Did you know….. Healing Hands School of Holistic Health can give you the competitive edge when it comes to a career as a Sports Massage Therapist! With dozens of advanced sports related classes to offer, Healing Hands receives more job opportunities for Sports Massage Therapists than we have graduates to fill them! 
Traditionally, Sports Massage Therapists provided treatments to athletes on-site before competitions to improve flexibility and afterwards to alleviate tightness. Today, you’ll find they have expanded into private health care practices, athletic facilities, and sports clinics. In addition to working for sports teams, Sports Massage Therapists today provide therapeutic sports massage to light-exercise enthusiasts as well as competitive athletes.
A Sports Massage Therapist will need to know techniques to address all four types of Sports Massage:
- The Pre-event Sports Massage – Given before an event, the pre-event massage is done on the body parts most involved in exertion. The therapist provides short, stimulating massage strokes and therapeutic stretches to warm and ready muscles for action.
- The Post-event Sports Massage is given after the event to help the athletes body return to normal. Properly done it will reduce post-event stress, muscle tightening, cramping and post-event soreness.
- The Restorative Sports Massage, given during the training period, facilitates more rigorous training with a reduced chance of injury.
- The Rehabilitative Sports Massage is given to those with active injuries to alleviate pain and restore optimal health. Restorative techniques like Trigger Point Therapy and MyoFascial Release techniques dissolve muscle knots, relieve referred pain and reduce scar tissue. Sometimes, Structural Integration techniques are taught to correct postural issues and optimize range of motion.
The Benefits of Sports Massage include: increased flexibility, blood flow and lymph circulation. Athletes enjoy a reduction in blood pressure, muscle spasms and pain, and a reduced stress response. Just as importantly, Sports Massage improves recovery time from sports events, competitions, and workouts. It also facilitates a faster rehabilitation of injured joints, muscles and soft tissues.
Healing Hands offers numerous classes for the serious Sports Massage Therapist. During the 2018/2019 Winter Semester, the Sports-related classes being offered will include:
- Advanced Circulatory and Sports Massage – Coming in January to our Escondido campus and Laguna Hills campus in February
- Cranio-Sacral Therapy – Coming to Escondido in January
- Principals of Structural Integration – Coming to Laguna Hills in January
- Advanced Circulatory and Sports Massage – Coming to Laguna Hills in February
- Deep Tissue Manipulation – Coming to Laguna Hills and Kearny Mesa/San Diego in February
- 10 Sessions of Structural Integration – Coming to Laguna Hills in February
- Neuromuscular Trigger Point – Coming to Escondido in February
- MyoFascial Release –Coming to Kearny Mesa/San Diego in February
- Dynamic Cupping –Coming to Kearny Mesa/San Diego in February
Note: Additional Sports related classes coming in 2019. Please check out ‘Course Descriptions’ online for more about these and the 80+ classes offered at Healing Hands.
Students interested in pursuing a career as a Professional Sports Massage Therapist must have an excellent understanding of Anatomy and Physiology. They will also need physical strength, endurance and knowledge of therapeutic stretching and strength-building exercises. Effective communication skills are also a must as they are essential to a providing a safe, restorative massage.
Fortunately, everything you need to know to become a successful Sports Massage Therapist, you can learn at Healing Hands!
To find out if a career as a Sports Massage Therapist is right for you, please visit us on-line at www.HealingHandsSchool.com or, call us to arrange a classroom tour. In Laguna Hills call (949) 305-2722, or call (760) 746-9364 for Escondido, or (858) 505-1100 for Kearny Mesa/San Diego.