In our timetabled practical session, we learnt and practiced the differences between pre and post event massage.
Reflective Summary
In this session I was with other sports therapy students so we got the chance to perform and receive a massage. The client would stay on the same bed for a certain time period while different therapists would rotate and treat them so we were able to practice on a variety of people. We started off with using pre-event massage which usually lasts between 5-10 minutes. In this scenario I used effleurage, petrissage and tapotement but made sure I stayed superficial and did no deep work to avoid pain. It is beneficial to use pre-event massage to improve range of movement (ROM), increase blood flow and enhance the athletes warm up. We then applied post event massage which has some significant differences. Firstly, it is performed for 15-20 minutes as the treatment is a lot slower to allow you to create deeper rhythmical movements. I would use effleurage and petrissage to do so. I may use some techniques of tapotement such as cupping but I would not use hacking as this can be very painful straight after physical activity. I also chose these techniques as they allow you to remove toxic build up, reduce delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and decrease fatigue.
Areas for further improvement
| In the session we had to rotate around different plinths but to improve I needed to remember to adjust the height at each new bed to ensure I had the right positioning. Another weakness of mine was that for pre-event massage I need to ensure my movements are consistently quick. On occasions my effleurage slowed down but the speed needs to be kept up to increase blood flow to its optimum. The last improvement that I need to make is to have better time management so I can fit massage, stretching and taping (if needed) into the time allocated.
Things to remember
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