About Massage

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The primary focus of the treatment at the Sports Massage Studio is to reduce those niggling aches and pains that you might have suffered with for many years, or have just started to have an impact on your daily life. It is also to improve fitness ability in sports men and women, helping to achieve a longer and less painful sporting lifespan that is not plagued with injuries. Using a range of massage techniques 3 fundamental effects of massage are achieved:-

Physical effects of massage
The movements in massage suck fluid through blood vessels and lymph vessels. By increasing the pressure in front of the stroke, a vacuum is created behind. This is especially important in tight or damaged muscle tissue as a tight muscle will squeeze blood out like a sponge, depriving the tissues of vital nutrients and energy to repair. Increased tissue permeability - Deep massage causes the pores in tissue membranes to open, enabling fluids and nutrients to pass through. This helps remove waste products such as lactic acid and encourage the muscles to take up oxygen and nutrients which help them recover quicker. Massage can stretch tissues that could not be stretched in the usual methods. Bundles of muscle fibres are stretched lengthwise as well as sideways. Massage can also stretch the sheath or fascia that surrounds the muscle, so releasing any tension or pressure build up. Scar tissue from previous injuries or trauma can negatively affect muscle, tendons and ligaments leading to inflexible tissues prone to injury and pain. High levels of training can make tissues hard and inelastic. This is one reason why hard training may not result in improvements. Massage helps reverse this by stretching the tissues. Massage increases blood flow to tissues similar to exercise but it also opens or dilates the blood vessels and by stretching them this enables nutrients to pass through more easily.

Physiological effects of massage
Pain reduction - Tension and waste products in muscles can often cause pain. Massage helps reduce this in many ways including releasing the body’s endorphins.
Relaxation - Muscles relax through heat generated, circulation and stretching. Mechanoreceptors which sense touch, pressure, tissue length and warmth are stimulated causing a reflex relaxation.

Psychological effects of massage
Depending on the speed and techniques used, massage can be invigorating, which is particularly important for those in pre or inter event competition and need to be alert and muscle tone increased (sprinters for example). By administering slower techniques and combining them with the physiological and physical effects, relaxation and anxiety is induced, which in turn increases awareness of the mind-body connection.