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June 19, 2007

Pre-Race Massage

The Iron Man is this weekend, and my client who has been training for a couple of months got their pre-race massage. They have been getting a massage weekly for the past month to work out tightness mostly in their legs.

They would come in for a session, and I'd ask how training was going. They would report a problem area and we would get started. Trusting that I knew my way around the muscles, they pretty much let me do whatever I wanted. I found tightness in parts of their legs that they didn't know had trouble. The massage helped with their stretching program and they said flexibility is like free speed.

It's easy to find tension in fit muscles. Problems present themselves as though bright flashing Las Vegas-like signs point "rub here." This particular session pointed clearly to tension in the left hamstring, but as I followed the muscle, it became evident that the left hip housed dysfunction in the sacrotuberal ligament and piriformis muscle. Loosening those areas made the leg feel as though it was no longer "pulled tight into the hip socket." Following the massage, the racer's initial stretch confirmed the improvement in flexibility of the joint.

Happy running (and cycling and swimming) and God speed.

tags: massage massagetherapy wellness massage therapy bodywork health

Posted by linda at June 19, 2007 12:45 PM