Massage.
ModalityBeyond Cert IVDraft

Sports massage

Massage adapted to people who train or compete, with brisk pre-event work, calming post-event work and maintenance sessions between.

OriginDeveloped in the 20th century from Swedish and remedial massage for athletes, with roots in European and Soviet-era sports medicine. It is now common in elite and amateur sport worldwide.
FeelVaries with timing. Pre-event massage is brisk and stimulating; post-event massage is slow, light and flushing; maintenance sessions can be firm and focused.
Pressure3–8 / 10
Used for
  • Pre-event preparation (short, brisk, no deep work)
  • Post-event recovery and comfort
  • Reducing delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) after hard training
  • Regular maintenance during a training block

Timing shapes the treatment

  • Pre-event (minutes to hours before): short, brisk and rhythmic, over clothing or with little oil. Tapotement, Effleurage and light kneading. No deep work or long stretches just before competing.
  • Post-event (after cool-down): slow, lighter strokes and gentle movement. Check for injury first; acute injuries, heat illness and dehydration need first aid, not massage.
  • Maintenance (between events): a fuller treatment that can include firmer work and stretching techniques.

What the research shows

  • Soreness: several meta-analyses agree massage after hard exercise reduces DOMS, and one found it was among the most effective recovery methods for soreness and perceived fatigue.
  • Flexibility: small improvements.
  • Performance: the largest meta-analysis (29 studies, 1012 participants) found no evidence that massage improves strength, jump, sprint, endurance or fatigue.
  • Injury prevention: not established.
  • “Flushing lactic acid”: not supported; one study found massage slowed lactate removal compared with rest (see What massage research does and doesn't show).

So sports massage is best described as helping athletes feel less sore and more ready, not as a performance enhancer.

Scope

Sports massage is beyond relaxation-massage scope. The planned routines for pre-event and post-event sports massage cover the basics.

Techniques

  • Effleurage — Long, gliding strokes with the whole palm that spread the medium, warm the tissue and link the other strokes together.
  • Petrissage — Kneading strokes that compress, lift and squeeze the muscle away from the bone, working the tissue between the hands.
  • Compression — Pressing straight down into a muscle with the palm, fist or forearm, holding briefly, then releasing and moving on.
  • Hacking — A percussion stroke where the little-finger edges of both relaxed hands strike the muscle alternately in a quick, light rhythm.
  • Shaking — A larger, rhythmical vibration where the hand grasps a muscle or holds a limb and shakes it loosely from side to side.
  • Rocking — Gentle, rhythmical pushes that sway the client's body or limb away from you and let it roll back, repeated at an easy pace.
  • Passive stretching — The therapist gently moves a relaxed limb to lengthen a muscle to a point of mild stretch and holds it there, with no effort from the client.
  • Muscle energy technique — The client gently contracts a muscle against the therapist's equal counterforce for a few seconds, relaxes, and the therapist then eases the body part to a new comfortable limit.
  • PNF stretching — Assisted stretching that combines a passive stretch with an isometric contraction of the stretched muscle, and sometimes of the opposite muscle, before stretching further.
  • Cross-fibre friction — Deep, specific friction applied back and forth across the direction of a tendon, ligament or muscle's fibres, with the fingers and skin moving together as one.
  • Stripping — A slow, deep, narrow glide along the length of a single muscle with the thumb, knuckle or elbow, pausing over tight bands on the way.

Sources

  1. Davis HL, Alabed S, Chico TJA (2020). Effect of sports massage on performance and recovery: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med 6(1):e000614
  2. Guo J et al. (2017). Massage alleviates delayed onset muscle soreness after strenuous exercise: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Physiol 8:747
  3. Dupuy O et al. (2018). An evidence-based approach for choosing post-exercise recovery techniques: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Front Physiol 9:403
  4. Weerapong P, Hume PA, Kolt GS (2005). The mechanisms of massage and effects on performance, muscle recovery and injury prevention. Sports Med 35(3):235–256