What Runners Need to Know About Sports Massage

As a runner, you know the familiar sting of post-workout fatigue, tight muscles and exercise-induced injury. These are common issues that all runners face, all of which can be alleviated with the help of a professional sports massage.

There’s a popular misconception that sports massage is only for the top-tier athletes of the sporting world, and that amateur exercisers can’t benefit from professional massage services. Although originally designed for sportspeople, sports massage has been found to have great benefits for individuals of all skill level and can alleviate a wide variety of tensions, injuries and postural issues!

Why do I need a sports massage?

Whatever your skill level, as a runner it is vital to keep your body on top form to optimise your performance and maximise your athletic potential. Sports massage can help in many key areas of performance, and here’s a quick rundown of why runners shouldn’t ignore its amazing benefits:

Shift Lactic Acid

Your body burns calories when performing any amount of exercise, which causes the production of lactic acid. When engaging in heavy calorie-burning activity such as running, your body reacts by producing larger amounts of lactic acid which causes the familiar burning sensation felt in muscles after a heavy workout. This in turn causes feelings of soreness and lethargy, affecting motivation and performance.

During a sports massage, your therapist works to shift built-up lactic acid out of the muscles, accelerating the recovery process and helping to combat feelings of burning and fatigue.

Correct Dysfunction

We are spending more of our daily lives seated and stationary than ever, whether it be hunched in front of our computer at the office or scrolling on our smartphones at home. This leads to dysfunction, with our bodies becoming stiff and tight following being in a lying and seated positions for prolonged periods. Sports massage helps to combat this by correcting the stiffness and dysfunction caused by 21st-century life, resetting the body to its optimum, healthy position and allowing you to reach your full running potential.

Deal with Injuries

Injuries are a runner's worst nightmare. They can put you out of action for days or even weeks and are a key factor in the loss of progress. By increasing circulation and stimulating natural tissue repair within the body, a sports massage simultaneously helps to prevent and heal injuries, significantly aiding your recovery. An Adjust customer has recently made some incredible progress combating a running injury with sports massage:

“I injured my lower back at the gym and was struggling to walk and sit down. After a sports massage from Clare, not only was I able to walk freely again and sit down - but a day later I was back to running 8 miles!”

Clare, Sports Massage Customer

Schedule your appointment with Adjust

Attentiveness to the body’s needs is a runner’s greatest asset, and a sports massage can help to relieve injury, beat post-workout fatigue and assist you in reaching your full potential. Visit our West Bridgford or Lady Bay clinic or give us a call to speak to one of our expert therapists and see how a sports massage can help to boost your performance and get you back on track.