SPORTS MASSAGE

Sports Massage

At Massage La Mesa, we specialize in sports massage, which is different from a regular massage.  Our website has two pages covering the different types of sports massage and sports massage for injuries.  Here we will give an overview of how a pre-event massage session would be structured for a Basketball Player.  

The purpose of pre-event sports massage is to prepare the athlete for high-intensity activity.  Usually performed no more than 24 hours before the event or game, the massage is used to get the major muscle groups specific to the event ready for action.  This could be done by warming the muscles with traditional massage strokes, followed by more invigorating massage techniques including shaking, jostling, percussion and then moving into stretches or taking a joint through a range of motion.  This is not the time to correct dysfunction or reduce stress, which are two main goals of a typical massage session. 

Let’s take a basketball player for example.  Basketball requires running at full speed coupled with the mobility to stop, start, and change direction very quickly.  Players need to have sufficient strength to jump in the air, but enough mobility and flexibility to land in a controlled and graceful manner. Although basketball is not thought of as a contact sport, between lay-ups, jump balls, picks, hard fouls and random collisions, mobility and supple joints are key for a basketball player.  

  On the massage table, a basketball player needs attention to the gluteal group, the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves.  Mobility of the hip joint might include the massage therapist picking up a leg and doing a straight leg stretch for the hamstring and then with a bent knee, doing circumduction of the hip joint.  One of my favorite things is to squeeze a muscle like the quadriceps against the underlying bone and shake it.  It feels great to overused muscles, and the compression with shaking works well to ready muscles for use.  Next is to repeat the process on the other leg and end both legs with tapotement or percussion to invigorate the muscles.  

The upper body including rotator cuff, upper trapezius, and latissimus dorsi can be targeted along with range of motion through the neck and shoulders. Stretching arms overhead with traction and doing circumduction with the shoulder joint is important, as is trunk mobility.  Spinal twists while the client is laying on their back can open the mid-trapezius, latissimus dorsi, and obliques.    

Different massage therapists can design their pre-event massage different ways and each client's needs are specific to their body, but this shows an example of a typical pre-event sports massage for a basketball player. 

Contact us at: 619-917-4675 OR  massagelamesa@gmail.com 

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