Because of the repetitive motion in a steady diet of serious running, muscle imbalances are created that can cause injuries. Massage therapy can stretch those tight muscles before they become problematic. A sudden change in training, such as adding hard quarter-mile intervals on the track in the buildup for a big race, can strain muscles that aren't used to it. Sports massage can make that transition easier on the body and keep those aches and pains from becoming injuries that limit or prevent training. Sports massage differs from relaxation massage in that it is treatment-oriented, works with acute injuries, treats disorders resulting from athletic injuries and helps to reduce inflammation.
Massage therapists say it flushes exercise-related toxins out of the muscles.
With a lot of the average joggers, they really aren't doing all the appropriate things they need to do that an elite athlete does. An elite athlete stretches a lot more, drinks a lot more fluid, things like that. Plaatjes is married to Mark Plaatjes, the 1993 world champion in the marathon. Mark Plaatjes is a physical therapist, and he shares an office with his wife called In Motion Rehabilitation. Massage is one of the treatments Mark uses when patients come to him with acute injuries.