Reaching Your Athletic Goals

RunningWe are coming up on the season of running, swimming, hiking, biking and many other outdoor activities. After a hard winter people are starting to thing about getting active and getting in shape and some even getting ready for competitions. With all this activity comes the potential for a healthier life and also some risk of injury. Getting massage on a regular basis can help boost your athletic ability, decrease muscle soreness, and help you prevent and recover from injuries.

Improves athletic performance – There are a lot of factors when it comes to athletic performance. Whether you’re a professional athlete, weekend warrior or just getting started in your athletic journey, massage will have some physiological affects. Massage will improve circulation, lower blood pressure, increase muscle flexibility as well as many other things. These things will make it easier on your body during your workout.

Decreases muscle soreness – I’m sure we have all had the experience of waking up the day after a workout and feeling stiff and sore. This is commonly referred to as DOMS or delayed onset muscle soreness. I’m also sure we can agree that it’s not fun. Getting a massage after a workout will help your body flush out toxins as well as loosen tight muscles. The combination of these things makes muscle soreness go away a lot faster.

Prevents injury – A lot of exercise involves repetitive movement. Doing the same thing over and over again can often wear on our joints and muscles. A good example of this is tennis elbow. The same poor backhand swing will wear on the elbow and can cause muscular tension and inflammation. Getting massage on a regular basis while being active will help the muscles from tensing and causing problems down the road.

Accelerates recovery – No matter how vigilant we are there are still times when we get injured. The type of injury will determine the sort of therapy it would be best to seek. For serious injuries seek medical attention right away, but massage can be used for things like muscle strains and occasionally for inflammatory conditions as well.

No matter where you are on your athletic journey, consider adding massage to the routine.