This type of therapist is qualified to work with patients who have suffered debilitating injuries from sporting events (Thyberg). Sports physical therapists work with a number of patients with problems ranging from muscle pains to sports injuries. Their work doesn’t consist of only working with injured patients; sports physical therapists must come up with care plans, fill out paper work, and check in with their patient’s doctors for status updates. There are several components that make up the job of a sports physical therapist.