Sports Massage Therapy for Athletes

Sports Massage Therapy for Athletes

Sports massage therapy has grown into a popular specialization within the massage therapy profession. The goal of the sports massage therapist is to contribute to the overall health and physical maintenance of the athlete, using critical thinking to apply specific techniques to achieve the best results. Areas addressed typically include event preparation, injury prevention and treatment, and recovery.

For the pre-event sports massage, therapists work to warm the muscles, increase blood flow, and get the nervous system geared up. This is incredibly important in maintaining healthy muscles and possibly preventing injury. However, in the case of injury, sports massage therapists work to prepare tissue for healing and improving scar mobility. This specialized niche of professionals has been able to meld their love of sports and massage together to create a thriving career.

The Soma Institute in Chicago has trained thousands of students in many areas of massage therapy, including sports massage. There are countless benefits of massage therapy for athletes, and at Soma, students learn the abilities needed to succeed and prosper as a sports massage specialist. To find out more about Soma’s 11 or 15-month Clinical Massage Therapy program, and if a career in sports massage therapy would be a good fit for you, give Soma a call at 1.800.694.5314.