Hello, welcome to the second NW Sports massage blog for July. I am really excited to announce that this month I welcomed a new sponsored athlete Abby Lloyd to the team.
Abby is a British Eventing Coach and accredited professional coach and horse rider, based in Gloucestershire. She has been running Abby Lloyd Coaching business for over 4 years after years of gaining qualifications and experience. Abby has built up a wonderful client base and loves to do a mixture of dressage, show jumping and XC training at her base in Norton, Glos and various training venues around Gloucestershire and competes mainly in eventing with her two horses and is very excited for her 6yo who has got a few great results under his belt already.
Abby is a hard worker with a real passion to help fellow equestrians as well as for her sport, so I am really excited to be working with her helping ease her aches, pains and imbalances that come with a physical job and sport. Find out more about Abby Lloyd coaching on her Facebook page.
NW Sports massage now offers myofascial cupping treatments. I have dedicated a section in this blog to tell you about the benefits and effects of cupping.
Finally, NW Sports massage now offer online booking meaning you can book a appointment for a massage in Tewkesbury super easily in just a few clicks by either clicking here or following the book now links on the website.
Sport in the spotlight
Each month I cover a new sport highlighting how it can effect our bodies and muscles required for that sport. At the beginning of July Novak Djokovic won Wimbledon for the 7th time. Wimbledon always gets everyone craving picking up a tennis racket so for July we are looking at Tennis and have joined up with Joe Chadwick Tennis Coach who is based at Cheltenham Civil service tennis club.
Joe has been playing tennis since he was 5 years old (against the garage door) and currently plays on the ITF Seniors Tour having reached an international ranking of 300 and has been coaching tennis since 2001. You can also check out Joe's facebook page here.
"Tennis is a wonderful sport that can be played at different levels from tots to players in the their 90's. Whilst offering physical benefits it is a sport that is also good for the mind and is very sociable. My grandparents met at a tennis club and I have personally made many friends through tennis.
Tennis is both an aerobic and anaerobic sport that can require, at higher levels, power and strength. For those looking to progress, going running is good preparation but interval training and sprinting are also important. Most training can be done on the court itself.
To help avoid injury the whole body should be utilised in movement and hitting the ball. This
starts from the legs, which host our most powerful muscles, which then starts good rotation through the whole body. Using the whole body and being loose, will also take pressure off the arm and help avoid tennis elbow. Tennis elbow is a painful condition of the tendons caused by overuse of the elbow. The pain can spread from elbow into forearm and wrist, kinesiology taping provided at NW Sports massage can be a great aid to help alleviate symptoms if you are unlucky enough to suffer with tennis elbow.
A strong core is essential for players looking to improve their game and pilates and yoga can help this. A strong core helps with good movement and balance striking the ball. Body weight exercises are great for developing a 'tennis body'. Examples of these would be press ups that develop chest, arms, shoulders and core, squats that improve leg strength and power.
Overall playing lots of tennis with proper technique will be the best specific fitness. And after playing, treating yourself to a sports massage will have many benefits like helping avoid injury, improving recovery time and helping muscular tightness and imbalances ."
I’d love people to share their knowledge on a sport they are passionate about to participate in the newsletter please email: nswsportsmassage@gmail.com
What is Myofascial Cupping?
Myofascial cupping is a ancient Chinese therapy, and the use of it dates back to as early as 3000BC. Google searches for cupping therapists and benefits of cupping soared after the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro when multiple American athletes were seen with the obvious circular marks on their backs, shoulders, and chests.
Unlike usual massage which compresses tissues, cupping creates negative pressure created by the vacuum or sucking effect from cupping and brings space and circulation to fascia and muscles with the use of silicone, plastic, or glass cups.
It can be used incorporated with manual massage therapy or as a standalone treatment and can be much less intense than manually pressing on those sore trigger points
BENEFITS of cupping
✅ increases blood flow
✅ increases lymph flow
✅ Relieves scar tissue
✅ Relieves tightness and trigger points
✅ Promotes tissue healing and speeds muscle recovery
✅ improves mobility
✅ decreases pain
✅ Used to warm up the superficial tissues before deep tissue massage.
🐙 If you are put off by the red circular marks that make it look like you’ve been attacked by an Octopus then use of dynamic or massage cupping helps prevent this happening still with the great benefits.
What are those red marks?
The marks you see after a cupping session are the result of histamine responses and petechial (small red or purple spot caused by bleeding into the skin). When negative pressure is applied in the cups, and the skin is drawn up making it easier for the body to process and eliminate impurities and toxins. The tiny blood capillaries in the superficial layer of muscles and the skin are broken. This drives the body to treat the area in much the same way as it does with a bruise the redness created is part of the body’s healing process and will usually subside anywhere within a few hours to a week dependant on use.
Moving Muscles
Each month I pick a new muscle to look at and see how it helps us move and effects posture and problems tightness in the muscle can cause. This time we will look at 2 of the calf muscles
⛹️ Gastrocnemius and Soleus Muscles
These are 2 of the 3 muscles that forms the calf. Found on the back of the lower leg their main functions are to help support us when standing and with the movement of standing on your tiptoes (plantarflex the foot).
They are utilised during most sports that require running and jumping. Explosive jumping and landing badly from jumps is the most likely cause of injury to these muscles When these muscles become tight pain in the calves or Achilles tendon below can occur. Wearing of high heels can also cause these muscles to become shortened.
Exercise or sporting examples that contract these muscles would be calf raises. However, due to the different insertions of each muscle to engage the gastrocnemius complete calf raises with straight legs, and to engage Soleus do calf raises with bent knees.
And of course, massage or self-massage to this area can help ease tightness and boost circulation in that region.
Massage Myths
There’s a plethora of information out there about sports, muscles, and massage. I want to debunk misinformation that may be out there and confusing people.
Myth – Massage only involves the muscles!!
As well as Sports massage helping ease the tightness of our overused muscles there are other parts of the body that benefit too.
Firstly, it helps reduce stress and anxiety and promotes good mental health and can also be of benefit to our nervous system (calming effect). Massage can relieve areas of the fascia, a system of connective tissue that encases our body parts and binds them together.
Massage can manually loosen joints and improve mobility, reduce swelling and make movement easier. Fluid build-up in arthritic joints may be reduced, alleviating swelling and pain. Massage can also improve the flow of lymph – a fluid that normally moves through the body to fight infection. And it helps improves our circulation which can help aid healing.
I hope you enjoyed this months blog, please don't hesitate to contact if you'd like more information from NW Sports massage.
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