What we do
What is Sports Massage
‘Sports Massage is the term applied to the discipline of using massage for the specific benefit of all sports and exercise participants. It covers the management, manipulation and rehabilitation of the soft tissues of the body eg.muscles, ligaments and tendons’
www.sportsmassageassociation.org
In other words
sports massage is a deep tissue manipulation that can help people either involved in sports or those with everyday muscle discomfort. It focuses on the soft tissues of the body such as the muscles, tendons and ligaments. The deep tissue treatment is individually tailored, ensuring that the persons needs are highlighted and addressed throughout the treatment programme.
Sports performers
– regular sports massage can have a range of benefits to the sports performer. It can improve performance, aid recovery and reduce the chance of getting an injury. Due to the high training load that performers use to improve their performance, there could be a risk of overuse in a particular muscle group, this can lead to problems and imbalances in the soft tissue surrounding the area. Without treatment this could cause chronic (long term) conditions and therefore having a negative impact on the performer’s abilities. This could mean the performer is more susceptible to other injuries as they compensate for the initial soft tissue imbalance.
People
– With the day to day stress that most people seem to be encountering in today’s society, it seems only right that we should help our bodies as much as possible to recover and remain in a healthy state. Sitting at a desk, using a computer is not what our bodies were originally designed for, therefore out muscles and soft tissues struggle to cope with being in that environment. With the deep tissue manipulation that sports massage provides it encourages the soft tissues to go back to their resting length, minimising the pain and discomfort felt from day to day activities.
Benefits of Sports Massage
There are many benefits that can be directly linked to the application of sports massage including:
- Improve circulation & lymphatic flow
- Assist in the removal of metabolic waste
- Sedate or stimulate nerve endings
- Increase or decrease muscle tone
- Increase or decrease muscle length
- Remodel scar tissue when required
- Assist in mental preparation for sporting participation
www.sportsmassageassociation.org
There are also different stages at which sports massage can be used and beneficial. This depends on what you want to gain from the treatment and when you go to see the practitioner. The different timings include:
- Pre, inter and post competition
- Training phase
- Post travel
- Injury prevention
- Injury recovery
The practitioner will be able to assess what treatments are appropriate for the time you see them e.g. a slow paced, relaxing massage would not be advised pre competition to a boxer – they would go into the ring half asleep and not prepared to fight!

- Level 4 SMA practitioner
- North Regional representative and
director on board of SMA - Individually tailored treatments
- Advice given to improve soft tissue balance
- Event cover provided
- Covering the Tyne and Wear area
