Home » News on Massage, Health and Wellness » Blog » The Benefits of Massage » The Benefits of Sports Massage: NYC Client Experiences
New Yorkers are a special breed. We pound it out at the office, then pound it out at the gym. Or yoga studio, pool, court, field, etc. Sports massage in New York helps reduce your pain by improving circulation of blood and lymph throughout the body. And especially to sites of current or former injuries that have restricted blood flow (ischemia). This assists your body in removing metabolites and other toxins.
Your heavily exercised muscles lose their capacity to relax over time. Which requires more of your effort and energy when moving. The lack ability for muscles relax is linked to soreness, and predisposes you to injuries. Especially muscle pulls and tears!
Sports massage frees your muscles to move your joints more openly and efficiently. It also introduces new sensory information into your system. A system that is normally locked into its own patterns.
There are many benefits of sports massage. It can help you recover from injury and prevent new injuries. It helps make your complex human machine perform optimally with less pain in any activities. Running faster, jumping higher, and hitting balls harder all with greater endurance are just some of the benefits of sports massage.
At the studio we see lots of common injuries like stiff necks, rotator cuff injuries, runner’s knees, and Achilles tendinitis. During your massage, you may find some of the work uncomfortable. It may even have painful moments, depending on your threshold and how tight your muscles are. Keep in mind this discomfort should always be bearable.
If you have to tense up just to handle it, that’s not actually going to give you a better result. The best work is done at a level that is slightly uncomfortable and you can breathe through it and keep your muscles relaxed. It is not uncommon to find that your muscles ache for a day or two after a sports massage. Keeping well hydrated and mobile will help this pass quickly. You’ll feel more freedom of movement after and see better performance than before!
We recently worked on client who was recovering from ACL surgery on his right knee. And also had surgery to repair a tear in his left pectoral major. These injuries came from a bad fall while he was skiing. This client is dealing with a lot of scar tissue from the surgeries. He had less range of motion in both areas and was starting to feel the effects of these restrictions throughout his body.
Within 3 sessions he regained much more range of motion. And experiences less pain in movement. With continued sessions, he’ll be able to integrate the changes to each surgery site and find a new level of balance and performance.
Another client of ours had runners knee. He was in a lot of discomfort. This client was running 6 times per week with only one day of recovery. He is also in his mid 40’s and has been running since he was 19 years old.
We suggested he cut down slightly on the running and mix in other forms of exercise that do not involve a lot of pounding on his knees. During treatment, we worked below and above to help release all of the muscles connected to the knee. After three sessions the client was able to get results he was looking for and is now able to run again, pain free!
A third client of ours came in complaining of lower back pain and shoulder tightness. After evaluating his patterns, we found out that he works a desk job and then power lifts after work about 4 times per week. The pain in both areas began a week before the massage. He said that when he sits for long periods of time his lower back starts to hurt.
We focused the first massage on the muscles of his back, hips, shoulders and neck. Then we did work a bit on his legs, ankles, and feet. Our third session focused on his trunk, shoulders and arms down to the wrist. By his fourth session his pain issues went away! We advised mixing in some movement workouts into his routine such as a yoga class once a week, and substituting a cardio workout with one of his power lift workouts. Giving the body a variety of exercise allows it time to heal from the heavy workouts and come back to the next lifts stronger than ever.
At Bodyworks, sports massage is a modality used often with our clients. We regularly work on mild to serious injuries and chronic pain patterns. Stiff necks, frozen shoulder, rotator cuff issues, clients recovering from ACL surgery, hip injuries, Achilles tendonitis plantar fasciitis, wrist injuries…. You name it, and we’ve got your back 🙂 Literally!
We offer sports massage therapy in Midtown and the Financial District in New York City. Would you like to schedule a professional sports massage with one of our highly trained massage therapists? Contact Bodyworks DW today or click on the button to book online at our medical massage Midtown or medical massage Fidi studios!
