Yesterday I had a couples massage on a regular client. Afterward,
when washing up, the other therapist said that I had done one of the best
"Sports Massages" she had ever seen. That compliment was funny to me,
because I was doing much more rehab/injury type work than sports work. The
client had been working with a Chiropractor daily for a week to resolve some
severe lumbar pain and spasm. I was thinking way more about that challenge,
than preparing him to get back to training for the half marathon he has coming
up. His sedentary desk job was exacerbating the issue just as much as running
would have.
I mention this, because I feel like there's a lot of confusion
about "Sports Massage" and what that label means. To me, it is
applying Myofascial Release, Neuromuscular Therapy, Structural/Postural
Alignment, Stretching and/or Flushing Swedish techniques to a specific soft
tissue imbalance, in a person who is doing something athletic. I can use this
very same definition for "Deep Tissue Massage" except that the client
may not be using his body for specifically sports or athletic training.
Sitting at a computer several hours a day isn't "Athletic," but
it is using the body repetitively. Which is the unifying
theme- Repetition.
There's not a list of secret "Sports" techniques that
only apply to athletes. I'm going to do whatever kind of massage the client
needs for the specific problem area that day. Problem areas usually come from some kind
of repetition mixed with imbalance. When the body is not used to doing a movement and
is then forced to repeat the movement, you create strain. After strain comes
compensation, creating more imbalance. I'm going to look at any client who
comes to me from that perspective; to unravel the compensation, imbalance and
overuse to restore the optimal movement in the body. If you want to call that
"Sports Massage," I'm happy to take the compliment. If you want to
call that "Deep Tissue Massage," we are starting to speak the same
language.
