It may therefore be reasonably claimed that one of the greatest benefits of sports massage is in helping .
- Describe six contraindications to massage treatment. (P4)
- Fever: When you have a fever, your body is trying to isolate and expel an invader of some kind. Massage increases overall circulation and could therefore work against your body's natural defences.
- Inflammation: Massage can further irritate an area of inflammation, so you should not administer it. Inflamed conditions include anything that ends in –itis, such as phlebitis (inflammation of a vein), dermatitis (inflammation of the skin), arthritis (inflammation of the joints), and so on. In the case of localized problems, you can still massage around them, however, avoiding the inflammation itself.
- High blood pressure: High blood pressure means excessive pressure against blood vessel walls. Massage affects the blood vessels, and so people with high blood pressure or a heart condition should receive light, sedating massages, if at all.
- Infectious diseases: Massage is not a good idea for someone coming down with the flu or diphtheria, for example, and to make matters worse, you expose yourself to the virus as well.
- Hernia: Hernias are protrusions of part of an organ (such as the intestines) through a muscular wall. It's not a good idea to try to push these organs back inside. Surgery works better.
- Osteoporosis: Elderly people with a severe stoop to the shoulders often have this condition, in which bones become porous, brittle, and fragile. Massage may be too intense for this condition.
- Describe the role of sport and exercise massage professionals. (P2)
The SMT is an essential part of general sports care, leisure sports as well as in the international team situation with his time devoted mostly to prevention and regeneration. Depending on the different laws in individual EAS member states, his role can also encompass the areas of therapy and rehabilitation. This involves on the one hand close collaboration with other medical professionals (for example, sports doctors, physiotherapists) and on the other hand with professionals in teaching and sports management.
The first step in the quest for health advice is often the sports massage therapist, who fulfils the role of advisor and mediator. The SMT is responsible for making the trainer aware of this mediating role. The SMT assumes an important communication role in this area - between sports persons, trainers, medical professionals and other care providers.
In the event of a medical problem, the SMT is mostly involved in the transition and reintroduction of the sports person from therapy back into everyday sport.
Aims of massage
In all types of massage, the therapist has specific aims in mind, and in sport we focus on the individual needs of the athlete. With the ever growing number of people taking part in sport, combined with the increasing competitiveness and intensity of physical exercise, the demand for sports massage is also increasing and becoming more and more recognised as a skill which may aid recovery and enhance performance.
Sports massage does have some aims in common with other forms of massage and it is especially important to have a thorough understanding of anatomy and physiology, in particular the muscular and skeletal systems. By understanding these systems and the effects of exercise, we may also appreciate how massage may benefit the sports person and becomes an integral part of the athlete's training program.
Athletes who are looking to improve performance and increase their competitive edge do so by adopting a training schedule to enhance their skill, strength, stamina, suppleness and speed. The degree to which they develop and utilise these qualities will depend on other factors such as the level of competition, the sport played, and possibly their position in a team. However, no matter which sport, the aim is nearly always to increase the level of training and thereby subject the body to gradual and controlled overuse.
It is this overuse that may often create problems and imbalances in the soft tissues. If these are ignored and allowed to become chronic, they will not only hinder the athlete's rate of improvement, but also in many cases their performance may well suffer and ultimately the athlete may be susceptible to developing more conditions that are serious. Certainly if they are unable to perform at their best, they may be more at risk from other more traumatic forms of injury. For example, a player involved in a contact sport who is "carrying" an injury may not have their usual level of agility. The result might be that they might suffer an extrinsic injury because of not being fully prepared for the contact suffered from an unexpected tackle.
- Conduct an assessment on two different athletes, identifying areas that require sport and exercise massage. (P3)
A rugby player came to me wanting a massage on his upper body, particularly his trapezius muscle and more so his sternocleidomastoid muscle. This is the neck muscle. According to his accounts of what happened he was continually making improper tackles and collisions with the opposition’s thigh also inflamed the muscle.
For the area I’m going work on I’m going to mainly use effleurage/ deep effleurage and specifically petrissage. Friction movements will also be used as well to give a better treatment.
Following is the massage order of what I’m going to do on clients back and later then focus on specific area with the client.
Massage order
Apply cream/ oil.
BACK & NECK
Superficial stroking x 8
Effleurage x 8
Digital kneading over upper fibres of trapezius 3x9
Digital kneading of sternocleidomastoid 3x12
Wringing over upper fibres of trapezius and sternocleidomastoid x 6
Deep digital lifting of upper fibres of trapezius and sternocleidomastoid x 8
Frictions of sternocleidomastoid x 6
Effleurage x 8
Advice
To help with recovery and rehabilitation the client should not play rugby for a small period of time at about 2 weeks until fully recovered. He should also make another trip to see me just to take any extra kinks away. He should also do light stretches of the neck. For example neck flexion, extension, and also rotation. Doing this three times a day for 2 weeks should help his muscles exponentially.
A football player can to me wanting a massage because of a sport related injury. This area was on his lower body particularly his right gastrocnemius muscle. This is the right calf muscle at the back of the leg. According to his account he had not stretched properly and had a build up of lactic acid in that muscle as well as being kick in the muscle and bruised it by another player.
For this massage I am going to do effleurage and deep effleurage also with petrissage so that I can remove the lactic acid from the muscle. Frictions movement will also be used to give a deeper and better massage.
Massage order
Apply cream/oil
Superficial stroking of both legs x 8
Effleurage of both legs x 8
Digital kneading over upper fibres of hamstrings and gastrocnemius of both legs 3x9
Digital kneading of gastrocnemius of right leg, light on left leg 3x12
Wringing over upper fibres of hamstrings and gastrocnemius of right leg x 6
Deep digital lifting of upper fibres of hamstrings and gastrocnemius of right leg x 8
Frictions of gastrocnemius x 6
Effleurage of both legs x 8
Advice`
Heat—do not use heat at all during the first 3 to 5 days. Use heat only when you are returning to physical activity. Then use it before stretching or getting ready to play sports.
Stretching—when the acute is gone, start gentle stretching as recommended by a care professional. Stay within limits. Hold each stretch for about 10 seconds and repeat 6 times. Repeat stretches 4 to 6 times during the day.
Strengthening—Begin strengthening for your calf as recommended by a care professional. This is very important to guard against further problems.
Prevention
To reduce the chance that you will strain a calf muscle:
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Keep your calf strong so they can absorb the energy of sudden physical .
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After a short warm-up period, stretch out your calf before physical activity.
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Learn the proper technique for and sporting activities. This will decrease on all your , including your calf .
- Explain the sport and exercise massage requirements of two different athletes. (M2)
The rugby player
For this player, because he is a prop and always in a scrum he has extensive muscle problems on his sternocleidomastoid and trapezius muscle. Due to this problem his lower back has also tightened up and I will be massaging the rest of his back. There will be use of effleurage, petrisage and frictions of the back but more so that of the neck. Deep effleurage of the back will be the most done to it as it has no injury but, needs to be done so that the player do not have bad waste material build up and drained from the lymphatic system. The shoulder and neck will receive extensively deep petrisage, effleurage and tapotment, to relieve the tension the area of problem. The effleurage will prepare the muscle for the treatment and relax the client; the pretisage will then loosen the muscle and relieve the pain from the specific area. Tapotment will stimulate the muscles and make them for relieved from the area. Frictions will more cause the muscles loosen through a series of lifting and stretching of the muscles.
The football player
This player is a midfielder that plays on the wing. He works his gastrocniemeus a lot so that slightly weakens the muscle when being used extensively. While he was playing he was kicked in this area and caused pain in his muscle. This is where I have targeted my massage on. Their will be use of effleurage and pertrisage on this muscles and the rest on his legs as to not cause any further on-balance of the legs and the non damaged leg. Friction will be used as well, to work the muscle and get the kinks out of the muscle. Tapotment will not be used because I don’t want to over work the muscle when frictions will cause some initial discomfort, and it may cause more damage. The effleurage is to push out any lactic acid that might have pills up throught the lymphatic system and then specifically pretrissage and frictions so that it may loosen and relieve the muscle of the pain in the specific area.
- Compare and contrast the sport and exercise massage requirements of two athletes. (D1) (M2 and D1 can be combined into one task)
Between the two athletes they have similar requirements and as well as comparative differences that will be evaluated. For the rugby player on his sternocleidomastoid and trapezius muscles he had to have all four types of massage treatments which are effleurage, petrissage, frictions and tapotment being administered on his back area, Whereas, for the footballer he had three. This is because for the footballer had hurt a different area of the body and as such requires a treatment. The rugby player needed effleurage to firstly warm the injured area and prepare it for the massage, where similarly the footballer had this done as well. This is because the player’s needs to be relaxed for the massage to therefore relax the muscle fibres to make it a more useful massage. Petrissage however is different as the footballer needs more petrissage on the leg because it has more muscle to be done, this is because the under lying of the muscles is intended to be worked upon. On the other hand, for the rugby player this type of massage will be used but, not as extensively because the muscles fibres in the back and neck are not deep enough so that it can have that extensive massage requirements. For frictions, both players would also need this, but the rugby player would need this more than the footballer because the frictions technique is done on the back and neck so the muscle is dealt with deep enough for the light area of muscle.
Tapotment will be done more on the rugby player than that of the footballer. Sub sequentially the footballer has no tapotment technique done on him at all. This is because this type of technique stimulates the muscle with percussion movements and it may cause further discomfort for the footballer’s gastrocnemius. However the rugby player will have this done to stimulate the muscle because it is not being used repetitively as much as running and walking.
Demonstrate appropriate sport and exercise massage treatment, for a selected athlete, with support (P5) without support (M3)
For this I have demonstrated the massage treatment on that of a rugby player. The task was firstly done with support so that I get a fully understanding of how this is conducted, and then further on without help. The picture displays this.
- Analyse the appropriate sport and exercise massage treatment, for a selected athlete. (D2)
The massage conducted was done well with coach set up properly and hygienically with the coach cover on tight and properly and also the roll laid done well. For the consultation, I evaluated the problem and spoke to the athletes and told them how they can improve their recovery rate as well as telling them how to prevent future injury to the same area that the problem was at. While the massage was being done my communication with them was very good, telling them what I was doing and why I was doing it and asking them for feedback as to how well I was doing and whether or not I am putting too much pressure on the area or too little pressure. While doing a massage, body posture is very important as and my body posture was done properly. Also my massage techniques were really good while I was doing excellent rhythm and pressure. Overall the massages where very good and the feedback from the athletes, was that they were very good and also very relaxing. However on the righting up process of the massage, it can to my attention although the actual massage itself was very good and done on time and the time needed, the right up was very short and as such gave the illusion that it was a very short massage. So at the moment that would be the only bad comment that I have identified for the moment.
- Review their performance in demonstrating sport and exercise massage treatment, identifying strengths and areas for improvement. (P6)
For the massage performance itself overall it was done very technically, keeping in mind with all the aspect that the sport massage treatment requires. For the rugby athlete the massage on his back and neck area was done precisely and specifically. It flowed very well, meaning that my hand never left the massaged area of the body, until finished unless I was adding oil. The after care advice was very good as well, this is because I demonstrated what and how to keep the neck moving without causing further damage and to help with the healing process.
Learning outcomes
On completion of this unit a learner should:
1 Understand the effects and benefits of sport and exercise massage
2 Understand the role of sports sport and exercise professionals
3 Be able to identify the sport and exercise massage requirements of athletes
4 Be able to demonstrate different sport and exercise massage techniques.
Grading criteria assessed P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6, M1, M2, M3, D1, D2
