Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Massage is a popular treatment choice of athletes, coaches, and sports physical therapists. Despite its purported benefits and frequent use, evidence demonstrating its efficacy is scarce. To identify current literature relating to sports massage and its role in effecting an athlete's psychological readiness, in enhancing sports performance, in recovery from exercise and competition, and in the treatment of sports related musculoskeletal injuries.
Electronic databases were used to identify papers relevant to this review. The following keywords were searched: massage, sports injuries, athletic injuries, physical therapy, rehabilitation, delayed onset muscle soreness, sports psychology, sports performance, sports massage, sports recovery, soft tissue mobilization, deep transverse friction massage, pre-event, and post exercise.
Research studies pertaining to the following general categories were identified and reviewed: pre-event physiological and psychological variables , sports performance, recovery, and rehabilitation. Despite the fact clinical research has been performed, a poor appreciation exists for the appropriate clinical use of sports massage. Additional studies examining the physiological and psychological effects of sports massage are necessary in order to assist the sports physical therapist in developing and implementing clinically significant evidence based programs or treatments.
Keywords: sports massage, sports rehabilitation, sports performance, sports recovery. Massage has been utilized in the treatment of illness and injury for thousands of years by health care practitioners. Physical therapists who specialize in sports medicine often utilize massage techniques to aid an athlete's recovery from intense exercise or as a treatment option when performing clinical rehabilitation. The purpose of this paper is to review and present the current literature relating to sports massage and its roles in effecting an athlete's psychological readiness, in enhancing sports performance, in recovery from exercise and competition, and in the treatment of sports-related musculoskeletal injuries.
Recommendations are discussed highlighting the need for additional research in sports massage. If fewer than articles were identified by a search strategy, the study abstracts were reviewed from that category in order to identify potentially relevant papers. The reference list of each of the selected papers was also reviewed in order to identify additional relevant publications.
