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Remedial and
Sports Massage
If you train hard and regularly, and perform, or hope to perform, at a high level, it
is well worth taking regular preventative measures to make sure you are not stopped from training or competing
by an injury.
Sports Massage will keep your muscles loose, allowing you to train and compete to your maximum ability, and help
diagnose and treat any potential problems before they hinder you. Acupuncture can help increase your energy level,
so that you do not suffer chronic tiredness, or other debilitating disorders, which can be cause by heavy training.
Sports massage, or Acupuncture should be able to resolve most sports injuries speedily. I have competed in sports
at a high level and understand that you will not want to miss any more training time than is absolutely necessary.
I will help you get back to your sport as quickly as possible. But with any treatment the sooner you seek help
the quicker will be the recovery time.
A muscle may feel tight, perhaps through over-use, or be pulled by a sudden movement, or it may cause pain where
it pulls on a joint.
This sort of problem is easily treated by Sports Massage. Your spine or hip may be pulled out of alignment causing
pain or restricted movement in your back or a limb. Acupuncture can diagnose and treat the underlying cause of
the problem as well as provide an alternative method of treating musculo-skeletal injuries.
Sports injuries are not necessarily
caused by Sport or only affect Sports people
Any traumatic or overuse injury can arise and be treated in the same way be our therapists. For example, slipping
on an icy pavement can cause exactly the same problem as slipping on a muddy football pitch; repetitive activity
of a limb or muscle, at work, in the garden, as a craft activity or playing a musical instrument can lead to very
similar overuse as running miles each week!
What Can Remedial Massage Treat
· Muscle pain
· Joint pain which may be caused by tight muscles
· Tendonitis e.g. Achilles tendon pain, tennis elbow
· Muscle soreness or tension
· Pulled or strained muscles
· Twisted ankles
· Frozen shoulders
· Backache & sciatica
How Massage Works
Remedial massage works deep into muscle tissue to stretch and loosen tight or knotted fibres. A muscle may become
tight and tense through excessive or repeated use, through stress or after injury.
· If a muscle is asked to perform repeatedly any activity to which it is unaccustomed,
such as hill walking, painting a ceiling or digging the garden it may respond by tightening.
· Mental and emotional stress can have the same effect, usually to the shoulders or buttocks.
· Muscles are also very frequently damaged by a sudden unexpected movement - bending down, slipping or over
stretching. This is particularly likely to happen if the muscles are already tight, and even a slight muscle tear
can cause the muscle fibres around to tighten to protect the injury, leading to further discomfort and restriction
of movement.
· Around the site of the injury, the healing muscle fibres bind together to form "scar tissue",
which feels like a knot of muscle which prevents individual fibres moving freely. When a movement is made the knotted
fibres pull on the bone and joint and may make movement painful.
· Frequently tightness in a muscle will not produce pain at the site of the problem, but on a joint or muscle
which is pulled by the action, or where a tight tendon rubs across a boney prominence. This is frequently the cause
of knee or ankle pain.
The remedial massage therapist will first identify the source of your problem by looking at which movements are
restricted or painful, and by massaging gently around relevant area to feel where the muscles are tight or scar
tissue occurs. This also begins to loosen, warm and stretch the tissues around the area. Gradually the therapist
will focus in on the area and massage more deeply into the fibres, stretching them and breaking apart the "knotted,
gummed up" tissue. Soft tissue manipulation and connective tissue massage stretch specific parts of a muscle
or tendon and works on the relaxation produced in a muscle after it has contracted. Ian also makes use of aspects
of Chinese Medicine including Chinese massage or tuina, which moves "Qi", or vital energy away from areas
of "stagnation"; moxa is a dried herb which is burnt over an injured area and gives a deep penetrating
healing warmth; cupping creates a suction over an area of tight or injured muscle which draws out impurities and
loosens the muscle.
What To Expect From Massage
After talking about the origin of your problem, and what movements are restricted or painful, you will be asked
to undress to expose the areas which need attention. Although at first very relaxing and gentle, once the problem
area has been identified massage can be quite painful, though you will probably feel a sense of release and diminishing
pain as the work progresses. It is entirely up to you how deep the treatment is - the deeper the work, the quicker
the
problem will be resolved! After the treatment, which will last up to one hour for the first treatment, and thereafter
either 30 minutes or an hour, you may feel bruised, though this should disappear within 24-48 hours. After that
you should notice considerable relief to your problem, though for how long and how much will depend on how long
you have had the problem and how serious it is, as well as your general health. After each subsequent treatment
you should experience relief for a longer time, until the pain or restriction no longer exists. At that point one
or two further treatments are recommended to ensure that all the tension or scar tissue is removed so that the
problem will not recur. Often exercises which will keep the muscles loose and stretched will be recommended for
you to carry out between treatments. Doing these regularly will also speed up the time till complete recovery.
Massage For Sports People
Serious training to improve performance means that you are always working your muscles harder and harder, so even
with regular stretching and warming up they are likely to become tight and sore.
Tight muscles are more susceptible to both acute
muscle pull injuries, and overuse injuries.
They also lose their flexibility so for each stride you take you move less far and therefore take longer to cover
the ground. Regular massage will increase flexibility and prevent pulls, tears and overuse injuries.
Recovery time and muscle soreness from hard training or competition will be reduced and performance enhanced.
Scar tissue from an old injury will restrict movement or cause pain, and can be broken down over a number of sessions.
Recovery from recent injury can be speeded up and the formation of scar tissue prevented.
Massage for General health
· Eases tight aching muscles
· Promotes deep relaxation
· Combats the chronic affects of stress and tension
· Hastens the healing process for damaged and overworked muscles
Massage for sports people
· Speeds recovery after hard training or competition
· Increases flexibility
· Helps prevent overuse injuries
· Treats musculo-skeletal injury
E-Mail to : enquiries@thewirralclinic.com
