Advanced Circulatory & Sports Massage
Sports massage therapy is often called Therapeutic Massage, with focus moving away from relaxation and towards a more rigorous soft tissue manipulation approach. In physical therapy offices, chiropractic settings, instead of the title ‘massage therapist’ the title might be, ‘Soft-tissue Therapist.’ A ‘massage’ may be called ‘soft tissue therapy’. While a 23% employment growth is faster than any other industry segment, the Directors of Healing Hands School encourage students going to school specifically with a focus in Therapeutic Massage.
Therapeutic sports massage provides treatments to athletes before competitions to help improve their flexibility and after competitions to alleviate injuries and keep muscles from tightening. Massage Therapists may seek employment in private health care practices or athletic facilities like Olympic training centers, where every-day clients are familiar with and seek the many benefits of a therapeutic sports massage. These benefits include increased flexibility and long range motion, increased blood flow and lymph circulation, a reduction in muscle spasms and pain, a lowering of blood pressure, reduced stress response, improved recovery time from workouts, and a faster rehabilitation of injured muscles and joints.
Students interested in pursuing a career in sports massage must have an excellent understanding of Anatomy and Physiology which are essential to a providing a safe, restorative massage. Students will also need physical strength, stamina, effective client communications skills, and knowledge of therapeutic stretching and strength-building exercises. If working for a sports team, the student must also have the freedom to travel and mental flexibility to adjust to a frequently changing work environment.
With this in mind, Healing Hands offers Advanced Circulatory & Sports massage as a core modality- with invigorating strokes to warm muscles and restorative techniques like trigger point therapy to break down adhesion's (knots in the muscles). Rather than giving you a full-body massage, a sports massage therapist generally focuses on a specific problem area, such as a sore lower back or frozen shoulder. As part of this course, students will attend an Sports Event where they will practice techniques they learn from class. Events that Healing Hands has participated in include but is not limited to: LA Marathon (participant since 1995), Rock 'N Roll Marathon (participant since 1998), Ragnar Relays, Orange County Ride for AIDES, Santa Clause for a Cause, ZERO Prostate Cancer Run-walk, Epic Series Obstacle, Breast Cancer Awareness Walk, and countless others over 28 years of participating in events.
There are four basic types of sports massage. The Pre-event Sports Massage is given 15 to 45 minutes before an event and is directed toward the parts of the body that will be most involved in the exertion. The therapist provides a short, stimulating massage coupled with a round of therapeutic stretches to help warm and prepare the muscles for action. The Post-event Sports Massage is given within an hour or two of the event and is intended to normalize the body’s tissue and reduce post-event tightening or cramping. The Restorative Sports Massage is given during training to facilitate harder training with less injury. The Rehabilitative Sports Massage is provided to athletes with active injuries and is intended to alleviate pain and restore optimal health.
To find out if a career as a Sports Massage Therapist is right for you contact us today!