The health and wellness benefits that sports massage offers are more abundant than once thought. Emerging research points to a growing list of advantages that are much larger than simple anxiety, tension, and pain relief.
People who get sports massage regularly have lower cortisol levels in their saliva. Cortisol is a stress hormone that has been linked to lower immune functions. Cortisol kills off cells that are needed for a healthy immune system. Lowering the amount of cortisol can increase the bodies ability to attack foreign invaders. It also lowers stress and anxiety levels. It has even been shown to help lose weight and helps keeps it at a healthy level.
Sports Massage Reduces the Chance of Injury
Tense muscles are more likely to be injured than relaxed muscles. Therefore, by receiving a sports massage to relax your muscles, it lessens your chance of injury. Sports massage can also reduce the frequency and severity of strains, pulls and aches in your muscles.
Sports Massage Improves Rage of Motion and Flexibility
Training too vigorously can cause muscles to become rigid. Sports massage can help muscles to become more relaxed, making them more flexible. A sport massage prior to a competition can reduce tension in the muscles, allowing muscles to be more relaxed and fluid.
Top 10 Benefits of Sports Massage
- Massage provides a circulatory effect of both blood and lymph fluids, helping to maintain the muscles and soft tissue in an optimum state of nutrition.
- Massage reduces hypertonicity of the muscles creating improved tone, flexibility, and relaxation, as well as promoting overall muscle balance.
- Massage enables the athlete to recover more rapidly and completely from injury. This reduces the likelihood of chronic problems and further injury.
- Massage reduces muscle soreness enabling the athlete to train and perform more consistently at a higher level.
- Massage directly benefits the muscular, skeletal, nervous, circulatory, and lymphatic systems.
- Cross fiber massage effectively reduces adhesions and varying degrees of scar tissue formation in the soft tissues. This allows for a true freeing of the tissues, reestablishing full function of a muscle in contraction and elongation, promoting muscle balance and range of motion.
- Massage reduces pain and promotes relaxation, creating a positive effect physically and mentally.
- Massage reduces edema and speeds circulation.
- Massage reduces cramping and spasm as well as voluntary and involuntary splinting, thus promoting complete recovery and improved overall muscle balance.
- Massage helps to enhance increased body awareness thus assisting the athlete in balance body awareness and injury prevention.