New Seminars have been scheduled for 2010. I have scheduled sports massage workshops for the following cities:
May 22-23, Sports Massage – Upper Body: Detroit (Novi), Michigan
July 10-11, Sports Massage – Lower Body: Chicago, Illinois
October 9-10, …
Anatomy and biomechanics relevant to sports massage
Working with athletes or active clients
My personal reviews of products and services
Research articles regarding massage therapy and sports massage
Tips for finding the root cause of the injury
A recently published study performed brief (10 or 30 second) massage to the musculotendinous junction of the hamstrings in the research subjects and found a significant increase in hip flexion range of motion for both massage groups (5.9% for 10-second massage, 7.2% for 30-second massage).
Huang, SY, Di Santo, M, Wadden, KP, Cappa, DF, Alkanani, T, and Behm, DG, Short duration massage at the hamstrings musculotendinous junction induces greater range of motion. J Strength Cond Res 24(7): 1917-1924, 2010.
The massage technique performed was slow, circular friction at a pace of 1 repetition per second. The subjects were supine, with their knee straight, and massage was performed to the distal hamstrings with the fingertips wrapped around the thigh.
Before and after the massage, they measured the EMG activity of the hamstrings as well as the passive muscle tension. Tension was measured as the torque force produced at the posterior knee at the point of discomfort during stretching.
There were a few interesting results from this study. First, the massage was performed only to the musculotendinous junction, targeting the golgi tendon organs, and not the muscle belly and attachments.
Next, the increased range of motion did not create an increase in either muscle tension or EMG muscle activity. The investigators suggest the massage increased the range of motion through a modified stretch perception or increased compliance of the hamstrings.
The suggested practical application of this research is to use slow, circular friction massage to the musculotendinous junction of a muscle either before stretching or after activity to improve range of motion. This work can be applied to a sports massage therapist’s toolbox, or to teach an athlete for self-care of a chronically tight muscle.
When working with client who are rehabbing a serious injury, I have found that muscle guarding is quite often a factor in limited range of motion (ROM). I have recently seen this in cases of …
In the April, 2010 issue of Strength and Conditioning Research, researchers evaluated the ability of the test subjects to identify the change in passive flexion or extension to their knee after a session of either …
Here’s a common injury commonly seen in post-event sports massage, and one I’m commonly asked about…the dreaded muscle cramp.
Traditionally, the treatment for a muscle cramp was to apply a stretch to the muscle. However, this …
In a study published in the Journal of Alternative Medicine (2008), researchers found that a 40 minute myofascial massage after high-intensity exercise caused a significant decrease in both EMG amplitude and vigor when compared with …
Shin splints are a very common lower body injury. In my years working as an athletic trainer, I have seen athletes from a wide variety of sports come in complaining of shin pain, including track, …