Tag Archives: Sports & Remedial Massage Therapy

R is for Rest

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We have written about rest before (read previous articles on Rest Days and Overtraining), so why write about it again? Well, to be frank, the lack of rest is still a major factor in many issues we deal with – some people just do not rest enough. Here’s a few thoughts for you to ponder on when you are wanting to squeeze in that extra training session: Yes, it’s a gym environment/running track/*insert your sports arena. Yes you come here to train, to put yourself through a gruelling regime and come out the other side a hardened, forged athlete. This isn’t the … Continue reading →

Q is for Quadriceps

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As the name would imply, the quadriceps muscle group has four muscles: rectus femoris, vastus intermedius, vastus medialis and vastus lateralis. These muscles are what we commonly know as our thigh muscles, and are responsible for extending the knee (i.e. straightening the lower leg) – and also providing a braking force when running downhill or stopping suddenly. Rectus femoris also flexes the hip – as it attaches to the pelvis (at the anterior inferior iliac spine). Rectus femoris and vastus intermedius are situated down the central portion of your thigh and act on the knee centrally with power when extending … Continue reading →

Diabetes and Massage

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11-17 June is Diabetes Awareness Week You may not realise, but massage can help if you are a diabetic. We won’t be looking at the causes and reasons for diabetes; there is a plethora of information on the internet available for you to browse at your leisure. What I want to focus on here is how massage can help, and if there are any techniques we need to modify or avoid with the diabetic client. First we’ll look at whether massage is appropriate for the diabetic client – your safety and health are paramount to us. In a treatment the first … Continue reading →

K is for Knee

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When we think of the knee (which is a modified hinge joint), and indeed any form of hinge, we would be mistaken to think that it is a simple joint – but it is far from that. Look at the snapshot on the left which shows a front on view of the right knee. You can see there’s a lot of muscles, tendons and ligaments and other (hidden) soft tissues all converging around this joint. Injuries to ligaments are probably the most common at this joint, and unfortunately often quite debilitating. In addition to ligament injury the knee is at … Continue reading →

Marathon training

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As the London and Manchester Marathon places have just been released, there are a number of first time marathon runners (and also more experienced runners) who are about to start training in earnest for the events early next year. For those of you who are planning on running a marathon, read on! We have worked with many marathon runners in the past and all have benefited from ensuring their training programmes include regular sports massage. Why is that? Well the simple answer is that regular maintenance massage can help to keep your muscles healthy and injury free, which is of … Continue reading →

Psychology of Sports Massage

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The benefits of sports massage that are published are very often limited to the physiological aspects, and with good reason, because it’s easier to quantify them (e.g. measuring circulation or chemical levels in blood). However, the psychological benefits are naturally more qualitative, and being unmeasurable they are therefore difficult to explain in a scientific way. However, the field of sports psychology is not insignificant, and as such we should not shy away from the emotional and mental benefits, just because we can’t speak from an evidenced position. As it is difficult to speak from a research based position, clinical expertise … Continue reading →