Faye Barr Sports Massage Therapy

Sports Massage & Therapy in Warwickshire

How Sports Massage will help you to achieve your New Year’s Resolutions

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If your resolution is to get fitter

Sports massage helps to improve posture, increase mobility and flexibility, which leads to improved muscle functioning, helping you to move better.

If your resolution is to be happier

Sports massage is proven to reduce levels of cortisol, the stress hormone and increase levels of serotonin, the hormone that promotes happiness. Sports massage also relieves muscle tension, relaxes tight shoulders and eases tension headaches, allowing you to feel relaxed and happier.

If your resolution is to take care of yourself

A recent study conducted by Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles found that just one hour of massage increased the levels of white blood cells in the body, leading to an improved immune system. Sports massage also has been shown to decrease blood pressure, with a study at the University of Maryland Medical Centre finding an average drop in Systolic pressure of 10.4 mm Hg and a diastolic pressure drop of on average 5.3 mm Hg.

If you resolution is to improve in your sport

Regular sports massage helps to improve the recovery rate of muscles by increasing blood flow, helping oxygen and nutrients to get to damaged tissue. By increasing recovery rate, the body is able to take on higher levels of training, leading to improved performance.

The injury prevention and rehabilitation benefits of sports massage helps to prolong sporting careers. Sports massage prior to an event will help you to prepare mentally by promoting a positive mindset and high self-confidence.

If your resolution is to get a promotion at work

Sports massage increases blood flow to the brain, providing more oxygen, which improves concentration and levels of productivity, allowing you to work more effectively.

The reduced levels of cortisol and increased levels of serotonin achieved through regular sports massage can promote high confidence and a positive mindset needed to work hard and achieve goals.

 

Whatever your resolution, let me help you to achieve it by booking a sports massage today.

Why does Sports Massage hurt?

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A lot of clients ask me if it’s normal for their muscles to feel sore after sports massage treatment, with some clients using the phrase ‘no pain, no gain’ to justify why sports massage NEEDS to be painful. I have even joked with clients that I should offer gas and air as part of my service!

 

So does sports massage HAVE to be uncomfortable for it to work? I often talk about ‘good pain’ and ‘bad pain’ with clients. Good pain being slightly uncomfortable soreness during treatment, bad pain being so painful that you need to tense all your muscles to try to block out the pain. This is where talking with your therapist is so important, as everyone’s pain threshold is different. If you’re having to grit your teeth and tense your muscles to get through the treatment, the pressure is too much. By tensing your muscles, the sports massage is not as effective as it should be, as the muscle is effectively blocking out the treatment. With good pain, however, comes a slightly uncomfortable, but bearable, sensation in the muscle that is being worked on. This amount of pressure is the most effective, as the muscles are able to stay relaxed and allow the therapist to break down any knots and adhesions.

 

In terms of how you should feel after a sports massage is individual. Some people will feel amazing as soon as they step off the couch, with looser, more flexible muscles and any muscular pain felt before the treatment gone. Some people, however, will experience muscle soreness for up to 48 hours after and slight bruising. This is often the case with those who have long standing muscular issues that require more than one treatment to feel vast improvements.

 

So, in summary, discuss pressure with your therapist throughout the treatment and book regular massages (ideally once a week, at least once a month) in order to feel amazing immediately after your sports massage!

Unilateral Strength Training – what, why and how?

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Unilateral training is something that is relatively new to me (although I came to realise that I had to some extent been training in this way without realising it). As a keen runner, I had been suffering with knee problems on and off for a few years. After speaking to physiotherapists (mainly the incredibly knowledgeable Jon Davis at Shires Physio) and doing some research of my own, I discovered the benefits of unilateral training and how it can make me a stronger, more injury-proof athlete.

What?

Unilateral training simply means to train one side of the body separately from the other.

Why?

Most people tend to favour one side of their body to the other which, over time, can create an imbalance in muscular strength. Strength training bilaterally, using both sides of your body together, can only add to the imbalance, leading to postural problems, poor sporting technique and injury.

Training unilaterally can help to

  • improve balance and stability
  • strengthen core stabilising muscles
  • even out muscular imbalances
  • improve sporting performance
  • reduce the risk of injury

How?

It is important to begin unilateral training with light or no weights to introduce your body to this type of training. Don’t be discouraged from backing off the heavy weights as once your technique is solid and your stabilising muscles have adapted to working in this way, many people find that they can progress fairly quickly, even increasing in strength in bilateral movements. It is also a good idea to carry out unilateral training at the beginning of your workout, as it becomes much harder to balance when fatigued.

Some great functional unilateral exercises include:

  • single leg squats
  • single leg glute bridges
  • single arm dumbbell rows
  • hanging abdominal single leg raises

Add unilateral training into your strength routine and see the benefits for yourself…

 

 

 

 

Upper Cross Syndrome – How to Identify and Combat

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computer posture

Does this posture look familiar?

A huge number of my clients with upper back and shoulder tightness guiltily admit to poor desk posture. Along with long hours spent driving, tapping away on laptops and curled up watching T.V., it’s little wonder that our bodies quickly adapt to this hunched over position, adopting it as the norm.

At the end of a long day in our hunched over positions, we drag ourselves to the gym to get fitter and healthier, often peddling away on the static bike, still adopting our hunched position, and finishing off with a few sets of chest press and trapezius shrug exercises.

The gym may seem like a great idea at the end of a long working day to get stronger and improve posture, and whilst it can be, it is crucial that you complete the appropriate exercises to do just that, rather than adding to postural issues, which can lead to poor technique, compensation problems, and ultimately, injury.

With our shoulders hunched and rounded throughout the day, our chest muscles are getting ever stronger to support this new position. Our upper trapezius muscles end the day tight and sore from pulling our shoulders up to our ears. You can now see how our chest and trapezius strengthening exercises are not helpful.

Upper cross syndrome is caused by muscular imbalance. Therefore, if the upper trapezius and pectorals are strong and tight, there must be weak and over-stretched muscles allowing this to happen. The lower trapezius, rhomboid and cervical flexors (in the neck) are the culprits.

The Solution…

To combat upper cross syndrome, we must correct this imbalance by lengthening the pectoral and upper trapezius muscles and strengthening the lower trapezius, rhomboids and cervical flexors.

There are 3 main exercises that I believe are the most effective.

1. Set the shoulders

Tuck your chin (think about holding a tennis ball under your chin) and pull your shoulders down and back (imagine trying to get your shoulder blades in the back pockets of your jeans). This is something you should be consciously trying to achieve throughout the day until the position comes naturally.

2. Lengthen the pectorals

To lengthen the pectorals, perform chest stretches by opening out the chest using a wall or door frame, aiming for at least 3 x per day, holding the stretch for 10-15 seconds, repeating 2-3 times.

3. Strengthen the lower trapezius and rhomboids

The most effective exercises for strengthening the lower trapezius and rhomboids is a seated row. If you are a member of a gym, there may be a seated row machine.

To perform this exercise at home, a theraband can be used. A theraband is a stretchy band used for resistance exercises. They come in different levels of resistance depending on your strength, so be aware of this when purchasing – if you live locally, the lovely people at Warwick Sports Shop are very knowledgeable and can assist in selecting the correct level of resistance. To perform a seated row, adopt a seated position on the floor, with the legs straight out in front. Wrap the theraband around the feet holding the ends of the band with no slack in the band. Pull the band towards your chest, drawing your shoulders back and together keeping your back straight. Perform 2-3 sets of 15 reps.

Good luck and enjoy your new found great posture!

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