We all love a good massage, but how do you know which one is right for you? Is it a deep tissue or sports?
There are dozens of different types of massage therapy methods but two fundamental categories: rehabilitative massage and relaxation massage. With regards to rehabilitation, deep tissue massage and sports massage are the two approaches that most people have heard of. But what are the differences between these two types of treatment? And which is most appropriate for you? This is what we discuss in this blog post.
What is a deep tissue massage?
As the name suggests, a deep tissue massage consists of a therapist using firm pressure to manipulate the deeper tissues of the body, including the muscles. This doesn’t focus on a specific injury or one smaller area of the body.
There are a number of reasons why someone might want or need this particular type of massage therapy, such as helping relieve muscular tension, reducing stress, breaking down knots, reducing the build of toxins and increasing blood flow to the muscles.
A deep tissue massage can be requested to be a full body massage, or focused on lower limbs or upper body. At the end of the massage you will feel relaxed and rejuvenated.
What is a sports massage?
It is important to remember that sports massage is not just for athletes. A sports massage, on the other hand, differs in it being more area-specific, focussing on larger and older knots that have built up over longer periods of time due to high training volume, trauma, muscle imbalance or poor biomechanics. The objective with sports massage is either to aid the recovery from injury, the prevention of injury, or to assist performance through helping boost power production and the range of motion.
Do techniques used differ between a deep tissue and sports massage?
Although two different therapeutic approaches, the strokes and techniques used during a deep tissue and a sports massage are fairly similar, with the use of circular movements, kneading, tapping and vibrations being consistent across both. Where they differ somewhat is in the wider inclusion of passive stretching alongside a course of sports massage therapy.
So, to sum up the above styles very quickly.
If you have an injury or specific area you want to look at then I would recommend a sports massage.
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