Sports massage therapy alias therapeutic torture ?

11^TH OF MAY

I am sure everybody has an image in mind representing massage. Believe me or not, I knew long time ago, sports massage is not meant to be gentle scratch. More like proper repair job, in my case leg repair job, that might be more painful than enjoyable.

My carbon leg is OK with jigsaws, screwdrivers, drills and other power tools. No need for massage there. Longer time ago massage did not mean much to me. My thinking was precisely represented by phrase: if nothing is broken there is no need for repair. I still believe it, however I realised that nothing visibly broken does not mean that all is in perfect shape, especially after considering long time effects of my sporting endeavours on my body.

In long term training one can feel down from tiredness or downfall in performance or experience constant tense feeling in muscle groups that has to work day after day after day. Many times I have heard that we are not machines, that there is no way how to estimate how long our parts can last and when they might start to deteriorate. At the end everybody is different. To a level I consider this to be true. But I believe we have a lot in common with machines when we talk body parts, durability and workload. We lube machine parts, we service them, pour oils and fluids inside to prolong life. Is that really that different to human body parts ? The braking point might not be know right from the beginning because of different attributes such as genetics or environment humans are born in, but... this known/unknown point can be still pushed further into the future by taking care of your body, inside and out.

One of the ways how to take a good care is to find a good masseur or osteopath and let them do what they do the best. Be a mechanic on human machine. Personally, I am super thankful to my masseur Steve Bowerman, osteopath Josep Caballero and track coach Kyleigh Manners who take care of my legs. Most likely, I am trying to bite my tongue every time I am having treatment. It usually takes proper mending to get my muscles back to how they should be, but it is all worth it. For many times I have felt like sports massage is torture but appreciated it next day when I started to ride my bike again and my legs were feeling brand new. You know how that spark feels.

Whether you spend days in office, in the car, lorry or just walking in the park think about your body parts. Nobody knows when they brake but it is certainly possible to prevent unnecessary breakdowns by good body knowledge and by utilisation of professional care.