Sports Massage Therapy
We are proud to offer weekly sports massage therapy by Marlo Parham at Melt Away Boutique.
From Marlo
“I started working with the athletes and staff at Wy’East Academy in September of 2024 as massage therapist, and it’s been such an honor to work with some of our top, up-and-coming talent. Whether in skateboarding, mountain biking, snowboarding, or freeskiing, these athletes are incredible, and I’m excited to support them in their journey.
Now, a year later, I’d like to focus on a topic that’s close to my heart—Sports Massage, and how it can help athletes, both professional and recreational, perform their best.”
Benefits of Massage Therapy
Sports massage offers a range of benefits that can directly enhance athletic performance.
Here's a breakdown of how it helps:
Increased Range of Motion and Flexibility: Regular massage can maintain and improve flexibility, which is essential for peak performance and injury prevention.
Reduced Muscle Soreness and Tension: Sports massage helps alleviate muscle soreness and reduce tension, helping athletes recover quickly between workouts.
Faster Recovery from Workouts: By promoting faster recovery, sports massage allows athletes to train harder and more frequently without prolonged soreness or fatigue.
Injury Prevention through Body Awareness and Muscle Imbalances: Regular massage helps identify potential muscle imbalances, reducing the risk of injury and ensuring more balanced, efficient movement patterns.
Enhanced Relaxation and Mental Focus: The relaxation achieved through massage helps improve mental focus and reduce stress, contributing to better performance.
Services Offered-
Scraping uses specialized tools to gently “scrape” areas of soft tissue dysfunction and fascial restrictions (connective tissues that surround muscles). Research shows that this technique is most effective with mild redness or minor abrasions on the skin, not deep cuts.
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Cupping involves applying suction cups to the skin to decompress tissues, drawing blood to the surface. The cups may leave marks that look like bruises, but rest assured, they are completely painless. Both scraping and cupping are effective for creating healing by restoring mobility to tissues that have become stiff or “stuck.”
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Kinesiology taping is another technique that has been proven to help with muscle support and pain relief. This elastic tape is applied to the skin to provide support, facilitate natural movement, and even help with lymphatic drainage.
Unlike just “taping” an injury, kinesiology taping helps the brain make connections with the affected area, improving proprioception (the sense of where the body is in space) and aiding in the healing process.
Understanding Densification and Fibrosis
Now, you may be wondering: what exactly is happening under the skin during these treatments?
Densification: This is when tissues in the body “velcro” together, losing their ability to slide smoothly. Imagine you’re sleeping in flannel pajamas on flannel sheets—you’re probably not going to move too well! That’s what’s happening to muscles and fascia (connective tissues) when they’re “stuck” and not sliding properly.
Fibrosis: This is a deep hardening of tissues, often due to excessive fibrous connective tissue. Think of a dense, immovable scar. While we can improve it, fibrosis is difficult to alter.
If densification is not addressed, it can turn into fibrosis, restricting nutrients from entering and slowing down cellular repair. That’s one of the main reasons why getting regular bodywork is essential!
By using scraping and cupping, we can manage densification and prevent it from becoming fibrosis. These techniques help break up stuck tissues, restore nutrient flow, and enhance the body’s ability to heal efficiently.
The Benefits of Scraping and Cupping
Here’s what we know about the benefits of scraping and cupping:
Improved Range of Motion: Studies show that scraping and cupping can significantly improve flexibility and joint mobility by releasing restricted tissues and promoting tissue remodeling.
Pain Reduction: Research suggests that these techniques help alleviate pain from musculoskeletal conditions, injuries, or post-exercise soreness by releasing mechanical tension in the body.
Enhanced Recovery: Scraping and cupping stimulate blood flow and promote tissue regeneration, speeding up recovery from injuries and physical exertion.
Why These Techniques Matter to You
Whether you're an athlete or someone who simply wants to feel better in your body, these therapies can offer significant benefits. Combining traditional massage therapy with techniques like IASTM scraping, cupping, and kinesiology taping creates an environment for your body to heal in multiple ways—improving your overall wellness and helping you reach your goals.