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QUESTION:
Dear Charles,
The other day, I had a long
massage just before my workout, and I think it actually made
me weaker. I always hear that massage is supposed to help
improve recovery, so do I maybe need to seek out another therapist?
Or should I avoid massage before workouts?
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ANSWER:
Don't fire your massage therapist
just yet!
There are many different kinds of
massage, and I suspect that the massage you had might have been
more appropriate after a workout rather than for pre-training.
The ideal type of massage for "pre-event"
purposes is very light, most often done without oil, for about 20
minutes before an event. We use broad compression strokes, jostling
and light friction at tendons to warm the muscles up, loosen them
from spasms prime them with blood.
Massage has become
an indispensable part of my work with athletes.
My Los Angeles-based athletes are
treated by Dianna Linden, MT, CFT (who may be contacted at diannal@netVIP.com),
who uses a wide range of techniques and disciplines with her clients,
many of whom are athletes. I asked Dianna to comment on your question,
and here is what she had to say:
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"Massage which is
of a deep tissue style or sports massage of a clinical nature
is used to release spasms or adhesions (old or new) from
muscles and tendons. This type of work is more invasive
and does require some recovery time before the muscles are
ready for peak performance again.
For this reason,
this type of deeper tissue work is best done in the off
season or as part of the athlete's rebuild phase so that
the tissues are 'available for training' without damaged
or restricted fibers restricting their ability to fully
relax and contract.
After deep tissue
style massage the muscles might even feel tender and weaker
for that day and a day following the massage. After that,
they should perform better, being freed from the internal
restrictions of the erased adhesions."
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Dianna also cautions that If a large range of motion is important
to the performance of the athlete's sport or training (for example,
deep squatting or dumbbell bench presses) the athlete should take
it easy for the first workout and be aware that the synergistic
functioning of the antagonists has been temporarily altered by
the release of the adhesions.
For example, if the
hamstring has had a large spasm or adhesion in it and the deep
tissue work relieved some portion of that spasm or all of it,
the muscle might behave differently, the leg could go forward
faster, thus affecting the athlete's gait.
This is ultimately
beneficial for performance, but could be temporarily disconcerting
to feel your leg moving faster than you are used to. This takes
some reorientation for the athlete and would hardly be noticed
by the average person.
A well trained sports
therapist should inform her client what to expect from the work
and how to choose what kind of massage is appropriate for their
immediate goal and how to best time the massages to be most affective
to help the athlete achieve enhanced performance.
So communicate with
your massage therapist, and I'd suggest that you treat a deep
massage almost like a workout — don't make any strong demands
on those muscles for a few days following the treatment.
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