Sports massage is a form of deep tissue massage, so a great deal of pressure is put on the muscles in order to treat them. This pressure can be uncomfortable.
Should it hurt after a sports massage?
How Long Should You Rest After a Sports Massage? – At a minimum, you should rest for at least 24 hours after your massage to ensure your muscles have plenty of time to repair themselves. Post-massage soreness is completely normal after a sports massage, and your muscles may still feel tight after 48 hours, which is a sign they are still recovering.
How long are you sore after a sports massage?
How Long Does It Take To Recover From a Sports Massage? – The length of time that you remain sore after a massage really does depend from person to person. Generally speaking, you can experience soreness for one to three days – depending on how new you are to sports massage, how regularly you have it and your general lifestyle, for example hydration, stress and activity levels.
It is important to note that the more consistent you are with sports massage, the less sore you’ll feel afterwards. Back to the exercise analogy, it feels like you’ve been hit by a train after your first 5K run, but after a few weeks of regular 5K runs, your body starts to adapt and tolerates the activity much more efficiently.
It’s exactly the same with a sports massage! To help get your body back to normal, it is important that you rest for an adequate amount of time after getting a massage. In one of our recent articles – ‘ How Long Should You Rest After a Sports Massage? ‘ We discuss the benefits of resting after a massage, and how long you should be doing it for.
How should you feel after a sports massage?
What to Expect From Your First Sports Massage? – What to expect from your first sports massage- let us be honest here, a well-executed sports massage is far from the dimly lit pamper session that you would experience at a spa. It will probably be uncomfortable, quite possibly painful but most importantly, it will work.
Designed in its entirety for the physically active, a sports massage incorporates techniques from other massage styles to become an entity that works to provide a deep and rehabilitating process that manipulates the soft tissue to prevent injury, elevate muscle or tendon pain or rid the soft tissue of any stress they are holding on to.
Extremely beneficial to athletes, gym goers or even those that are desk bound between 9-5, a sports massage experience will vary from person to person depending on what their injuries or aggravations are. Sports Massages can be split into 4 categories; Pre-Event – Designed to stimulate, this massage will focus on the areas of the body that will be exerted during the activity.
- Typically given 15-45 minutes before the event.
- Post Event – Received within 2 hours of undertaking the activity, it aids the tissues to normalise.
- Restorative – Often received regularly whilst training for an event or for those looking to improve their personal bests and train harder.
- Restorative sports massage works to enable further training by preventing injury.
Rehabilitative – Serves to alleviate pain from an injury and return the affected tissue to normal. Just like the experience will vary, the reasons that people decide on a sports massage will vary. It may be that they have ongoing conditions such as tight calves from running, or tense shoulders from sitting at a desk or have sustained a recent injury from a sprain or an accident, even those that have recently undergone recent surgery opt for treatment; sports massages are also often by those that suffer from migraines and tension headaches.
Unlike a full body massage, it is likely that the therapist will focus on specific areas of the body once an assessment has been carried out prior to the treatment. A client assessment will include a range of exercises that will allow your therapist to observe your posture & symmetry, flexibility and mobility of the muscles and joints along with your range of movements through passive, resistive and active movements.
Be aware that when the massage starts – that’s when things will get interesting! The therapist is trained to find your pain threshold, and work just below it whilst advising on your breathing techniques to manage any discomfort. Sports Massage predominantly uses myofascial release techniques to stretch the fascia; a hollow fibrous network of connective tissue made of elastin and collagen that surrounds the organs, bones, muscles and tendons within the body.
Poor posture and physical trauma can cause the fascia to become hard and lose elasticity, resulting in a decrease in flexibility; manipulating and stretching it during a sports massage will relax the fascia and tissue it surrounds to regain the flexibility and motion. Other advanced techniques that will be used include – Trigger Point Work – trigger points are a natural part of the muscle and can directly cause pain without explanation.
By using cycles of isolated pressure and release it is possibilities to get rid of the trigger points. Muscle Energy – This technique often uses an active contraction of the muscle against a resistive source and is mainly used to stretch, strengthen and relax tight postural muscles.
Soft Tissue release – Designed to stretch localised areas of tendons, fascia and muscles that are tight. The tissue and direction of its fibres will be identified, then the either active, passive or weight bearing technique will be applied. But this list is not exhaustive and techniques that work in synergy with the nervous system may also be used.
Your body will undergo trauma during a sports massage, and while it’s likely you will feel a bit sore for a few days, you may also feel cold, thirsty and a faint as your body works to metabolize the waste products removed from the soft tissue. Drinking plenty of water and taking a warm bath will aid this process.
- Those suffering from any viral infection are advised not to receive a sports massage whilst ill.
- A sports massage will stimulate the circulation and lymphatic system and can cause the virus to spread in the body.
- It usually takes 24-48 hours to feel the full effect of a sports massage after which you should feel comfortable, rejuvenated and refreshed.
Further information can be found on our page or by contacting us, : What to Expect From Your First Sports Massage? –
Can massage therapists feel knots?
Massage therapists are trained to feel where knots occur by looking for tension in the back, neck and shoulders. They find this tension and release it by applying deep compression with their thumb, fingers or elbow, and holding for 20-30 seconds.
Why did my massage hurt so bad?
WHAT ABOUT DEEP TISSUE MASSAGES? – It’s pretty common to assume a Swedish massage or any massage without deep tissue work will not hurt. However, when it comes to the deep tissue massage, it’s the one known most for hurting. It’s the massage many think has to hurt in order to do any good at all.
How often should I get sports massage?
We recommend having a sports massage once a week if you exercise multiple times a week. Types of regular exercise may include going to the gym, your favorite spinning class, or going for a 5km run. You can have a sports massage before or after the event.
What’s a sports massage like?
What is a sports massage? – Sports massage is a deep form of soft tissue mobilisation. A sports massage can be applied in a sporting and non-sporting context. Sports massage involves a wide range of techniques that include effleurage, kneading, wringing, hacking and trigger pointing.
When is it best to get a sports massage?
But Here’s the Rub – The researchers’ conclusions might seem to undercut much of the rationale for sports massage. But Julia Kirtland, owner of Core 3 Sports Massage in Portland, Maine, and the 1997 U.S. marathon champion, mostly agrees with the review’s findings.
“Massage helps athletes maintain overall muscle health by identifying areas of tension and addressing them before an injury occurs,” she said. “Massage increases tissue flexibility and muscle relaxation, improves range of motion, relieves trigger points, as well as reduces adhesions. Combined, these benefits of massage help the athlete remain active, optimize his or her training, and maximize performance.” It’s important to understand the limitations of the studies that have been done on sport massage and performance.
They have been extremely short-term, and usually comparing a hard effort when subjects have and haven’t had a sports massage. For example, in one of the few studies on sports massage and endurance, 18 male cyclists did two 5K time trials 20 minutes apart. 
hearst That’s not how most people approach sport massage. Many elite runners get regular bodywork in the same way that you might frequently check your car’s oil level and tire pressure—a preventative approach that to seeks to keep the machinery running as smoothly as possible.
The review’s finding that sports massage reduces feelings of muscle soreness should mean that treatments will leave you more able and eager to train at the level you want. This more nuanced view of sport massage puts it in the category of other health-supporting practices, such as getting enough sleep and eating a varied, nutrient-dense diet,
These practices allow your body to better withstand the demands of training and increase your chances of remaining injury-free, so that you can achieve the consistency that leads to true improvements in performance. “I think it’s through keeping muscles healthy that massage helps performance,” Kirtland said.
Similarly, sports massage is best viewed not as a one-time cure for long-term problems. “Some issues—recent, but not severe—can be can be helped by just one, or a few, massages,” Kirtland said. “However, the issues that are chronic, often the type that runners deal with, tend to take time to ‘fix.’ Athletes have to be invested in maintaining muscle health long-term (through self-care as well as massage), not just waiting until they get hurt and can’t participate in their sport.” If you use sports massage as one way to maintain your muscles’ health, then it makes sense to time them for when your muscles might most benefit.
It’s better to get a massage later in the day rather than immediately after you’ve done a long run or hard workout. Another good time is the day after your longest and hardest runs, to potentially speed recovery for your next ambitious outing. Most sports massage therapists had to stop working in the initial phase of the coronavirus pandemic,
Can a masseuse tell if you’re stressed?
Things Your Body Tells a Massage Therapist After An Hour Massage – Red Rock Spa by Well & Being Your body can say a lot about you and your lifestyle even if you don’t realize it. This month some of our Massage Therapists, share what they know about you from spending an hour with you.
- A therapist can tell whether you stretch or exercise and what type of activities you participate in based on the length of your muscles or tensions you may have in certain areas.
- Whether you drink enough water.
- Dry skin and underlying tissue are indicators of lack of hydration.
- Your therapist will also always recommend an increase in water intake after a treatment because massaging allows toxins in the body to be release and it is important to keep hydrated to flush these out and replenish your body.
If a guest has been consuming alcohol prior to treatment. Going along with the point previous, alcohol dehydrates the body and especially the skin so it is easy to tell by your appearance whether or not you’ve had a few drinks the night before a treatment.
A guest with an agitated mood typically indicates stress. Stress creates tension in body and over time may cause “holding patterns” that are evident when performing a massage. It is easy to tell whether a guest is relaxed or not as soon as they lay down on the table. If a person is complaining about chronic shoulder pain, they may be sleeping on that shoulder or carrying their belongings or children on that side of their body.
A trained eye can easily see imbalances in the body upon first look. Are you surprised by some of the things your massage therapist knows about your from just looking at you? Massage is a great way to heal the body and help relieve pain caused by many everyday stressors.
What is inappropriate touching with a massage therapist?
In November of 2017, Buzzfeed published an article surrounding the recurrent sexual assault claims against various massage therapists working at the national Massage Envy chains across the country. The article focused on massage envy, but also created a public spotlight on a problem that has existed for years. Buzzfeed’s article really was not anything new. Sexual assaults had been taking place long before 2017, and in fact local news and media outlets had been reporting on similar sexual assaults in the Las Vegas area in 2014 and 2015, The reality is that this is a crime, and a situation that is notoriously under-reported.
- No massage therapist should ever make contact with your genital area or breasts.
- Indeed, sexual contact between massage therapists and clients is strictly prohibited under professional ethics and licensing rules as well as criminal law in most states.
- During a massage, clients are in an extraordinarily vulnerable setting.
They are often undressed in a darkened room with a complete stranger (often of the opposite sex) whom they are expected to trust while lying in a prone position and seeking a relaxing experience. Given these circumstances, the massage therapist is actually aided in his commission of the assault by virtue of the conditions of his employment and his status as a licensed massage therapist.
Can a massage therapist tell if you’re stressed?
3. You Are Super Stressed – At times you are so stressed out about being stressed out, that you can’t even remember why you’re stressed out and that too stresses you out. When our a therapist arrives, it’s often quite obvious if the person is on edge and agitated.
At other times however there are no outward signs – but, during the introductory chat, anxious clients will often give us information that indicates stress and worry are at play. When the massage begins all the signs are there. Our poor muscles become taut and tense during stressful times, especially so in the shoulders, neck and head.
Constant muscle tension causes aches and pains too so there are usually some tender areas as well. Stress is a silent killer and finding ways to reduce it should be at the very top of your ‘to-do’ list. Some easy tips on how to ease stress are here.
Why are muscle knots so painful?
What Are Muscle Knots? – If you’ve ever had pain in your back, in your neck, or under your shoulder blade, you’ve probably had a muscle knot. The name makes it sound like the muscle is twisted or kinked, but that’s not the case. Knots are usually a type of spasm that causes a small portion of a muscle to tense up.
- This tension can often be painful.
- Muscle knots usually happen because a muscle has been irritated by a repetitive motion.
- Athletes will notice muscle knots after training one group of muscles for a long period of time.
- A muscle might also knot up when it’s in an awkward position for too long.
- Sitting at a desk or driving a car for a long time, especially without breaks, can irritate a muscle to the point of it “knotting up”.
Researchers have found that muscle knots don’t show up on scans, so they aren’t entirely sure what the muscle is doing to cause pain. Some doctors think the muscle spasms may affect blood flow, and that’s what makes the knotted area hurt. Other doctors say the pain could be caused by nerves that are triggered by the spasms.
Why did my massage hurt so bad?
WHAT ABOUT DEEP TISSUE MASSAGES? – It’s pretty common to assume a Swedish massage or any massage without deep tissue work will not hurt. However, when it comes to the deep tissue massage, it’s the one known most for hurting. It’s the massage many think has to hurt in order to do any good at all.
Why does massaging sore muscles hurt but feel good?
Your Brain Releases Feel-Good Chemicals and Pain Diminishes – The therapist’s touch causes an immediate reaction in your brain. As soon as your skin’s nerve cells feel pressure, they signal the brain to release feel-good chemicals called endorphins, which boost your mood and give you a natural high.
- As a result, stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline begin to decrease and the overall effect is one of euphoria and bliss.
- If you have real aches or pains, the morphine-like effect from the endorphins will help diminish them by blocking pain signals from the brain.
- And if your muscles are sore after a rigorous workout, a good rubdown will actually help them heal faster.
Researchers found that massage decreases the inflammation caused by exercise and increases the occurrence of cell repair. Many massage professionals use aromatherapy during their treatments by applying fragrant essential oils to your bare skin. These oils complement the therapist’s soothing touch and they smell good, but they also stimulate specific brain activity.
Grapefruit oil can encourage the production of enkephalins, neurotransmitters that act as natural painkillers, while the oil from marjoram can boost your levels of serotonin, helping you feel calm. Lavender is one of the most familiar oils and is known to promote relaxation and sleepiness. And oil extracted from the tropical plant ylang-ylang triggers the release of those feel-good endorphins mentioned earlier.
Try using essential oils at home by drizzling your favorite into a bath or adding it to your unscented body lotion. As the oil combines with the hot water or the heat of your skin, its scent intensifies.