McFarland and associates (2002) define sports massage as a form of massage therapy that is specifically directed at the muscles used in athletic activities. Techniques are said to be comprised of quick and vigorous strokes including deep tissue or localized parts of the body where a given activity may have caused exertion of muscle tightness. The authors report that sports massage has some clear benefits including: reducing the chance of future injuries to the area through proper stretching and event preparation, and through deep tissue massage; improving the range of motion and muscle flexibility resulting in improved power and performance; shortening recovery time between workouts; maximizing the supply of nutrients and oxygen through increased blood flow, and enhancing the elimination of the metabolic by-products of exercise.
It is further noted by McFarland and associates (2002) that sports massage has several uses. These include: helping athletes prepare for upcoming events, assisting them during actual sports events such as during time-out periods, and rehabilitation which is to say helping them recover form some form of injury.
The purpose of this paper is to examine sports massage as used for rehabilitative purposes. To this end, various techniques and their uses are examined as well as some empirical work on the general effectiveness of sports massage for rehabilitation purposes.
Sports Massage Techniques and Their Use in Rehabilitation
According to Ylinen and Cash (2000), as used in rehabilitation, sports massage is often applied for a variety of problems related to physical exertion such as muscle craps, tears, bruises and aches. ItÆs purpose is to speed healing and reduce discomfort during the process of recovery. To this end, several techniques will be used by the massage therapist depending upon what is appropriate for a given condition.
Regarding the foregoing techniques, Hess, Beck and Miller (200...