Sports massage for athletes provides targeted, therapeutic treatment tailored to the biomechanics and physical needs of the athlete. In other words, it’s not going to be like your typical fluff n’ buff spa massage 😉 You’re going to be moving around a bit for analysis. You and your therapist will be working together on increasing range of motion and unwinding injuries. And you’re going to get some homework!

1. How has sports massage in NYC benefited
our clients?
Competitive athlete? Weekend warrior? Recreational fitness enthusiast? At
Bodyworks DW, we work with a wide variety of active individuals. Our therapists
provide custom-designed sports massage sessions focused on helping you maximize
your activity enjoyment. This can include sessions for injury recovery, injury
prevention, tune-ups and maintenance. Sports massage in NYC for active people and
athletes is hardly a luxury – it’s an investment!
Sports massage for athletes provides targeted, therapeutic treatment tailored to the
biomechanics and physical needs of the athlete. In other words, it’s not going to be
like your typical fluff n’ buff spa massage 😉 You’re going to be moving around a bit
for analysis. You and your therapist will be working together on increasing range of
motion and unwinding injuries. And you’re going to get some homework!
Curious how a sports massage for athletes in NYC might work for you? We’ve taken
some of our most common client-athlete cases and given you a run-down of how a
sports massage could benefit each one. Keep reading more to dive in!
Update August 2020: Sports massage for athletes is especially important right now
after months of COVID-19 shutdowns! We’ve all been trying to exercise via Zoom in
ways that we aren’t used to and without the ability of trainers to give us hands-on
adjustments to form and posture. Most of us are feeling more pain and stress than
we are used to and could use a tune up 😉

2. Long, Strong and Flexible Lines: The Dancer
Dancers are known for their relentless pursuit of effortless form and positions. They
are also known for their turn-out. Turn out is the outward (external) rotation of the
leg (femur bone) at the hips. This also results in the knees and ankles turning
outward. Hips are designed as a very rotational joint. Knees and ankles…not so
much.
When a dancer does not have sufficient range of motion at the hips, the knees and
the ankles often over-rotate. This puts stress on the ligaments holding the bones
together. Over time, as the ligaments get too loose, the muscles have to work much
harder to hold the joints together. Sports massage for dancers is a necessity to keep
them tuned up and moving!
Common Dancer Injuries
Dancers are also frequently on their toes. This places a lot of stress on the
metatarsal joints. Stress over time can lead to stress fractures. Ankle sprains,
bunions, and knee meniscus or ligament tears are also common injuries seen in the
dance community. Overall, dancers demand quite a bit from their bodies.

3. The bones of the toes
Image Source: http://www.orthopaedia.com/page/Metatarsal-Fractures
Hip, knee, and ankle maintenance for dancers can go a long way to keeping these
joints happy and healthy. This chain has a complex interaction. Both the hips and
ankles allow for a high amount of mobility. The knees demand stability. When
something goes haywire in this line, it’s likely going to affect what’s above and below
it. Sports massage in NYC for dancers can address both maintenance and injuries.
Want to make sure your ankle sprain doesn’t affect your hips and turn out? Or need
work on the muscles that are continually helping you turn out? A sports massage
therapist can step in to make sure you’re getting the care you need.

4. The Endurance Competitor: The Triathlete
(Distance Running, Cycling, Swimming)
Swimming, biking, running…triathletes are the workhorses of the athletic community.
With super long training routines! Two of these three activities are lower body heavy.
However, the swimming leg means that your upper body and arms should certainly
not be ignored. Great sports massage therapists also understand how important
your breath and core are in all of these activities.
We definitely want to address your chief complaints like sore knees and hips. But we
also want to get to the root of why you may be continually experiencing soreness. Or
why you are starting to feel less refreshed after your runs or swims. This is often
where breath and core awareness come into the picture. Sports massage for
triathletes focuses on helping them balance the issues that each discipline causes.
Movement Analysis: Improving Cycling Form
Let’s look at a situation where a triathlete might be experiencing low back pain after
their bike rides. Pelvic and lumbar positioning are critical parts of maintaining good,
sustainable form. The whole area between the bottom of your rib cage and the top of
your pelvis is often referred to as your “core.” In the image below, you can see in the
“bad” form example, the pelvis is being compressed by a rounded lower back. This
can overstretch your low back muscles in the back, and also pinch nerves in the front
of your spine.
The good image shows the pelvis tilting forward to be more in line with the vertebrae
of your lumbar spine. You’d want to be able to keep your spine in a more neutral
shape and lengthen it. In order to do this you need better hip mobility.
Pelvic and lumbar positional importance for cycling posture
Image Source: https://jonathanblyer.wordpress.com/2011/05/05/cycling-posture/
In the image on the right, the biker is compressing their hip flexors (front of hips)
and their whole abdominal area. Core engagement is lost. In this position, your
breathing is going to be more labored.

5. Can a sports massage therapist really help with all this? Absolutely!
We can help support a strong core by opening up the range of motion in your hip
joints. This will help you to better keep an easy neutral spine during long rides (along
with working with a personal trainer or physical therapist). A sports massage for
athletes session in this case would most certainly include work with the deep hip
flexors (looking at you, psoas and iliacus), rib cage positioning, the diaphragm and
the low back muscles. All while incorporating breath work. And getting you to find
more space and length in the anterior (front) portion of your
body.

6. Mechanics of breathing and your diaphragm
Image source: https://echealthandfitness.com/courses/breathing-for-performance/
A similar example can be used for running. If you’re having a hard time keeping
yourself upright, this also may point towards a core and/or breathing issue. Never
had your diaphragm or rib cage worked on? The diaphragm is the primary muscle of
respiration! It also attaches to some of your lower ribs and sits in the lower portion of
your rib cage. A great sports massage therapist is going to look at more than just
where you’re sore or feeling achy. We will always aim to relieve typical symptoms.
But we also want to help you be a better and stronger triathlete. After all, breath is
life.

7. Ideal Image: The Bodybuilder
Bodybuilders prioritize a proportional and symmetrical physique. They train each
muscle very specifically…and often. In addition to their muscle-building, they must
also practice their posing!
Let’s look at the anatomy of the building and training first. When muscles are
overtrained or pushed too much, strains can crop up. Muscular imbalances are likely
to follow behind. A strain means there is some degree of tear in the muscle fibers.
When tears go untreated, scar tissue builds up in the area. Scar tissue accumulation
may cause muscles not to fire or function as optimally.
Translation: if you have excessive scar tissue on one of your right side quads, it may
not end up getting the same tone (aka “pump”) as the left quads. If you’re striving to
look as symmetrical as possible, you will want to have muscles on both sides of you
firing and working equally. Sports massage in NYC can help break up and stretch scar
tissue. We can also, with some more advanced techniques, help reinforce
neuromuscular connections. Sports massage for bodybuilders will aid in getting
muscles to fire more strongly again.
Movement Analysis: Posing and how it affects posture
When posing, bodybuilders will typically place their pelvis into what is known as an
anterior pelvic tilt (see image on the left below). An anterior pelvic tilt in and of itself
shouldn’t be thought of as a bad thing. You should be able to move your pelvis in and
out of this position. The problem arises when you get “stuck” in a tilt, whether
anterior or posterior. When the former happens, you are excessively lengthening
(and disengaging) your abdominal or core area. You are also compressing your
lumbar spine.
So what does this actually mean? With an anterior pelvic tilt, you shorten your
lumbar spine (low back) and flare your rib cage. This results in some low back and
hip flexor muscles working more than they should be. While causing other muscles
such as abs and glutes to disengage and become dysfunctional. Because posing is a
frequent occurrence for bodybuilders, your body gets used to this position. It may
not initially cause discomfort (your body is highly adaptable after all). However, down
the road you may run into problems such as low back pain or hip pain.
Your body has been primed for a specific position, but that position is less optimal for
regular movement such as sitting, standing, or walking. Or put another way, since
it’s a less efficient posture, your body may just start to feel discomfort as time goes
on.

8. Anterior and posterior pelvic tilts and their force couples
Image Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20118525
Ok, so how can a sports massage in NYC help?
For one, our therapists at Bodyworks DW are going to take a look at postural
deviations in your initial assessment. We’ll notice your pelvic positioning. That will
give us insight into which muscles need to be lengthened and which to be activated.
Your session would include work to rebalance the muscles attaching to and around
the pelvis. Through palpation assessment, we’ll get an idea of the tone and quality of
your muscles (and scar tissue!) and how they may differ from side to side.
If you’re a bodybuilder experiencing low back pain and also finding that you’re not as
muscularly balanced as you’d like to be, we are here to help. We are certainly able to

9. help with plenty of other issues, but these two are some of the most common we see
with bodybuilders.
Ready for that sports massage now?
At Bodyworks DW, all of our therapists on staff are trained in sports massage in NYC
for both pain or injury management. Many of our staff are even athletes themselves!
We have a few therapists who are also personal trainers, a Pilates instructor, a black
belt in Aikido, a weightlifter, a strength and conditioning specialist…the list goes on!
Even many of our front desk staff are dancers and well versed in movement. Working
with a massage therapist who understands your typical movement patterns can really
make a difference.
Whether you are looking for a sports massage in midtown or in the Financial District,
you have access to a diverse group of therapists. Especially ones that are
experienced working with active people just like you!
Would you like to schedule a professional sports massage for athletes in Manhattan
to help keep you feeling, training, and performing your best with one of our highly
trained massage therapists? Contact Bodyworks DW today or click on the button to
book online at either of our locations!