Sports massage describes soft tissue work aimed at people who train — focused on the demands of their activity and on the tissues that activity loads most. The techniques overlap heavily with general massage; the difference is context and intent.
The four common types
Pre-event
Short, brisk and stimulating, usually 10 to 20 minutes shortly before competing. The goal is to increase circulation and readiness without inducing the relaxation or temporary strength reduction that deep work can cause. This is not the time for aggressive treatment.
Post-event
Lighter, slower work after competition, aimed at helping you settle and reducing the sense of stiffness. Comfort-focused rather than corrective.
Maintenance
Regular sessions during a training block, targeting the tissues your sport loads most — calves for runners, shoulders for swimmers, hips for cyclists. This is where most of the value sits for most people.
Rehabilitative
Targeted work on a specific injury, integrated with a rehabilitation program rather than delivered alone.
What the evidence supports
Being straight about this: the research is more modest than the marketing.
- Reasonably supported: reduced perceived muscle soreness, short-term range of motion improvement, and subjective recovery and relaxation benefits
- Weakly supported or unsupported: "flushing lactic acid" (lactate clears within roughly an hour regardless), meaningfully accelerating tissue healing, and preventing injury on its own
The soreness and readiness benefits are real and worth having. The physiological claims are frequently overstated.
Timing matters
Avoid deep or aggressive work in the 24 to 48 hours before competition — it can leave you feeling flat or sore at exactly the wrong moment. Save deeper sessions for rest days or early in a training block.
How this fits at our clinic
We provide soft tissue therapy — including Graston, ART and ConnecTx techniques — as part of treatment plans rather than as standalone relaxation massage. If you're looking for full-body relaxation massage, a registered massage therapist is the right provider, and we're happy to point you toward one.
For athletes managing a specific problem, soft tissue work combined with loading and rehabilitation is considerably more effective than either alone.