Sports Massage

Massage Therapy specifically focused on the athletes areas of concerned use in conjunction with training levels. Select this style of massage if you have specific massage needs for your training and/or recovery. This is an integrated Massage Therapy session designed for your activity level, point in training and specific activities. All the providers offering sports massage in our clinic have advanced training and experience with sports and sports massage. Heat, ice, myofacial decompression (cupping), IASTM (instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization) and taping are often incorporated into our style of sports massage, depending our therapist assessment and your individual needs.

When?

A question often asked:  "How often should I come IN?"  "when Should I PLAn for Sports Massage?"

There are many subset topics in "sports massage" itself. The following are things to take into consideration:

• Training for sports requires a delicate balance of work to recovery ratio, especially as we age. All the work we do in the gym, on the road, in the pool doesn't make us better athletes until we allow time for the body to catch up and rebuild where we broke it down. It comes back stronger given the proper recovery tools of nutrition, hydration, & rest. 

• Massage Therapy helps facilitate recovery.

• Massage Therapy also helps the body heal injury.

• Planning your massages out during training cycle when you are uninjured requires a look at the overall time frame, the peak training loads/high mileage/faster work and if there's a competition (or several) coming up. 

• We recommend a massage at least once a month for the average person. Bi weekly for an athlete in a healthy training plan, weekly if your plan is pushing you harder or you're simply training a lot. -Talk with us to help you come up with a plan. You are unique and we want to support YOU in your endeavors. 

Examples:

Athlete A:

Bob signs up for the Capital City Marathon. He is starting a 12 week training plan with long runs on the weekend, short runs during the week and speed work once a week. Bob is looking to get through a training cycle uninjured and hopes massage can keep his muscles recovering and healthy. He's had some small setbacks in past trainings and wants to give this focused recovery a go. We would like to see Bob every two weeks, preferable the day of or close to the day after his largest push in the week. He plans roughly 6 massages during his training.  The week before the marathon he comes in a couple days before his marathon for a lighter, quicker "all-systems-go" massage.

Athlete B:

Becky has run a hundred marathons, she's an Ironwoman and she spends at least 3-4 hours a day working out. She's also 53. She's got issues in her achilles and her hips and she's not stopping for anyone or anything.

Becky should be on the massage table 1-3 times a week.

Athlete C:

Brett is a young healthy high school/pre-collegiate athlete. He can  get through most of the season without much bodywork but really needs it most during the big increases in training and also right before and during a competition. Brett schedules a monthly massage and ups it to once a week during the big season build and then schedules a few shorter sessions during the week of a competition.