The limits of speed, endurance and strength are pushed every day and each year brings new world records. The growing awareness and use of sports massage therapy, a valuable addition to other manual therapies and treatments, has become a key component of the high performance mix, as much a part of an athlete's critical discipline as a carefully monitored diet. I would not provide sports medicine services for any major athletic event without massage therapists. Therapeutic massage increasingly is being prescribed by physicians to complement traditional medical treatment for illness, injury and pain as a growing body of research documents its efficacy. Massage doesn't just feel good.
Therapeutic massage involves manipulation of the soft tissue structures of the body.
Working in conjunction with Duke University, researchers at the Touch Research Institute of the University of Miami School of Medicine have measured the body s biochemical levels after massage therapy and found a dramatic decrease in the levels of cortisol, norepinephrine and dopamine. Research also has measured changes in levels of endorphins and serotonin after sports massage, which may reduce pain and contribute to reduced levels of delayed onset muscle soreness. Each sport and athletic event uses muscle groups in a different way. Sports massage therapists must be familiar with each muscle, the muscle groups and how they are affected by the specific movements and stresses of each sport. They also are trained in the appropriate uses of hydrotherapy and cryotherapy.