Massage is a wonderful thing. It’s ideal for people who need to relax; get a little stress relief with some ‘me’ time, and has physiological and psychological benefits.
Sports massage is a little different in that it has a specific physical goal; to help prevent injury- or in the event of injury, to help heal it as part of a therapeutic program. It’s very different from a relaxing massage at a spa; it’s designed to work into the tissues to elongate muscles and improve blood and nutrient flow, as well as waste product elimination.
Whether you’re a professional athlete or just a weekend warrior who enjoys a run, everyone will benefit from incorporating sports massage into their schedule and as part of their training regime on two levels; it will help prevent injury in the first place, and it will help you recover from the demands you’ve put on yourself.
Sports Massages with Andreea
Reduce your chance of injury and improve muscle flexibility and range of motion with a professional sports massage from Andreea at Portobello Physiotherapy.
Andreea Cristina Hedes – Sports Massage Therapist & Pilates Instructor.
Andreea Cristina Hedes is a professional sports massage therapist and a Pilates instructor. She works with a wide variety of clients, ranging from elite to recreational level athletes as well as occupational related neck and back complaints.
Sign Up Today
Call the Clinic on 01 476 3330/1 or call Andreea directly on 087 1040 661.
You can also email info@portobellophysio.ie.
Pushing your Body
The goal for everyone who is active is to first and foremost prevent the kind of wear and tear that comes with putting physical demands on your body. Yes; exercise is fantastic and ultimately good for your overall health, but if you are going to push your body you must prepare it and maintain it to avoid potential injury.
With strenuous exercise, your muscles can lose their ability to relax and they become shorter and tighter. Chronically tight muscles will lose their flexibility and that is really asking for trouble, as it makes you so much more susceptible to injury.
If your muscles lose flexibility, they can easily pull or tear, and tight muscles become very sore. Blood flow is poor through tightened muscles (ischemia) and that also cause pain, so aside from intelligent stretching and warming up/down, incorporating sports massage has several benefits.
How Sports Massage helps
It reduces your chances of injury by improving muscle flexibility and range of motion.
It helps shorten the recovery time needed between each workout, allowing you to maximise your schedule.
It increases blood flow through the whole body, optimising the supply of oxygen and nutrients all over; dilating veins and reducing blood pressure.
It helps eliminate metabolic waste products- for instance lactic acid after hard exercise; lactic acid is a by-product of all exercise and it can be absolutely agonising.
The stresses of fairly strenuous exercise take a toll, so massage will help improve blood and lymph circulation to flush waste products out of your system.
It also relives muscles; improving connective tissue healing and lending greater elasticity, which helps ensure you’re in great shape the next time you hit the track or the field or the bike.
Depending on what sport you enjoy and how your body responds to it, your physiotherapist will be able to zone in on particular muscle groups to work specific tissues. A regular program of sports massage will help you to improve your performance and endurance; flexibility and help ensure injury-free workouts.
The benefits of Sports massage are cumulative; with repetitive massage therapy in a regular program you’ll see a difference in your performance and in your recovery rates.
Recovery and Massage techniques
Your Portobello physiotherapist will become aware of areas you may have hurt in the past and will work on these vulnerable areas. If you are unfortunate to have injured yourself, you’ll need to be assessed by a chartered physiotherapist first to ensure an accurate diagnoses, after which treatment of your injury can begin. Therapies like deep tissue massage and trigger point work can really help speed up healing and guard against reinjury.
Discuss your goals with your physiotherapist- are you trying to build up stamina? Are you training for a marathon, or do you play soccer a few nights a week? Your treatment plan will be very individual, so you and your physiotherapist need to devise a plan together that will work for you in every sense- financially; with your training schedule; with your races or matches or plans.
Just give Portobello Physiotherapy Clinic a call on 01 476 3330.
