What is soft tissue therapy and why is it for you?
Soft tissue therapy or sports massage is a very useful treatment option following injury. It is widely accepted that sports massage helps alleviate muscular soreness after exercise but it’s application can have several therapeutic effects on an individuals physiological and psychological health.
Some of these include;
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Prevention and relief of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS)
By carrying out deeper strokes massage is thought to loosen adhesions in muscles fibres and temporally stretch tissues.
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Stress relief
Lighter, slow, sweeping strokes can provide a soothing effect and deeper strokes can induce deep fibre relaxation.
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Pain reduction
By stimulating local cutaneous nerve receptors massage can help to moderate and relieve pain.
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Helps people to relax, which in turn helps people to sleep better
Massage is proven to initially increase blood pressure and has also been shown too have positive effects on the quality and duration of sleep.
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Improve circulation
By increasing venous and lymphatic flow, massage can help to improve circulation and reduce some types of swelling (odema).
Athletes look after their body with regular soft tissue therapy, so why shouldn’t you? Living a busy life, it is easy to miss out important stretching sessions and cool-downs. Therefore booking in for regular soft tissue therapy sessions will help you to gain maximum effect from your training sessions by promoting recovery and strength of your musculoskeletal system.
If some of these apply to you, or you are curious about how else sports massage may help you, don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss further with one of our sports massage therapists or to book an appointment.
