The effects and benefits of sports massage

Sports massage is used at 5 stages in an athlete’s career; pre, inter and post match. It is also used in the rehab process to help speed up the recovery and in maintenance. It is used to benefit various different areas of the athlete’s body, for example; the CV system, lymphatic system, on the muscles, scar tissue and the nervous system.

The effects of massage:

The circulatory system:

Pre match massage is used to increase the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the muscles in preparation for activity. It is also used to increase the temperature of the muscles to increase the pliability and assists in the warming up of the muscles, all of which are in attempt to reduce the risk of injury to the athlete. Inter gameplay (massage is used during half time in a game, or between quarters, depending on the game) the athlete will use massage to help the removal of waste built up during the first half of the game (e.g. lactic acid and carbon dioxide), it will also help to keep the muscles warm and reduce the risk of the athletes getting cramp in the next half of the game. Keeping the muscles warm and pliable will reduce the risk of injury to the athlete. Post game the athlete will use massage to aid the removal of waste products built up during the whole extent of the game (lactic acid and carbon dioxide), using massage post game will also help to reduce the recovery period. Using massage in the rehab phase (to effect the cardiovascular system) post game will help to increase the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to aid recovery and repair of damaged tissues. Massage is used in the maintenance phase to maintain a good flow of blood through the system, because the blood flow through the systems is maintained it improves the efficiency of the CV system and its ability to deal with its demands of the sport.

The lymphatic system:

Pre game massage is used to remove the stagnant waste products within the system, this refreshes the system ready for any new waste that is produced from performance. Massage pre game is essentially used as a filter to the lymphatic system. Massage inter match is used to remove any waste built up in the lymphatic system throughout respiration in the first half of the game, massage inter workout (at half time) will also help to keep the lymphatic system and muscles warm and reduce the risk of cramps and injuries. Post game massage is used to remove any waste built up in the lymphatic system in the second half of the game and to reduce the recovery period of the athlete. Massage is used in the rehab stage to remove waste products built up as a by-product of the recovery process for example, dead cells and tissues that build up in the rehab and recovery process. In the maintenance period it maintains a good blood flow through the lymphatic system and improving the lymphatic systems efficiency and its ability to deal with the demands of the sport. Increasing the efficiency of the lymphatic system will increase the athlete’s overall health and it will also increase the athlete’s resistance to illness and disease.

Scar tissue:

Massage has no effect on scar tissue pre, inter and post massage because this would be the time in the game where scar tissue is being created, through the micro-tearing of muscles, and on some occasions through injury for the athlete. However, massage does benefit remodelling and reducing of scar tissue in the rehab phase, it aids the break down and removal of scar tissue and also helps in the removal of any tension and adhesions. In the maintenance phase massage helps to reduce scar tissue that is still there after the rehab phase and it also helps to reduce the formation of knots and adhesions.

Nervous system:

Massage has no benefit on the nervous system in maintenance and rehabilitation phases. In pre game situations massage is fast and vigorous in order to activate the sympathetic nervous system stimulating the athlete and increasing their arousal levels. This will prepare them for the activity they are about to perform (it will ‘hype’ them up). Inter game the massage will be using fast and vigorous strokes to activate the sympathetic nervous system and can stimulate the athlete ready for the second half of the game. If the athlete is agitated the massage will be using slow strokes to calm the athlete down. Massage will also allow the athlete to reflect on the first half of the game and prepare for the next half of the game. Post game, the athlete will undergo massage that encorporated slow, deep strokes that will activate the parasympathetic nervous system helping to relax the athlete and reduce their anxiety from the match.

Stretching:

Massage has a positive effect on the muscles stretching capabilities, massage increases connective tissue in the muscles and increases its stretching capabilities. The muscle fibres separate through the process of massage and they begin to stretch. Massage also reduces adhesions which means that the muscles become more flexible and have a larger range of motion. Increasing the muscle stretching will be increasing the pliability of the muscle and help to reduce injury to the athlete in the future performance.

Tissue permeability:

Massage will help to increase tissue permeability, it will help to improve absorption rates in the muscle cells which will help the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the muscles, which will in turn, help to increase the recovery rate of an athlete’s injury and help the delivery of oxygen to the working muscles throughout gameplay. The permeability of the cells in the muscle also improves which also helps delivery of oxygen and nutrients. This improves the the amount of nutrients travelling into the muscles and waste coming out of them.

Microcirculation:

Massage opens up blood and lymph vessels in order to increase the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the working muscles which will help the athlete’s performance levels and resistance to fatigue. Post game an increase in microcirculation will also help the athlete’s recovery after injury. Massage opens up/dilates the blood vessels and by stretching then it enables nutrients to pass through them a lot easier which will allow the athletes ability to recover post exercise to increase because more nutrients will be readily available and they will be able to transport to the muscles that need repairing a lot quicker then before massage. The increase of blood flow will also help the athlete’s ability to recover because the amount of blood that is flowing past the muscles will increase meaning that there will be a higher concentration of nutrients flowing past the muscles (per minute) available for diffusion into the muscles that need repairing.

Benefits to exercise:

As well as the effects that massage has on the athlete, it also has some physiological benefits to the athlete and their performance levels:

Reduce stress:

Massage increases the release of endorphins which helps to reduce the athlete’s anxiety and stress post game or pre game. Massage also helps to reduce cortisol levels in the body. Cortisol is one of the main three hormones that are released that allow us to experience stress. Therefore, reducing cortisol will reduce the athletes stress levels. Heat generation, circulation and stretching through pre and post game massage are noticed via mechanoreceptors (which sense touch, pressure and warmth) and are stimulated causing a relaxation effect as a reflex to this.

Enhanced wellbeing:

Massage helps to increase an athletes wellbeing in general, for example it helps to clear out waste products from every day activity, helps to increase the athlete’s range of motion, reduce muscle spasms, it helps to keep the muscles healthy. As well as benefiting the athlete’s performance level for example; it helps improve performance, prevent injuries, remove waste products built up from sport and recovery, helps to relieve pain of injuries and helps to promote recovery. Massage is a great for enhancing athletes mental and physical well-being for example, it detoxifies impurities in the body and helps to keep a healthy joint function, massage also helps athletes to combat recurring pain from previous sports injuries, massage can also help to improve an athletes sleep pattern which can help productivity with day to day tasks and can help to increase performance levels and combat fatigue and tiredness, as well as break up any adhesions in the muscle tissue.

Improved body awareness:

Massage enhances the bodies awareness, it will increase the bodies nervous function, especially the bodies sensory function which will increase the spatial awareness that the athlete has overall. This is beneficial to the athlete in a performance situation because it will allow the athlete to be more aware to their surroundings and can reduce injury/or the possibility of injury. If an athlete’s nervous system isn’t functioning as well as it should be it can have a serious effect on performance which can cause the athlete to become stressed out because they aren’t performing as well as they should be. Psychologically massage can increase the awareness of how someone’s body actually looks compared to how they think it looks, this can lead to an increased body image and potentially increasing the athlete’s confidence levels which can in turn increase their performance levels.

Pain reduction:

Massage helps to reduce pain by using the pain gate theory (Melzach and Wall, 1965), where massage stimulates cutaneous mechanoreceptors that blocks pain signals before reaching the spinal chord. So in theory massage will block the pain messages that the muscle is sending to the brain so the athlete wont experience the pain. By massaging painful areas sensory nerve endings in the skin and mechanoreceptors in the muscles are stimulated, which blocks the pain signal before it ever gets to the spinal chord which means it will never reach the brain, consequently the athletes perception of pain is significantly reduced

Relaxation:

Massage releases muscle tension and helps the athlete to relax, massage activates the parasympathetic nervous system and helps to reduce the athlete’s anxiety. Massage also releases endorphins in the athlete’s body and helps them to feel a lot calmer and more relaxed on every day basis. Sports massage aids in the process of relaxation by soothing the soft tissue tension and decreasing ‘muscle tone’. Muscle tone is the state of tension in the muscles at rest. The combination of the release of muscle tension and increased release in endorphins can enhance the athlete’s mood and will generally lead to a pleasant, relaxation feeling.