George has finished his training routine for today. He
had legs, and squads concentrated a big part of his time. While he warms down a
Little before taking a shower, he notices there is some corner in the back part of his waist, the lower back
to be more specific. And this is not the first time ever, apparently.
He comments
it to his trainer, who does a quick exam and notices the muscle is evidently
resented. “You should check it up with a specialist, although you should treat
the pain with a masseur,” he advices. While
George walks on the gym’s showers, his trainer reviews other similar cases. It
seems the waist pains were a common
illness among his pupils. Maybe, he is not so far away the truth.
Many
trainers we have talked to, coincide in this type of injury – the lower back’s.
And in some cases, they add knees’, independently if it’s about a power or
resistance training or the mixed ones as functional training. The causes could
be a bad pose, a wrong movement, or the excessive weight in power trainings. It
could be the George’s case, maybe. But what about the advice of having a
massage?
JonatanChero is a Piura, Peru-based masseur and has a clear answer about: “yes,
depending on the case.” When somebody
works out, especially heavy, trends to break the muscular fibers at mycroscopic
scale. In compensation, the body segregates lactic acid and repairs the
mycro-injuries. And if proteins were consumed, those go to be part of the new
tissue. That is in brief the principle of muscular reparation and the building
of new muscular fibers.
But, how
does a massage help? It can be very effective to calm the effects of the
intense exercise because it has the ability of decreasing the muscular spasms,
relieving the muscular pain, and accelerating the recuperation process. “It
removes the accumulating liquids to cause inflamation, helps the blood
circulation, and shifts the reparation of muscular fiber,” Chero adds, who
warns it doesn’t ever work in all the cases.
“We have to
see the injury degree that the patient has,” he clarifies. “When it is much
severe, it is not recommendable.” That means, when there are too much broken
fibers. “That can be verifiable by the swelling level, and over all by the pain
and the movement ability the patient has.”
Chero also
discards the prejudge that a massage can increase the muscular mass. It is only a very punctual therapy that,
instead, reduces the muscular fatigue, what means a minor recuperation time
between training routines, that favors a better performance during them.
When To
Have A Massage?
For
bodybuilders and athletes in general, the massage is a very usual activity as
the training routine, the feeding, or the rest time, and there are two moments
its application must be considered: just finished the training session, in a
preventive way, and when there is an evident injury, in a therapeutic way.
In the
first case, do your training routine as you accostum. Once finished, warm down
about 5 to 10 minutes, go to take a refreshing and relaxing shower, and just
when you get dry, put yourself under the masseur’s hands. Usually, a session
lasts from 15 to 20 minutes, although it is relative according to your needs.
In the preventive procedure, the key is letting not to spend the time but doing
one activity after another.
The
therapeutic procedure does have another timing. “It’s never good to have massage
just the injury is evidenced,” Jonatan Chero warns. “The best is letting to
spend some hours; for example, if you injure at night, attend the next morning;
if it happens in the morning, go in the afternoon; if in the afternoon, have
the massage at night.” In this specific case, it’s better a specialist exams you
before the massage, as a traumatologist or similar, and proceed only if he
prescribes it to you.
Finally,
Jonatan Chero shares us some key tips regarding the massage sessions, those can
be useful for you.
Before the massage:
- Preferently schedule your date when you are completely free, maybe at the end of your day, or don’t accumulate many activities one after another for the next couple of hours.
- Think deeply about it will be good for you.
- Attend after take a meticulous bath.
- Turn off your cellphone or turn it silent. Avoid the technology to distract you.
During the massage:
- Relax, breathe deeply. Get disconnected from your problems.
- Trust in the therapist, only provided his experience is certified.
- Let get involved by the sensations that the experience produces in you. It’s part of the therapy.
After the massage:
- Have a time to rest deeply.
- Avoid the episode that produces you stress or injury.
Don’t
forget to share your experience giving or having a massage at chulucanasgym@gmail.com, or on our Twitter account, or leaving a message just right below.
Jorge Ramírez has been the model of this post.
Photos distributed by FACTORTIERRA.NET