Athletes know all too well about sore muscles, tense joints, and stress. There are a wide variety of muscle relaxants and creams to reset an athlete’s body back to normal. However, do you want to reach into the medicine cabinet after every intense workout? There has to be a drug-free way to relax your muscles!
For years now, muscle injuries have become more and more common. Massage therapy is quickly becoming a solution for this common occurrence. Many professional athletes swear by massage therapy. A restorative massage session can be the ultimate trick to help with sore muscles, and it can even improve your mood!
Here are 6 reasons that massages are important for athletes.
1. A holistic medicine to ease the mind
Being an athlete is stressful! The job comes with loads of pressure from coaches, teammates, and even yourself. Massage is a powerful ally when it comes to combating anxiety, headaches, and stress. All of these symptoms fog up the mind and make it difficult to focus. A great massage session counteracts these physiological symptoms so that you can be at your best.
2. Changes your behavior
When you feel achy and sore, you end up sleeping poorly and become grumpy. These feelings can spiral out of control quickly, leading you to lash out and develop negative habits. When you add a therapeutic massage to your routine, you reverse these side effects and increase your performance level.
3. Increases the range of motion
As an athlete, you are probably extremely familiar with the importance of stretching. But even after stretching, your muscles and joints can still be stiff. This compromises your range of motion. Incorporating a massage into your routine stimulates the body’s natural lubricants to keep both your joints and muscles loose and flexible.
4. Decreases muscle stiffness after vigorous exercise
It may surprise you to know that a deep tissue massage has the same effects as taking aspirin or ibuprofen. In a massage, the pressure applied to the muscles works as an all-natural, anti-inflammatory healing technique. With the muscles no longer inflamed, you can go about exercising per usual.
5. Help athletes monitor muscle tone
Muscle tone is the continuous contraction of the muscles, and if it’s out of whack, it could be the reason you aren’t performing at your best. A massage de-contracts the muscles, which is critical for athletes who perform explosive, cyclical movements. For example, athletes who do a lot of sprinting need to maintain proper muscle tone as the muscles contract and de-contract in very short amounts of time.
6. Treats and prevents injuries
Perhaps the most important reason all athletes should get a massage is so that they can stay healthy and on top of their game. Getting a massage to treat injuries, or to prevent them in the first place, can get you back out on the field and lengthen your career as an athlete. Booking a regular massage is a great treatment to have in your back pocket as it helps you feel physically and psychologically better in no time at all.