Tune Your Body Like an Athlete with Massage

I’m lucky as a massage therapist that I can translate the work I do for athletes on the Everblades hockey team to clients at the Spa at Shangri-La Springs.

Certainly, massage therapy for athletes is different than for my spa clients. Athletes are generally much more tuned into their body and what it needs to perform. When they have issues, they are often able to describe what they need because they know their muscles and how they work. As a result, massage therapists for the Everblades can target areas on players before games for about 10 to 15 minutes to enhance their performance on the ice.

Still, recreational athletes and even non-athletes can benefit from what I’ve learned working with the pros. Here’s how to treat your body like an athlete:

• Know your muscles, including what they do and how they move. Start with your aches and pains and figure out what muscle groups are affected. (The internet has a lot of resources!) The more you know about how muscles work, the better you can move with less chance of injury.
• Stretch — not just before activity but also after. For non-athletes, it’s a great practice to stretch when you wake up and before you go to bed, and at least once more during the day. Stretching is about range of motion. Listen to your body; you don’t want to push to where a stretch hurts.
• Stay hydrated! Water helps get nutrients to build stronger cells as well as remove toxins in the body.

The best type of massage for each person depends on the desired results. If you are planning to play 36 holes of golf and want to enhance recovery after, deep tissue massage may be best. While not always the most relaxing of massage because it works the muscles that you have already worked in your game, it flushes out toxins and lactic acid to help your muscles recover.

A sports massage is usually best for people running marathons. Before a 5K race, a 30-minute massage to the legs provides a quick flush to prepare the body for punishment of distance running.

Massage is beneficial to everyone because of the ability to increase circulation, moving blood, oxygen and toxins and helping the liver and kidneys function efficiently. Everything is connected, which is why for spa appointments, you will be asked some medical questions, particularly about the circulatory system. Stimulating blood flow through massage is not always good for all bodies, such as people with uncontrolled high blood pressure.

Also, while I have knowledge about how the body’s systems work, I’m not a doctor. Your massage therapist is not the first professional you should see when you have a fresh injury.

Athletes are more prone to injuries from repetitive activity and wear and tear. Non-athletes are not so different. For example, you can develop muscle pain from sitting for extended periods.

When you do feel pain in your muscles, it’s often not necessarily a lack of strength, but a lack of balance on two sides of the muscle groups. Shoulder pain often occurs when pectoral muscles on the front of the body are short and tight, drawing the shoulders forward. A simple pectoral stretch using a door frame can help lengthen the muscles.

Many people only seek massage when they feel the pain, but routine massage care helps all your body systems function better and allows massage to be relaxing in addition to addressing problem areas.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Derek Anderson is a licensed massage therapist and esthetician who graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University with a bachelor’s degree in biology in 2016. As a licensed massage therapist, he works with the players of the Florida Everblades as well as guests at Shangri-La Springs.