Intensity of sports massage

There are a lot of varied opinions on this, as an experienced therapist I can tell you my thoughts.. 

 

The objective of a deep tissue sports massage is to identify and treat areas of the soft tissues that feel tight and cause some restriction of movement, as well as improve the circulation to an area and I speed up recovery from exercise, if the client or patient has been performing intense exercise. 

 

In order to find problem areas, the therapist does need to gradually press into soft tissues (palpation) or work along a length of muscle tissue to identify what feels restricted, and what doesn’t. This process can initially feel uncomfortable because to gauge the reaction from the muscle being worked on, the therapist needs to press with enough force to evoke a response, and usually the more tense and restricted an area is, the more resistance it will put up against the pressure of the massage therapist, which is essentially (although a very basic description) how your therapist will know where to work, and the more experience the therapist has, and, more specifically, the more hours of hands on therapy time they have under their belt, the better they will be at this, and they will identify the areas that need more attention more quickly. 

 

Following some deeper more intense sports massage work, it feels good for the client if the last few minutes of the session are slightly lighter and less intense than at the beginning, and this will usually leave you with a good sense of wellbeing afterwards, helping you on the road to recovery, whether it be from intense exercise or a hectic work routine.