When you work full-time, squeezing some training into your weekly schedule can be a real challenge – and that often means you don’t get an opportunity to properly recover from your sessions.
While it’s fair to say that nothing can replace genuine recovery time, having regular sports massages – which involve the manipulation of soft tissue – can certainly be beneficial. Below are just a few of the ways that sports massages can help your body to recuperate, boosting your chances of performing well in the future:
Physical – Suffering from delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) after a hard training session is somewhat inevitable. Typically, our muscles are left feeling tighter and less flexible. During a sports massage, our bodies are able to relax, which increases the mobility of our joints and restores our range of movement.
This accelerates recovery, enabling us to come back stronger and in less pain.
Delayed onset muscle soreness in the calves – simple exercises to fix it
Why do muscles still hurt a few days after exercise?
Physiological – Sports massages help our muscles to relax, and that makes a huge difference to our blood flow. With our vascular system under less stress and tension, it can perform more efficiently. This allows nutrients to be delivered and waste products to be removed from the muscles at a faster rate.
Psychological – As anyone who’s had one will know, a sports massage is a great way to induce calmness and relaxation. This can help to eliminate any tension that’s built up over the preceding days and weeks, and reduce anxiety, leaving us feeling invigorated and full of energy for the challenges ahead.
