Sports Massage and Rehabilitation

Sports Massage

Sports massage is a form of massage using specific techniques and stretches to help achieve maximum performance and physical conditioning whilst reducing the chance of injury or pain. It can be used for sports such as running, cycling, hiking and swimming. However, it is also useful for mothers with children, gardeners and manual workers. Restore Physiotherapy offers three types of sports massage: Pre-Event, Post-Event and Maintenance Massage.

Pre-Event Massage will aid with a person’s warm-up, reduce muscle tension and decrease the risk of injury. This can be a relaxing or stimulating massage, normally completed in the hours leading up to a sporting event.

Post-Event Massage has been shown to relieve muscle soreness, minimise the effects of fatigue, reduce swelling, maintain flexibility and reduce cramping. This type of sports massage is usually utilised in the hours or days following a sporting event.

Maintenance Massage can maintain muscle flexibility, identify any areas prone to injury and reduce muscle spasm and pain. This is the most common form of sports massage outside of the competing arena. It can be completed as often or as little as the patient feels that it is required.

Sports Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation following an injury aims to return you to your pre-injury level of activity by using exercises and stretches. This activity can take many forms from returning to work, to sport (amateur and professional) or even being able to play with your kids or grand kids again.

When you suffer an injury, you begin to lose mobility and strength in the affected area due to pain and lack of movement. As the length of time since you suffered your injury increases, it is more difficult just to step straight back into your normal activities. Without the rehabilitation exercises, people can experience regular flare-ups of their injuries increasing the chances of further injury.

During your rehabilitation with us, you will be given exercises to meet your individual needs. Each patient requires different movements and strength due to the different activities that they are required to return to, so your rehabilitation programme is tailored specifically to you and your goals.

You will be gently guided through your exercises during a session, and then you will be given more exercises to continue your rehabilitation at home. Doing these exercises increases your chance of full recovery and shortens your recovery time.

Sports Rehabilitation has a number of benefits such as:

• Treatment and Rehabilitation - treatment along with the use of specially chosen exercises will be used during your recovery
• Injury Prevention - we can assess an athlete using pre-participation screening and put in place strategies to minimize the risk of injury. We can also educate an athlete on the reasons behind the strategies
• Injury Assessment - using clinical reasoning to look at all possible injuries and use their expertise to formulate a diagnosis and treatment plan
  

Meet the therapist

Our Sports Rehabilitator is Karen Hankey who graduated with a BSc (Hon's) degree in Sports Rehabilitation in July 2004 from Salford University. Since graduating Karen has provided her expertise to a number of private sports injury clinics. She also provides therapy in the occupational health field for private sector companies with employees working in sedentary and manual occupations. This in addition to providing sports therapy to amateur and professional sports men/women, children and the elderly.

Karen has developed particular expertise in the management of injuries in football. She has worked with both semi-professional men's and women's teams and with a Premiership academy. This has involved pitch-side cover, injury treatment and rehabilitation to return players back to full fitness. She is currently working with NCEL Premier League side Scarborough Athletic Football Club, known affectionately as the Seadogs.

Click on the image below to check Karens credentials with The British Association of Sport Rehabilitators and Trainers: