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My Aching Back (and legs, shoulders, hips, feet, neck)

The benefits of massage

  Written by Christine White
  Cycle-Smart Associate Coach
  August 4, 2004

Let's for a minute, consider a perfect world scenario: Our muscles don’t ache. They’re supple. Our posture is in perfect balance and our bones are aligned properly. Each pedal stroke produces efficient power in relation to energy and we don’t get tired. We get massage after every race and training ride and our bodies move exactly the way they were built to.

Wow. Dream world if I ever heard of one.

But for 99.9% of us, this is just that: a dream world. As athletes, we put our bodies through tremendous stress day in and day out. Our muscles are broken down and forced to build back up for the next day, often times lacking the essential fats, sugars and proteins needed for complete metabolism and hormonal balance. As cyclists, we use the muscles in our legs, hips and lumbar spine repetitively, which results in positive changes like hypertrophy or muscle growth, or adaptation to movement and compensation patterns. Not only do we put stress on our bodies in training, but also in our everyday lives at work and with family. All of this puts stress on our nervous system and amazingly, our bodies are able to maintain a basic homeostasis even with the ill treatment they receive. But over time, these compensations turn into aches and pains, often out of nowhere.

Most of us don't have the luxury of having our own personal massage therapist come to our rooms after a long day of racing or training. Watching the ever thorough Tour coverage this year, journalists get into Armstrong’s room while he is receiving his massage, and I think, gee, if I had that treatment when I was racing, I might have been much better."

Even though we put our bodies through rigorous training all year and put such a demand on our bodies, massage is considered by most people a luxury, when it should really be part of our regular training programs for both physiological and psychological reasons.

There are basically three reasons, or times, when it is beneficial to receive massage: before a race, after a race, and between races during periods of heavy training. I will focus on the benefits, as well as contraindications of massage for each of these times.

Before a Race

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Pre-race massage should be a stimulating, superficial and fast paced massage that lasts about 15 minutes. The last thing you want before starting your race is to feel out of it or spacey. The focus of the massage should be on your legs and getting them ready for the work ahead. You want them to feel like they’re in perfect shape; even it is the last day of a long stage race.

This massage can come either before you begin your warm-up or right before the race after you’re already warmed up, but shouldn’t be a substitute for it. A pre-race type massage should be given up to 3 days before the event. You wouldn’t want to have a deep message or receive any technique that would need healing or recovery time. The purpose of the pre-event massage is to bring blood to the muscles and enhance circulation.

After a race

Post-race massage can be given the same day of the race, and really any point thereafter, up to three days before your next race. I always prefer to get a massage on Tuesdays, because it gives me one day to fully recover from the weekend races and then one day back on the bike to get blood moving and find out where I’m sore or functioning poorly. Tuesday is also a good massage day because it’s typically before any hard work is due on the bike to prepare for the next weekend’s races. The purpose of the post race massage is to reduce muscle tension, reduce or minimize swelling and soreness, increase circulation, help you to relax, and speed up recovery by pushing fluid from damaged cells out of the muscles.

This massage shouldn’t be painful; it should prompt you to heal. If you crashed or strained any muscles during your race, be sure to communicate this to your therapist. And don’t forget the ice. He or she should be able to help you with the icing process as well. (I’m not going to go into hot verses cold hydrotherapy because the indications for both are expansive enough for a separate article.) If you crashed and have road rash, massage therapists won't massage close to wounds or bruises, so it is probably best to skip the visit if you have a lot of bruises or road rash. Massage can be done, but most likely it is more painful for you. But if you feel like massage would make you feel better, bandage your wounds and don’t be offended if the therapist uses gloves around the area. Since we tend to fall on one side of our body, massage can be very beneficial when done to the opposite side of the body because of its reflexive nature. Once any open wounds are healed and your bruises have at least turned yellow, the therapist will be able to help restore the tissue by breaking any adhesions and bringing blood flow back to the area.

Between races and during training

When you have a lapse in your racing schedule or it’s off-season, massage is excellent for restoring and maintaining supple muscle tissue as well as helping you through any injuries you had to put on hold from healing completely during the racing season. The massage therapist can’t treat your injuries, but he or she can work with your physician to help restore proper function. Massage is especially beneficial during the base training period if you are trying to build muscle size and strength. If you see a massage therapist regularly, he or she should be able to tell when your posture has changed and where your body is possibly compensating for unbalance of muscle length and strength. During the off season is when these issues can be worked through with more depth, because you will have time to heal from any deep tissue work and new healthy, muscle recruitment. Most all of the benefits and indications for post-race massage are valid during the training period as well.

Massage is only one part of keeping our body in balance and in general good health. Chiropractic adjustments are also an important part of keeping muscles supple, working to their full potential, and pain free. Bones that are out of alignment pull on muscles, automatically making antagonist muscles work harder to compensate. I see my chiropractor on a monthly basis and every time I’m there, I’m out of whack. It’s also a good idea to regularly see a physician when we put ourselves through a lot of activity, even if we feel just fine.

Finally, you should be conscience of your selection of massage therapists. There are many different modalities and not all of them are suited for athletes. Massage is very beneficial if the therapist understands the biomechanics of cycling or whatever your sport may be. If they are not understood, the massage could impair the optimal function of your performance, and be counterproductive in the end.

To learn more about Christine, or for more articles by Cycle-Smart coaches, visit www.cycle-smart.com.

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