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Post Marathon massage questions

Hi All, I've been a LMT for three years and am going to volunteer at a post marathon event next Saturday. What techniques will be most effective? From what I could find to read compression strokes and gastroc stretches seem to be pretty big. The organizer suggested 5 minute massages and I'm at a loss as how to best work on the runner in that amount of time.

Also, I'll be taking my table. Would it be appropriate to take some clorex wipes and let each runner lay on the table without a sheet? The temp is projected to be 60-70 degrees with 20 % chance of rain.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jesse R. Salmon on September 26, 2009 at 7:11am

Your goals in post-event massage are to facilitate recovery for the muscles that have been used.

The best strokes to use are compression, jostling, mild stretches, cramp relief techniques (which may occur), petrissage, shaking, and ROM.

Strokes need to be slow and rhythmic.

Do not do deep tissue work. Also, make sure athlete has cooled down properly before you massage them.

When I do sports massage I put a fitted vinyl shower curtain like...over my table and wipe it off with non-bleach clorox wipes in between each athlete. You can also just have them lay on table without a sheet or vinyl covering and clean after each athlete.

I hope this helps.

Permalink Reply by Connie McKim on September 26, 2009 at 8:05am

Your info is a big help. Thanks a lot.

Have a great rest of the day,
Connie

Jesse R. Salmon said:

Your goals in post-event massage are to facilitate recovery for the muscles that have been used.

The best strokes to use are compression, jostling, mild stretches, cramp relief techniques (which may occur), petrissage, shaking, and ROM.

Strokes need to be slow and rhythmic.

Do not do deep tissue work. Also, make sure athlete has cooled down properly before you massage them.

When I do sports massage I put a fitted vinyl shower curtain like...over my table and wipe it off with non-bleach clorox wipes in between each athlete. You can also just have them lay on table without a sheet or vinyl covering and clean after each athlete.

I hope this helps.