Massage Therapy: A Major Key in Sports Rehabilitation
Suffering a sports injury can be difficult for many reasons. First, there’s the pain associated with the actual injury. There’s also the frustration of not being able to move the way you’re used to or perform at the level that you want. There’s the fact that you need to rest and strengthen the area to heal and improve range of motion and performance. There’s also the potential need to modify how you train or how you perform to decrease your chances of getting injured again. This process can be tough.
A key aspect in this rehabilitation process is massage therapy. There are many reasons to receive massage therapy, and this makes it a perfect choice for sports rehabilitation.
Increases Blood Circulation
Your muscles need nutrients and oxygen to heal and recover. Massage therapy increases blood circulation throughout your body, providing your muscles with what they need to repair themselves. This increased circulation also helps with pain relief. When you’re in less pain, you’ll be able to take the steps you need to strengthen the injured area and the surrounding muscles. This will help you recover and return to the level of fitness and strength you were at before the injury occurred. This is crucial for returning to your sport or fitness activities.
Improves Range of Motion
When you are injured, pain and inflammation can make it difficult for you to move in the manner you are used to. By lengthening and relaxing muscles, massage therapy helps improve mobility and flexibility. This helps increase your range of motion while also improving power and performance.
A greater range of motion and more flexible muscles let you move more efficiently and improve your body’s muscle building and strength.
Helps Reduce Future Injuries
As mentioned, one of the more frustrating parts of having a sports injury is dealing with the prospect of being injured again. You, of course, want to return to your sport, but you also don’t want to deal with another injury or setback if it can at all be avoided.
Massage therapy stretches connective tissue and improves circulation. This not only reduces pain and inflammation, but it also improves the secretion of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur in your muscles, which is critical for tissue repair. This allows your body to heal properly, and that lets you strengthen your muscles to avoid future injury.
In addition, when your muscles are more relaxed and flexible, your chances of getting injured in the future are lower.
Shortens Recovery Time
One of the biggest reasons to incorporate massage into a rehabilitation program is that it shortens recovery time. An athlete who is injured obviously wants to heal as quickly and efficiently as possible so they can get back to doing what they love.
Lactic acid and carbonic acid build up in muscles post-exercise. If you are injured and recovering, you may have a long period between training or exercise sessions. Massage therapy increases circulation in the muscles, and that helps get rid of these toxins. The result is a quicker recovery time.
As mentioned, by delivering oxygen and nutrients to muscles, a massage speeds up the healing process and helps your body repair itself more quickly.
If you have suffered a sports injury and are going through rehabilitation and recovery, working with a trusted and experienced team is important. At Delta Physiotherapy and Rehab, we provide the care and treatments needed to ease pain, improve range of motion, strengthen the affected areas, promote relaxation, and much more.
Our massage therapy strategies can be customized to your injury or condition, so that you receive the right treatments for your situation. We work with our patients to understand the injury they’ve suffered, the sports they do, and the strength, flexibility, and range of motion needed to perform at a high level. We then create a treatment plan customized to these needs.
For more information or to talk to our team about what we can do for you, contact us online or give us a call at (905) 822-9898.
