by Robyn Kirkey Walker

Created on: June 24, 2009

What is the future of sports medicine? What is the future for sports injuries? With more and more patience requesting alternatives to drugs and surgery, it is worthwhile to consider other options. With all of the alternative medicines and alternative procedures used to treat illness and eliminate pain these days, how can one know which one is safe and effective, or any of them for that matter. One of the leading practices today is the use of healing massage. Sports medicine is gaining new ground in this area, especially for prevention. Whether used alone or in conjunction with more traditional medicines, massage is becoming a popular solution for some. Treating sports injuries and repetitive injuries with massage has show great improvement in some clients.

What types of conditions will benefit from message therapy? Besides the above mentioned, it can help tremendously with back pain and fibromyalgia, stress, anxiety, pain management, among many others. Prior injuries have a huge potential of healing when used in combination with traditional medicine. A good massage therapists will help with blood circulation around the injury which will help aid in reduction of swelling,

So what is massage? Basically, massage is the manipulation of the skin and tissue, either digitally or with an object that often resembles kneading dough. Oils are used at times, as well as heat and various scents. This technique consists of four stages. These stages are relief, correction, strengthening and maintenance. Which stage you start depends on your injury. You will want to continue therapy until all the way through maintenance so you will prevent future injuries.

The first stage is relief. In this stage, the massage therapist will be using special techniques for relieving the pain and lower the swelling around the injury. The next stage, correction aids in moving muscles and tendons into their correct positions through kneading massage. Strengthening stage help with the blood flow and helps strengthen the muscles around the hurt area. The final stage is maintenance. You will want the therapist to keep the area strengthened.

Overall, healing massage is a growing field of medicine. More and more patients are turning to methods such as this for comfort and healing. While there is a place for modern medicines, do not discount the appreciation one can receive from alternative methods.

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