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Massage for Sport Performance - Michael McGillicuddy - Book and DVD
Massage for Sport Performance
by Michael McGillicuddy
NEW, 192 pages plus DVD
Get other Flexibility and Stretching books here
About Massage for Sport Performance
Train harder, recover quickly, and improve performance! Today’s top athletes rely on sport massage to stay healthy, at the top of their game, and a step ahead of the competition. With Massage for Sport Performance, you can too.
In this special book and DVD package, renowned sport massage therapist Michael McGillicuddy demonstrates the same techniques he has used to train and prepare the world’s elite track and field athletes for Olympic competition. Massage for Sport Performance will show you how to
- perform both self-massage and partner-assisted massage;
- administer the most effective routines for pre- and postcompetition;
- stretch, warm up, and activate primary muscles;
- treat critical muscle groups for elevated performance;
- speed recovery; and
- minimize injury, pain, and fatigue.
Throughout you’ll also find advice, tips, and variations for specific sports as well as massage recommendations for basketball, running, track and field, soccer, and swimming.
With step-by-step instruction, photo sequences, and video demonstrations of the primary techniques, Massage for Sport Performance is the definitive guide for players, coaches, and athletes alike.
About Michael McGillicuddy
American Massage Therapy-certified sport massage therapist Michael McGillicuddy is a sports massage certified massage is therapist and a sought-after professional in his field. He has worked with numerous elite athletes and at national competitions for the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the U.S. Figure Skating Association, U.S. Fencing, and at the Atlanta Olympic Games.
McGillicuddy graduated from the Florida School of Massage Therapy and is an approved provider for the Florida State Board of Massage Therapy and the national certification for massage and bodywork. His education has been shaped by leading sport massage therapists, including Benny Vaughn, Jack Meagher, Aaron Mattes, and Rich Phaigh.
McGillicuddy owns the Central Florida School of Massage Therapy in Winter Park, Florida, where he teaches and practices sport massage. He lives in Orlando, Florida.
Review of this book
“Michael McGillicuddy offers clear and organized information for results-oriented outcomes.”
Benny Vaughn LMT, ATC, CSCS -- Athletic Therapy Center, Fort Worth, Texas USA
“From pre- and postevent massage to injury prevention, assessment, and treatment, athletes—and therapists—will benefit from the breadth and depth of Massage for Sport Performance.”
Leslie A. Young, PhD -- Editor in Chief, Massage & Bodywork Magazine
About Massage
Massage is the manipulation of superficial and deeper layers of muscle and connective tissue to enhance function, aid in the healing process, and promote relaxation and well-being. The word comes from the French massage "friction of kneading", or from Arabic massa meaning "to touch, feel or handle" or from Latin massa meaning "mass, dough", cf. Greek verb μάσσω (massō) "to handle, touch, to work with the hands, to knead dough". In distinction the ancient Greek word for massage was anatripsis, and the Latin was frictio.
Massage involves acting on and manipulating the body with pressure – structured, unstructured, stationary, or moving – tension, motion, or vibration, done manually or with mechanical aids. Target tissues may include muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, skin, joints, or other connective tissue, as well as lymphatic vessels, or organs of the gastrointestinal system. Massage can be applied with the hands, fingers, elbows, knees, forearm, and feet. There are over eighty different recognized massage modalities. The most cited reasons for introducing massage as therapy have been client demand and perceived clinical effectiveness.
In professional settings massage involves the client being treated while lying on a massage table, sitting in a massage chair, or lying on a mat on the floor. The massage subject may be fully or partly unclothed. Parts of the body may be covered with towels or sheets. Those who practice massage as a career are referred to as massage therapists.
Peer-reviewed medical research has shown that the benefits of massage include pain relief, reduced trait anxiety and depression, and temporarily reduced blood pressure, heart rate, and state of anxiety. Theories behind what massage might do include blocking nociception (gate control theory), activating the parasympathetic nervous system, which may stimulate the release of endorphins and serotonin, preventing fibrosis or scar tissue, increasing the flow of lymph, and improving sleep, but such effects are yet to be supported by well-designed clinical studies.
Massage is hindered from reaching the gold standard of scientific research, which includes placebo-controlled and double blind clinical trials. Developing a "sham" manual therapy for massage would be difficult since even light touch massage could not be assumed to be completely devoid of effects on the subject. It would also be difficult to find a subject that would not notice that they were getting less of a massage, and it would be impossible to blind the therapist. Massage can employ randomized controlled trials, which are published in peer reviewed medical journals. This type of study could increase the credibility of the profession because it displays that purported therapeutic effects are reproducible.
Massage for Sport Performance
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