Why you would benefit from regular sport massage

As a sport and remedial massage practitioner it's not surprising I would recommend regular sport massage, or that I would assert how beneficial regular sport massage can be.  However through my own experiences competing in kickboxing world championships I can genuinely say that I have not felt better prepared or in better shape physically or mentally than when I was getting weekly sport massage treatments.  If I were able to I would have sports massage every other day.

Sport is not the only factor that can produce wear and tear or cause injury to the structures of the body, other factors such as occupation, illness and disability, posture and emotional stress can all play a part in the reason why people might benefit from a sport massage.  Commonly most people book in for a sport or remedial massage when they have a problem, such as an injury, general ache or pain, or are stressed and tense.  While it is true that massage is extremely beneficial for dealing with these problems you don't need to wait until they arise to benefit from a massage.  In fact through having regular sport massage you may be able to avoid or at least reduce the risk of these problems arising at all, especially when you consider how problems can gradually build up over time.  Elite athletes in particular see massage as an important part of their training programme for improving recovery and in turn improving performance.

Massage can play an important role in the development and progression of an athlete.  Whether you are aiming to compete for your country or just participate in sports for fun you should be considering regular massage treatment.  Training in general can be very intense and during training the body is placed under high loads, if you begin to train for a specific competition or event, such as a marathon, these loads and expectations of the body intensify.  You want more from your body and fast.  Massage can help to reduce this strain, improve the rate of recovery from training and reduce tension caused through training in muscles.  All of this helps to support consistent and qualitative training keeping fatigue at bay, which will in turn ensure an athlete is in the best and most optimal condition to reach peak performance.  This is all alongside

Regular massage treatments with the same practitioner will also help to identify predisposing factors to injury and treat them before they develop into a full blown injury thereby preventing injury.  Over time the practitioner will be able to judge what is normal to that particular client so that any changes in muscle tone or subtle differents will be recognised through touch and observation.  These changes are likely to be a signal or precursor to potential injury and corrective action can be taken.

But what if you aren't an athlete???  Well regular massage can still be beneficial to you, it can still help you maintain your body in the best and most optimal condition to perform your daily activities.  People from a range of occupations from drivers, office workers to jobs involving vast amounts of manual handling - care, builders to jobs standing for large periods of the day such as hairdressers can all and should get benefit from regular massage.  Even mothers looking after young children can really benefit.  Massage is also renowned for its psychological benefits.  Through touch, the warming effect of massage and reduction of muscle tension achieved, massage can promote feelings of wellbeing through creating relaxation of the body.  So if you are experiencing any stress in your job or at home a massage is a great option.

For those who have unfortunately had an injury, sport and remedial massage can be beneficial for treatment and rehabilitation.  It can help to break down scar tissue and adhesions, reordering collagen fibres in a way that enables them to be stronger and more functional - therefore helping a client to return to normal functioning.  After this initial treatment successful rehabilitation is crucial but often neglected.  If you do not return to your daily activities and/or training in a progressive way you can be leaving yourself open to reinjury.  Injury can cause wasting of muscle or tightness in other muscles through compensation - massage will help to reduce the tension in these muscles and also increase the extensibility of muscles and ligaments.  Massage will minimise reinjury and secondary injuries caused through compensation.

Massage is more effective the more regularly you have one, if a problem has built up over time it is likely to take time to correct, often one appointment won't cut it.  In the short term you could feel as though your problem has been solved but unless you also address the issues that caused the problem in the first place through stretches, strengthening and changes to posture / daily activity then the problem is highly likely to return.  Through regular treatment and following stretch and strengthening programmes these problems can hopefully be eradicated.


Your body is the greatest machine and tool you will ever own or use.  We put our cars in for MOTs and servicing but often neglect what our body needs and our body will benefit from regular sport and remedial massage.