Whether your need is to have a moment of relaxation, reduce muscle tension or attain relief from chronic pain, a therapeutic massage can enhance your overall sense of emotional and physical well-being.

For it’s not just sports people who benefit from massage. Many people suffer tension headaches or low backache, often as a result of poor posture from prolonged periods of sitting at a desk or in a car.

Jo explains: “The human body is very good at postural short cuts and when faced with the effects of gravity, the path of least resistance tends to win; we compensate using the wrong muscles, causing tension and poor positioning which can lead to excessive strain on muscles, and over time, become weak and vulnerable to injury.”

She says sports or deep tissue massage should be treated as part of any active person’s training programme.

Jo explains: “Sports massage increases blood flow to the muscles, relieves muscle spasms, alleviates soreness and helps prevent niggles from overuse turning into injury, it thereby speeds up recovery to improve overall performance.

“As well as helping to relax and stretch the muscles, it can help to flush out toxins that cause muscle stiffness and soreness.”

Sports Massage can also detect and effectively deal with any potential injuries that may be brewing from muscle tears and inflammation of tendons to stress fractures. “Regular massage will help break down pre-existing as well as new scar tissue, increasing joint flexibility, allowing you to move with freedom and maintain, for example, optimal running gait.

And it’s not just physical – massage also promotes the release of endorphins also known as the ‘feel good’ hormones – which act as natural painkillers.

Sports massage encourages the body's natural healing and will assess restrictions in the muscles and joints and identify inhibited movement patterns. Several treatments will address muscle imbalance and give joints greater freedom. Once recovered, it is advisable to embark on a regime of regular maintenance massage to keep the muscles aligned and balanced and prevent the situation recurring.

In short, Sports Massage is a relatively affordable way of keeping in peak condition and allowing the body to perform better, and recover faster.