When you suffer from any sort of sports injury, one of the best ways to repair it and get back to being able to take an active part again is to have a sports massage in London. It is probably the fastest and most effective form of speeding up the process of healing and preventing re-injury.

It is also fair to say that anyone for whom sport is an important part of their life should consider a regular sports massage as part of their regime. It can be used not only for recovery from injury, but to help free up the body and prepare it for strenuous exercise before taking part in an event. This is true, even if you take part in what might be regarded as a fairly "sedate" sport such as golf. You still use a lot of muscles swinging a golf club. Of course, other sports involve a lot more sudden movements and a lot more muscles, such as rugby, wrestling, karate, ju jitsu, and so on.

Massage therapy is in fact a combination of different techniques and the purpose is to relax the muscles and reduce any tension in the body using a combination of different hand strokes, some of which may use a considerable pressure, and others which are lighter.

Massage has a number of benefits, one of which is that it can help shorten recovery time after a workout or taking part in an event. When you exercise, it produces waste products which you don't need, such as lactic acid and carbonic acid. These build up in the muscles, and what massage does is to increase circulation and blood flow which helps to remove them and therefore shortens recovery time.

The increased circulation is probably the most important result of massage. It is followed by, or accompanied by, an increase in the interchange of substances between the blood and the tissue cells which increases the rate of tissue metabolism. Massage stretches connective tissues and the increased circulation also helps to break down adhesions, or knots as they are also known. In addition, it helps to remove some fluids such as sulphur, phosphorus, and nitrogen from the muscles.

Another benefit of massage is that it most certainly helps to increase the range of motion and the flexibility of the muscles, which in turn provides you with more muscle power, and therefore performance. It also has a sedative effect on the nervous system, as well as relaxing the muscles.

There are, of course, different types of massage. Perhaps the best known is Swedish massage, the object of which is to relax the whole body. This is achieved by using long strokes in the direction of the blood that is returning to the heart. As with some other massages, it has the effect of increasing the levels of oxygen in the blood, improving circulation and flexibility, while removing unwanted waste products from the muscles.

Another type of massage is trigger point therapy. This is used when an adhesion or knot in a muscle causes no pain at the site but causes pain in another part of the body. So, for example, a pain in the neck may be caused by a muscle in the lower back. The skill here is for the masseur to locate the muscle which is causing the pain and to work on that muscle.

Deep tissue massage is similar to Swedish massage but puts more pressure on the body, focusing on the deepest layers of muscle tissue, tendons, and fascia – the protective layer that surrounds the muscles, joints, and bones.

A London sports massage is similar in that it is a deep tissue massage but will focus primarily on the muscles which the athlete uses most. So obviously a cricketer like Ben Hodges will use certain muscles far more than a 100-yard sprinter, who in turn will use different muscles from a swimmer.

There is also a difference between a sports massage that is being used for recovery from injury as opposed to when being used to tone the muscles, as the former will involve very deep strokes, but when used prior to taking part in an event, lighter strokes must be used. This is because deep strokes reduce the muscle tone, making the limbs feel heavy, whereas lighter ones help to tone the muscles.