At Triumph Fitness, we offer a range of sports therapy treatments including massage and ultrasound to help prevent, relieve, improve and treat any injury’s or tightness you may be experiencing

Massage Therapy

What is Massage Therapy?

Massage Therapy uses long flowing strokes, deep kneading, surface friction, light tapping and joint movement.

Massage Therapists use Swedish massage, along with many other techniques such as Neuromuscular Facilitation (NMT), Trigger Point Therapy, Facial release, and Lymph Drainage, in addition to therapeutic exercise, stretching and postural education in an average massage therapy visit.

What does Massage Therapy do?

Massage Therapy acts directly upon the muscular, nervous and circulatory systems to rehabilitate physical injuries and improve health. Research studies have found massage therapy to positively affect:

• Circulation
• Muscular system
• Nervous system
• Immune system
• Pain perception
• Psychological state
• Respiratory function

What should I expect from my Massage Therapy visit?

Your average appointment will begin with you filling out a medical case history to establish your current level of health and ensure there are no contraindications to massage therapy.

Next comes an interview/assessment by your massage therapist so he/she can better understand your individual health needs. Following the assessment, the therapist will leave the room, allowing you to disrobe and get into position on the massage table (covered by a sheet). The therapist will re-enter the room and do the hands-on part of the treatment. W

hen he/she is finished, he/she will leave the room again, allowing you the privacy to dress. Once you are dressed, the therapist will meet with you again to discuss the treatment and assign necessary stretches/strengthening exercises.

The Benefits of Sports Massage

As an athlete can you benefit from massage? The average sports enthusiast might have their doubts. If you are running 30km a week, or lifting weights 3 times a week or generally pushing your body to its limits, how can a shoulder rub help?

The practice of massage therapy is the assessment of the soft tissue and joints of the body and the treatment and prevention of physical dysfunction and pain of the soft tissue and joints by manipulation to develop, maintain, rehabilitate or augment physical function, or relieve pain. (Massage Therapy Act 1991)

As an RMT, I treat “soft tissue and joints by manipulation”. Soft tissue can be muscles, ligaments, tendons, or fascia. Well, we all know what muscles are and we generally accept that RMT’s are pretty adept at “loosening” or “getting the kinks out of” muscles. Ligaments are what are involved in ankle sprains, MCL or ACL tears of the knee. Tendons are involved in any kind of tendonitis or tendinosis overuse conditions such as treat golfer’s elbow or tennis elbow. And then there’s fascia which act like ropes attaching a sail from the boat to the mast. If you imagine that the sail is the muscle that powers the boat, then the lines, ropes and pulleys are the fascia that decide how tightly the sail/muscle will be stretched and how powerful the sail/muscle can be. An RMT is trained to work on the muscles, fascia, ligaments, tendons and joints or basically all those great little parts that work together to achieve peak athletic performance.

For the moment, let’s forget about the typical relaxing “massage” and start thinking of this as “therapy performed by a massage therapist” much the same way we think of therapy performed by a physical therapist or chiropractor. Massage therapists are qualified to perform most of the stretches, exercises and manipulations that a physiotherapist does.

Athletes are familiar with the burn and soreness in the muscles that accompanies a good workout. The pain is often caused by lactic acid build-up and inflammation in the muscles or spasm (shortening) of the muscles. During a post event treatment, RMT’s can flush out the muscles helping to remove lactic acids and other metabolic waste products while flooding the muscle tissue with fresh oxygenated blood. RMT’s can use different massage & stretching techniques to lengthen the muscle back to its normal length and reduce pain from muscle spasm. These all help to reduce pain, increase mobility and shorten healing time after an event or a tough workout.

During the training season athletes are constantly trying to find a balance between pushing the body harder while nursing old injuries and preventing new ones. These injuries or imbalances can shorten an athletic career and decrease performance. Scar tissue or fascial adhesions often build up over injured areas or between muscles almost gluing these structures together and decreasing strength and mobility. Rolfing & MRT work to remove and re-align the scar tissue.
Acupuncture is also very effective at decreasing inflammation by giving the injury the equivalent of a cortisone injection.

Here are some examples of injuries that Sports Massage can help:

• Plantar Fasciitis
• Shin Splints
• Hip Pain
• Hip Tightness
• Knee Pain
• Tennis Elbow
• Golfer’s Elbow
• Patellar Femoral Syndrome
• Post Event Stretch & Flush
• Frozen Shoulder
• Rotator Cuff Tendonitis
• Herniated Disc
• Ankle Sprain
• Wrist Sprain
• Quadricep or Hamstring strain

For more information on sports therapy treatments contact Dan on 07827 259159 or email Dan at dan@triumphfitness.co.uk

Ultrasound

Ultrasound is the best form of heat treatment for soft tissue injuries. It is used to treat joint and muscle sprains, bursitis, and tendonitis.

Ultrasound treatment is used to:

• relieve pain and inflammation
• speed-heal
• reduce muscle spasms
• increase range of motion

Ultrasound makes high frequency sound waves. The sound waves vibrate tissues deep in side the injured area. This creates heat that draws more blood into the tissues. The tissues then respond to healing nutrients brought in by the blood and the repair process can begin. Treatment is given with a soundhead that is moved gently in strokes or circles over the injured area. It lasts just a few minutes. The procedure may be performed with the soundhead alone or combined with a topical anti-inflammatory drug or gel.

For more information on sports therapy treatments contact Dan on 07827 259159 or email Dan at dan@triumphfitness.co.uk

If you are interested in sports therapy treatments, massage or ultrasound please complete and bring the attached form to your first session:
Download Client Record Form – Triumph Fitness