Sports Massage

With the increasingly high level of performance among amateur sportsmen today, sports therapy is no longer the preserve of the professional athlete. More and more sportsmen of every standard are seeking treatment from massuers and other therapists for injury or the fatigue that follows intensive training. In books on sports injuries, massage is recommended as a treatment without explaining more closely how it should be applied. Until now there has been no full and comprehensive book of instruction on sports massage, the most effective of all the remedial techniques in the treatment of soft tissues. This book explains how sports massage improves and speeds up a sportsman's recovery from training and which sports injuries can be effectively treated by massage and how it should be applied. Of course this knowledge can be used to help non-sportsmen, as many similar strains and traumas can occur through activities and occupations outside of sport. Based on sound medical principles, and with over 200 specially commissioned photographs and illustrations, the book sets out the skills of sports massage for physiotherapists, coaches, trainers and keen sportsmen themselves. Easy to read and understand, it deals with the use and effects of massage in sport, with general massage techniques, the identification and treatment of specific injuries, and acute injury problems. There are sections on stretching, self-massage, Shiatsu and accupressure. Written by two specialists in the field, this book makes an important contribution to available literature on the treatment of sports injuries.