Thursday, November 17, 2011

Techniques Utilized in Sports and Swedish Massage

By Steven Garner


Swedish massage was developed using methods used by the Swedish physiologist and fencing master Per Henrik Ling , who studied massage in China, adapted the techniques and demonstrated them to the wider world via the Swedish Central Institute of Gymnastics. Normally, Swedish massage formulates the premise for a large amount of massage practice, be it Sports massage, physiotherapy, osteotherapy, relaxation therapy or stress management.

Sports massage transports Swedish massage more in the direction of soft tissue manipulation. It facilitates sports people, those who take part in sports, people who exercise to keep fit or those who only have a muscular ache or pain, to improve upon their sports by lessening recovery rates and helping to sustain performance and lessen injury rates. Soft tissue is connective tissue that has not solidified to form bone and cartilage, such as skin, muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia. Physical shock and strenuous physical or continuous activites can cause problems in soft tissue. They can be rectified using Sports massage. In general, massage is seen as a full body restful treatment, generally in a spa or calm room. Notwithstanding, it can additionally be a full on, targeted treatment for a focused place of soft tissue.

Different skills are employed in Swedish massage and they include:

Effleurage aids the therapist to measure and relax the person, utilizing the forearm or whole hand. It is a superficial movement across the skin.

Petrissage - This technique involves deeper kneading and gentle squeezing of muscles not targeting but permitting for more penetrating aspects of massage.

Frictions are deep to shallow strokes making use of the fingertips, part of the hand or elbow. They are utilized to warm up specific parts of soft tissue.

Tapotement is a variety of percussion techniques which stimulate the area of soft tissue for attention. Methods include cupping or hacking with the whole or side of the hand.

Vibrations are done to the back of the neck to relax and energize soft tissues.

Sports massage utilizes all of the methods from Swedish massage with extra, focused applications.

Sports massage applications involve:

Neuromuscular Therapy (NMT) is a quasi-static pressure given to a part of skeletal muscle. Usually, it is applied to areas which are myofascial trigger points. NMT is used to energize deep in a muscle.

Muscular Energy Technique (MET) is where the therapist applies a positively executed counter-force to muscles. The client is initially placed in a greatly controlled stance before execution.

PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation) is a mixture of inactive stretching and isometric contractions.

Swedish and Sports massage methods are extremely flexible because they can be put into a rehabilitation or training regimen.

Qualities belonging to Swedish and Sports massage that are beneficial are:

The structure of the body is aided to rebalance through releasing any adhesions or tension that may have developed, and so avoiding any problems that may occur.

Even migraines can be controlled with massage. They become shorter, less intense and less frequent. This is reached by treating the underlying effect by releasing areas if taut tissue.

Injury recuperation time is greatly diminished with massage because it uses the body's natural healing processes.

Toxins are expelled from the body via the stimulation of the flow of lymph fluid and blood.

Reduction of scar tissue at injury sites by manipulating the realignment of fibres.

Injuries can be prevented and performance improved because of greater muscle flexibility.

durability and maintenance of muscle tone.

Everyday wear and tear in the body can lead to postural problems. These problems can be uncomfortable, limit mobility and adversely affect the body.




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