Blog
4th June 2025
Why Sports Massage? Written by Riku Araake, football fan, Les Mills member and passionate Massage Therapist.
Sports massage is widely embraced across many athletic disciplines. Our team of therapists at EMR Wellbeing frequently provide tailored massage sessions to rugby and football teams throughout the season. It’s suitable for everyone, from seasoned athletes to weekend warriors, who lead physically demanding lifestyles.
What is Sports Massage?
The techniques used in sports massage are tailored to your specific sport or activity. They target areas of the body that are prone to strain from repetitive movement or overuse. Our treatments include soft tissue and deep tissue massage, trigger point therapy, Muscle Energy Technique (MET), and passive stretching to support your body’s recovery and performance.
Benefits of Sports Massage
Sports massage is designed to enhance muscle flexibility, expand the range of motion in muscles and joints, and optimize muscle metabolism—each of which plays a crucial role in overall athletic performance. Greater flexibility reduces the risk of injury, allowing muscles to move more efficiently and adapt to the physical demands of training. A wider range of motion helps athletes achieve smoother, more powerful movements, contributing to improved technique and endurance. Enhanced muscle metabolism ensures that muscles utilize energy more effectively, leading to faster recovery, reduced fatigue, and sustained strength during exertion.
By incorporating regular sports massage into your training routine—not just as a one-off before or after an event—you create a foundation for long-term muscular health. Consistent massage sessions help break down adhesions, improve circulation, and accelerate muscle repair, leading to a body that’s more resilient, responsive, and primed for peak performance.
Preventing Muscle Injuries
Muscle injuries are among the most common issues seen in active individuals. While the type of injury can vary by sport, common areas affected include the hamstrings, quadriceps, adductors, and calves.
Though the exact causes are not always clear, several factors can increase the risk of injury, including insufficient warm-up, poor flexibility, muscle imbalances, weakness, neural tension, fatigue, and a history of previous injuries. Massage therapy can help address some of these risk factors, particularly by improving flexibility, reducing neural tension, and relieving fatigue.
Timing of Sports Massage
Sports massage can be beneficial both before and after physical activity, but the goals differ depending on timing:
- Before activity: Enhances flexibility and activates muscles, which may help prevent injury during performance. Helps prepares the brain to focus on the activity the athlete will undertake.
- After activity: Aids in recovery by improving circulation, releasing muscle tension, and reducing fatigue.
If you want to stay active and enjoy sports and exercise long-term, sports massage is an excellent way to support your health, performance, and recovery. Along with eating well, staying hydrated, rest days and getting good quality sleep.
This is what people experience when they visit EMR Wellbeing
"Great Sports Massage"
"Great Sports Massage and stretching - highly recommend"
"The EMR team are amazing, they listen and adapt to my needs each I visit - highly recommend"