Phil's Sports Massage

Posted by Nell Mead at 16:33 on 26 Aug 2011

Hi everyone! I’m Phil – I used to be a Royal Marine, but now I’m just about to qualify as a sports massage therapist, and this is my first blog post for Victory. As a keen bean student, I’m turning into a bit of a sports massage geek and for my first post I thought I’d share some of the things I’m learning on my sports massage course. So, here we go: one crash course in sports and remedial massage therapy coming up!

What is it? It’s just massage. It’s been practiced and documented since the beginning of time. It’s still about because it works. As researchers have learned more and more about anatomy and general science, they’ve been able to tell us more about why it works – which has helped massage practitioners to develop a range of different techniques. Here are some of the techniques I apply here at Victory:

• Effleurage – large area strokes for warm up, prepping the soft tissues for deeper work
• Petrissage – kneading, further softening up a more specific area
• Friction – very deep technique used on a single point of scar tissue and adhesions
• Neuromuscular technique (NMT) – an extension of deep friction to release trigger points and other tension caused by the nervous system
• Muscle energy techniques (METs) – using the client’s own muscle energy to release tension and lengthen muscle fibres
• Tapotement – chopping and clapping for a pre-event wake up and energising
• Soft tissue release (STR) – a hybrid containing several other techniques for quick and effective release of soft tissue tension

Later in my course, I’m looking forward to learning more techniques such as connective tissue manipulation, strain-counter-strain and acupressure.

So why is it called *sports* massage? You don’t have to be an active sportsperson to have a sports massage. It’s just a phrase we use to distinguish the deeper, more treatment-based massage from a more superficial “relaxation” or “beauty” massage. Everybody uses their muscles and moves, and everybody has micro-traumas, tension, scarring, adhesions and trigger points in their tissues that can be released by the correct application of the techniques I’ve mentioned. Nine out of ten “sports injuries” are, after all, not as a direct result of the respective sport. They are a result of postural imbalances and pre-existing soft tissue problems in the participants’ bodies. The uncontrolled nature of many sports just turns these problems into acute injuries.

And why should I have a sports massage? Virtually every professional sportsperson incorporates regular sports massages into their training regime because it helps their performance, helps to prevent injury by maintaining soft tissue compliance, and improves their recovery. So if you’re serious about your training, maybe you should learn from the professionals. And if you’re not working hard in the gym, I’ll bet you’re working hard in the office. Humans really aren’t designed to sit on chairs and poke at computers all day, and our bodies develop tension and imbalances as a result. Sports massage – particularly when it’s combined with activities like yoga – can help to redress the balance and to keep you on top form for longer.

How is a Victory sports massage different from a spa massage? It’s easy to give a ‘nice relaxing’ pamper. On request, I’ll happily play ‘crashing waves’ on the iPod and leave you feeling sleepy and without a care in the world. However, I get my job satisfaction when a client stands up and the end of a treatment in a physically better state than when they walked in. You might well feel some discomfort when I’m applying deep friction and NMT, and I won’t give you a cup of green tea and a fuzzy robe at the end of it – but once I’m done with you, you’ll feel great, and I’ll recommend the most amazingly large burrito around the corner at Poncho’s.

Phil is available to provide sports massage at Victory on Friday afternoons, and at other times on request. You can follow his adventures on Twitter, and you can book an appointment with him here.
 

Health: a good investment

Posted by Nell Mead at 08:00 on 3 Sep 2010

Before setting up Victory Health & Performance, we commissioned a market research survey to see how likely people were to need our services.  We were amazed at the results.

41% of respondents – all wealthy individuals who participated in sports and therefore might be expected to know their bodies and be able to afford treatment – admitted that they were suffering with persistent niggles or injuries.  But a staggering 44% of those same respondents had not sought any type of treatment in the previous year.

According to Nuffield Health, people who are healthy are up to 20% more productive than people who are in ill health or struggling with injuries.

The people we surveyed were all earning over £100,000 per year.  If they were 20% more productive, they might be able to earn at least an extra £20,000 per year.

The average cost of a course of physiotherapy is £600.

Money well spent, perhaps?

Path to Victory

Posted by Nell Mead at 08:00 on 1 Sep 2010

When you have an injury, a niggle or are struggling to perform at work or in sports for some indefinable reason, what do you do about it?

If we know our bodies well and recognise that there is something wrong, most of us have a regular doctor or therapist of some description whom we trust to steer us in the right direction.  (A Royal Marine friend of mine once told me that most Marines have two numbers on speed dial: the mistress and the chiropractor!)

But no single doctor or therapist can possibly have all the answers – and nor will they always know exactly which direction is going to be best for you.  So what do you do when you have reached the limit of their expertise, or when their well-meaning suggestions aren’t having quite the effect you’d hoped?

That’s where Victory can help.

At Victory, we work to an interdisciplinary model.  That means that not only are our doctors, physiotherapists, performance psychologists, nutrition therapists, podiatrists and rehabilitation therapists under one roof, but we work as a team, talking to each other and bouncing ideas off each other constantly.  

Our premium service is the Victory Interdisciplinary Assessment (VIA).

When you call us to book a VIA, one of our top clinicians will ring you back at a mutually convenient time to discuss your issue with you.  As a result of that call, we will put together an interdisciplinary team that is focused on your specific problems.

For example, if you are a rugby player with a badly sprained ankle, you are likely to need a physiotherapist to help you restore mobility and motor control, and a rehabilitation therapist to help you regain strength, power and endurance.  But for even better results, you may also benefit from seeing a podiatrist to give you insoles that could help to prevent you from turning your ankle again, and a performance psychologist to you trust the ankle again, so that in your next big match, you are able to focus on the ball and the game plan, and not on whether you are about to twist your ankle!

This rugby player would see a Victory team consisting of a physiotherapist, rehabilitation therapist, podiatrist and performance psychologist at the VIA.  After lots of discussion and clinical testing, the player and the Victory team would agree on performance goals, and work out how best to achieve them.  The plan they come up with is the player’s Path to Victory – a timetable of appointments with the team, scheduled to fit in with the player’s diary and designed to get him back to peak performance as quickly as possible.

Victory will be offering VIAs as soon as we have premises!  Watch this space for further news.

If you would like an appointment with me, please e-mail me

If you have any other comments or questions, I would love to hear them so please feel free to comment below (I will respond!) or to e-mail me.