I have a great opportunity to get an interview with Juha Hautakorpi, sports massage therapist. Who also do endurance sports. He provided a lot of information about massage therapy and when it’s good for us and what to take into account when timing the visit.
CAN YOU TELL SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR BACKGROUND? WHY massage therapy?
I’m Juha Hautakorpi sports masseuse and VoiceWell therapist.
I graduated as a masseur in 2015 and a year later I attended a sports masseur course. I graduated as a Voicewell therapist in 2019.
Immediately after graduating from massage school, I started my own business, since that this is being my full-time job. Formerly, I’m a professional electrician, but that jobs were never my own thing. It was very difficult for the electricians to jump on the school bench. But the decision was right and I have not regretted it for a day!
Well-being, as well as exercise, have always been of interest and you could easily access this world through massage. The possibilities for further education are also completely limitless.
What is a sports massage and who can benefit from it?
The slightly outdated idea is that sports massages are always better and harder than traditional classical massages. However, they do not differ in their massage technique in any way.
The professionalism of a sports masseur comes more through the right technique, strengths and various mobilizations that are adapted to the client’s possible sport.
For example, completely different treatment must be performed if the client has a marathon the next day or if he has run it the day before.
What are the benefits of sports massage?
The greatest significance of massage is the improved recovery from exercise. Which in itself reduces the risk of injury and it also has a great effect on the psyche and general endurance. With a massage, you can also get rid of small jams quickly before they become big problems.
How often people should have a massage?
In massage, the frequency of visits is influenced by many things. It is difficult to say any rule suitable for everyone. In general, I recommend to everyone that you should visit for a massage as needed, but regularly! The more and harder you training, the more important body care becomes.
Can I go to a workout right after the massage? Is it worth scheduling a massage visit?
Training directly after a massage is rarely recommended. Unless the massage is done specifically as a pre-exercise.
Massage can be considered a kind of exercise for the muscles and nervous system, which, like training, requires its own recovery time. The stronger and deeper the treatment, the longer it is recommended to take a break from training.
In general, the next day training is okay, as long as you remember to do a good warm-up. Ideally, massages should be scheduled for a week that does not have maximum performance and is generally a lighter week. So that there are no technically demanding performances on the same or the next day. Because massage can momentarily interfere with muscle nerve.
How can the benefits of massage be maximized?
After the massage, it is good to keep the small movement and a light walk is an excellent option. On the same day, it is also good to do light static as well as dynamic stretches at least an area that has been treated. Stretching after a massage allows the muscle to be better stretched to its own maximum muscle length, but no deep stretching should be done on the same day as it is often too hard a strain on the nerve in the muscle.
“Sports massage hurts, I don’t want/dare to go…” “Massage should hurt or it doesn’t work…” How is this really?
It’s a slightly old idea that sports massage is always more intense and it should hurt. There may be unpleasant moments during a massage, but pain alone is not the right measure of successful treatment. Communication between the client and the masseur is vital. However, pain is a personal thing for everyone and everyone experiences it differently.
Sometimes a hard massage is even worse than a lighter treatment, after a hard massage recovery takes longer through the micro-rupture of the muscles and the next performance is not as effective as after a lighter treatment.
What would you say to a person who has never been to a masseuse (fear, shyness…) but would like to?
I would say there is no reason to miss a massage, many have uncertainties about their own body and the idea of one criticizing is very understandable. When it comes to a professional, it doesn’t matter what your appearance is, or how poor condition you are. It may be that you are the masseuse’s seventh client on the same day, and she/he is not at work judging anyone but helping in the best way possible.
Why do masseurs always tell you to drink lots of water?
This question is encountered almost daily, I also advised to drink plenty of water at the end of each massage.
The general argument I hear is “massage removes toxins from the body,” but I have not found any justification for this. The muscles do not accumulate “waste” which the massage release and remove from the body.
During treatment, muscle tension is reduced, blood circulation is improved, fluid metabolism is accelerated which moves fluid from the muscles towards the kidneys and thereby dries out the body. For this reason, you can often visit the toilet immediately after the massage.
So it is important to get plenty of fluids back into the body, which will also ease the post-massage headaches that many experience.
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