Hello and welcome to my first blog in a once again locked down country. I was planning on writing about the benefits of regular massage, and now we are all in a position where regular massage just can’t happen for most of November and part of December, and possibly beyond.
I will still write about my original thoughts on regular massage, as it will still be important when we come out the other side, having missed all of our regular activities and may well be hurting because of that.
Here goes…
The first thing I am going to say will be considered a little controversial to this blog and amongst most massage therapists, and that is:
YOU DO NOT NEED REGULAR MASSAGE*
Hang on a moment… this blog is about the complete opposite of that, so why on earth would I say that, as a Sports Massage Therapist myself?!
Well, did you notice the asterisk I put at the end of that statement up there? Well done if you have already scrolled to the bottom looking for the caveat attached to what I have said, and come on, there nearly always is a caveat!
So here it is.
*if you take regular and proper care of your body and have no ongoing issues.
It is nearly impossible for everyone at every time to take regular and proper care of their body, or to have no ongoing issues to recover from or manage. There are also times when things go awry. There will be occasions occur where you are just a little too enthusiastic about the sport or activity in which you are participating, meaning you need to take a little time out from being so active.
So that is where regular massage comes into play. If you are somewhat active, you don’t do anything overly repetitive in your job, and you make time for self-care, you probably will not be needing me any time soon.
However, if you DO have a repetitive or tiring job, or are active regularly, then it is a good idea to prehab your body rather than rehab. If you would like to read a little more about rehab and prehab, check out the following blogs I wrote last month:
https://astralfitness.co.uk/injury-rehab-part-one/
https://astralfitness.co.uk/injury-rehab-part-two/
https://astralfitness.co.uk/injury-rehab-part-three/
Massage is an excellent mode of prehab, enabling us both to find niggly areas in your body and getting them sorted out before they develop into an acute or chronic pain situation.
There are several other benefits to regular massage and here are just some:
- Reduced blood pressure
- Resolved aches and pains
- Better skin condition
- Faster recovery from intense workouts and activities
- Maintain sporting condition in deload and recovery weeks
- Increase joint range of motion
- Improve mobility and flexibility (which aren’t the same, read about it here https://astralfitness.co.uk/mobility/ )
- Heal scarring after an accident, injury, or operation
- Increase serotonin flow and production
- Understand how to aid and prevent pain in the future
Check my blog next week to find out about each of these reasons in more detail.
Thank you for taking time to read and I will hopefully see you again really soon.
Chloe