The Importance of Massage in Sport

Massage is an essential component of any sports program

without it muscles do not work at 100% efficiency which leads to
restricted joint range of motion which , in turn , reduces overall
athletic performance . In this article , I want to look at not only the
more obvious benefits of massage but also some of the lesser
known , but equally important effects and to look at a some new
techniques developed in recent years .

General Benefits of Massage

There are many here are a few ;
Post-event massage helps clear out waste and toxins ,
reducing stiffness and enabling faster recovery than postevent rest
The athletes fitness capabilities will be increased
The repair of tissue that is massaged is 5 -7 times faster than
tissue that is not massaged and will have a lesser risk of reoccurrence
Does not have to be only for injury treatment it is much more
powerful when used as a preventative tool to keep the body
healthy
When injured tissue is massaged it heals with less scarring
Let's look at the last point in a little more detail ;
Everyone is familiar with the injury that has you limping off the
pitch or out of the competition but many injuries are considered too
minor to bother with and are left untreated a knock on the thigh
from an opponent or a runner who has to finish despite a very tight
calf muscle these are considered 'par for the course' but these
minor injuries can have a debilitating effect on muscle structure
over the course of time .

When a muscle tissue is damaged it bleeds and the body rushes

to stem the flow but it does not do this with more muscle fibre
but with a substance known as collagen . The problem with this is
twofold collagen begins as a sticky mass with the fibre direction
every which way ;

This eventually solidifies into a hard ball of scar tissue ( it can be

felt as marbles under the skin and is less elastic than muscle fibre) .
This results in an area of muscle which is restricted , which in turn
affects the surrounding tissue . Massage in the early stages of
injury treatment can re-align the collagen fibres in the same
direction as the muscle fibres and break off small pieces of collagen
to be taken away by the body as waste .
The second problem is that small areas of damaged tissue
( these can be microscopic ) affect the surrounding tissue ( they can
go into 'lock-down' mode to prevent further damage )

The scar tissue and tension in and around the damaged area
prevent any function ( contraction or stretching ) and so the
adjacent fibres have to work harder to make up for this deficiency .
These fibres themselves can then be over-used and become
damaged and so the problem is repeated over and over and
expands through the muscle over time .

Muscle Imbalances
Athletes subject their bodies to abnormal mechanical stresses
and , as a result of training , the strong postural ( slow twitch )
muscles can be too strong at the expense of the the weak phasic
( fast twitch ) muscles which become weaker . This can then disrupt
the sequential manner in which muscles fire ;

Firing pattern when extending right leg

If this is the case then it needs to be addressed as it can have a

negative effect on speed , strength , co-ordination and endurance .

It can also lead to more serious issues as the forces do not travel
through the kinetic chain of muscles and , instead , are absorbed by
the skeleton ( soccer players are 10 times more likely to have hip
osteoarthritis than the normal population ) .

New Techniques
Soft Tissue Release
With standard stretching methods the healthy and elastic fibres
will be able to accommodate full extension of the muscle without
any tense areas being stretched this is why , despite a good
stretching program , areas can still become tense ( it's impossible ,
for instance , to adequately stretch all four of the quads with one
knee bend ) . Similarly , some muscles cannot be fully stretched
simply because of the type of joint that they are connected to the
biceps , for instance . With STR , a local area of tight tissue is
locked still by the therapist and a stretch is performed ;

This focuses the stretch to just these tissues and is extremely

effective and produces immediate results

Muscle Energy Technique

The MET technique is designed to improve flexibility where the
therapist is responsible for moving the limb and feeling for the point
at which resistance to the stretch is felt . It differs from other
systems in that the client takes an active part in the process the
therapist alternately stretches and relaxes the muscle with the client
applying pressure in between

Hierarchy of Training
If you were to ask any average sports person to list , in order of
importance , the facets of their training , it would probably look like
this ;

Training
Hydration
Diet
Stretching
Massage
Rest

If you were to ask the same of an elite athlete you would get
this ;
Rest
Hydration
Diet
Stretching
Massage
Training
We can see that here no one facet is more important than another
the elite athlete has learned that to neglect one adversely effects
the overall performance . Massage is but one of these and should
be considered an essential part .

Val O'Halloran
Massage Therapist