Sports Massage for the Equine Athlete
For the last 15 years massage therapy has begun to appear on the elite Canadian sports scene; however it has long been researched and prescribed in the United States and European countries.
A properly designed sports massage program will encourage optimal functioning in the athlete by:
Enabling your horse to recover from injury rapidly and completely with less likelihood of chronic problems.
Maintaining muscles in their best state through relaxation, flexibility and nutrition.
Reducing muscle soreness, enabling the animal to train at a higher level, thus maximizing training without over-training.
Increasing the horse's body awareness, including pain tolerance, stretch reflexes and mind/body conditioning.
Massage therapy can prevent injury, restore and rehabilitate through:
Increasing the removal of metabolic wastes such as lactic acid.
Increasing blood circulation and lymphatic draining.
Decreasing localized pain.
Sports Massage is designed specifically to:
- Improve Performance
- Prevent injury
- Speed recuperation from injury
Types of Sports Massage:
- Pre-event Massage
- Post-event Massage
- Training Massage
Source: D'al School of Equine Massage Therapy
Below is a link to an interesting article The Blood Horse published about the effectiveness of massage and chiropractic treatments.