Sports massage is a specialized approach aimed at athletes and individuals involved in intense physical activities. Its purpose is to enhance performance and support recovery from injuries.
Networking is a valuable asset in any career, and it can open doors to fresh opportunities for sports massage practitioners. Keeping up with industry news and sharing success stories on social media is an effective way to do this.
Anatomy and Physiology
Whether you’re training for work as a massage therapist or seeking to enhance your sports performance, you must have an understanding of anatomy and physiology. This includes identifying common injuries in athletes, and exploring how sports massage is used to promote recovery from injury.
You will also study the musculoskeletal system and how it relates to physical activity. Using interactive online tools such as 3D anatomical visualizations, and learning aids like flashcards, will help you master the basics of the human body.
For instance, pre-event sports massage sessions are typically performed shortly before a competition to stimulate the muscles and improve circulation. This can also reduce mental tension, helping an athlete perform at their peak. The massage therapist should respect an athlete’s space and avoid overworking the muscle. This could lead to delayed onset muscle soreness or even injury.
Techniques
Many athletes from professional sports teams to weekend warriors seek out massage to enhance performance, ease pain and prevent injury. As a sports massage therapist, you’ll use techniques such as effleurage and petrissage to ease muscle tightness, as well as kneading and friction. You’ll also learn percussion massage, including hacking, which uses the border of the hand to strike the muscles in a light, springy, brisk way. This increases blood circulation, stimulates the reflex contraction of the muscle fibers and softens areas of hard tissue.
During pre-event massage, you’ll use shorter sessions to stimulate the muscles and improve their flexibility and range of motion in preparation for the event. The goal is to help pre-event vs. post-event massage benefits the athlete relax and achieve a state of mental focus.
Post-event massage reduces muscle soreness, increases relaxation, and accelerates recovery from intense physical activity. The therapist may also use passive stretching, effleurage, joint mobilization and ice massage to reduce the dreaded delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Flexibility and range of motion are improved, and the therapist can help to restore normal function in damaged muscles.
Case Studies
Having hands-on experience treating clients in real-world situations is key to building your sports massage skills. Gain volunteer or intern opportunities with local sports teams, training centers, and/or clinics to refine your technique and develop a deeper understanding of the unique needs of athletes.
Adding regular sports massage to an athlete’s regimen increases range of motion, flexibility and strength. These benefits also decrease injury risk and enhance the body’s natural recovery process.
Athletes report that sport massage also helps them attain a state of mental calm that fosters a positive mindset and allows them to focus on their goals without distraction. One such story is from a triathlete who experienced knee pain that impacted his training and performance. Through a series of sports massage sessions targeting the iliotibial band and surrounding muscles, he reported increased mobility and less discomfort. This helped him to remain focused on his goals and achieve a PR at the next race.
Ethics
A massage therapist working with athletes should understand their unique situation and needs. Whether they are working with weekend athletes or serious amateur competitors in sports like triathlons, golf, soccer and tennis or with professional athletic teams and players, they need to know what to expect.
This course explores the unique situation of working with athletes and the potential ethical challenges. This includes the scope of practice, considerations for athletes and their training and conditioning, assessment methods, CAE (cumulative effects of exercise) and more.
ABMP offers a portfolio of top-quality ethics courses to help massage therapists maintain and copyright a high standard of professionalism. These courses are ideal for all levels of therapists, from beginner to advanced. Several of these courses also fulfill your state’s requirements for CE credits. Learn about these courses and more on the ABMP Education Center.
