How long do you reckon you’ve spent pondering about that niggling pain and muscle ache, or chatting about how you should maybe do something about it?  My guess is probably much longer that the amount the time you’ve spent focused on preventing the niggle becoming an injury in the first place.  Don’t wait until your muscles are crying out for help or injuries are slowing you down or stopping you from enjoying yourself. 

At Tylino, the tag line is ‘prevent-treat-compete’.  To me, it makes sense to use massage therapy as a prevention where possible.  Your body needs to be well looked after to keep you active and performing well, be that for power, speed, endurance, or just whatever your activity of choice might be.

Tight muscle has a higher risk of injury.  Tightness in muscles can reduce your range of movement, meaning that extra effort is needed to do your usual activities, which can potentially lead to injury.  Regular massage will help to keep your muscles feeling loose and relaxed, and help to keep you pain and injury free.  Those aches and niggles will soon be a distant memory.

Tightness in the muscles can result from efforts exerted during exercise, training, etc., although those who are less active can also experience pain and discomfort caused from lengthy periods of limited movement.  Our bodies want to move so it takes a lot of effort from the muscles to hold the body in a static position, like being sat at a desk all day.  With or without movement, your muscles will be contracting over and over again, tightening over time and potentially leading to aches, pains and niggles.

Fear not though, regular massage therapy can play a key role in sorting the issue before it gets as far as an injury.  A massage therapist can identify areas of tightness that you maybe didn’t even know you had.  Treatment can then be targeted to release tension where it is needed. 

But how regular is regular I hear you ask.  I’d say, as a guide, if you’re active on average three times per week, or consistently inactive, then you could certainly benefit from a massage treatment once a month.  If you’re working towards an event, and your training is more intense, then perhaps more often.  If you’re already injured, initially it might be a wee bit more often, then less so once your recovery is underway.  No two bodies are the same, therefore no two treatments or treatment plans will be the same. 

Shin splints, or its fancy name of medial tibial pain syndrome, is a pretty common issue for runners.  It is often related to ‘too much too soon’ and an overloading of the muscles.  However, this overloading may also come about due to a biomechanics such as joint mobility issue or the alignment of bones in the foot.

Repetitive stress of the tibialis anterior and tibialis posterior muscles, from running and high impact, can cause inflammation and irritation of the muscles and the tendons attaching them to the bone.  This injury may be caused by changes to duration, frequency or intensity of running; ‘too much too soon’.  Pushing through the pain often isn’t the best idea and may lead on to a more severe injury.