Sports Massage in Bromley

Sports massage in Bromley: who actually comes in

The name puts people off. A typical week at our Bromley clinic is half runners and gym-goers and half everyone else — nurses and teachers on their feet all day, office workers whose necks have seized, builders and decorators, people six weeks past an operation who have been told to get moving again. You do not need to play a sport to benefit from sports massage. You need a soft-tissue problem that has stopped resolving on its own.

Because we sit close to Shortlands, Beckenham and Hayes, we see a lot of commuters and a lot of club runners — and the two groups need almost opposite things, which is why we assess before we treat.

What your first appointment actually involves

1. Questions. What hurts, when it started, what makes it worse, what you are trying to get back to.
2. Movement. We watch you move rather than guessing from the painful spot, because the painful spot is often not the cause.
3. Treatment. Hands-on work on what we have found, at a pressure you can breathe through.
4. Homework. Two or three things to do between now and next time. This is the part that makes the improvement stick.

If what you describe does not sound muscular, we will tell you and point you to your GP instead. That is a better outcome than a treatment that was never going to work.

Sports massage or deep tissue massage?

People use the terms interchangeably and the overlap is real, but the intent differs.

• Sports massage is targeted at a problem. A calf that keeps going, a shoulder that will not lift overhead, knee pain that arrives at mile four. It comes with an assessment and usually with exercises.
• Deep tissue massage works broadly across the back, neck and shoulders. It is the right choice when everything is tight rather than one thing being wrong.

Book either and say what you are after at the start — we adjust to what we find.

Timing it around a race

Bromley is full of runners, and race week is where people most often get this wrong.

• In a training block: every two to four weeks, ideally after a hard session rather than before one.
• Race week: light work only, three to four days out. Deep work in the final days can leave your legs feeling flat on the day.
• After the race: wait two or three days. Immediately afterwards the tissue is already inflamed and does not need more.

There is a fuller answer in our article on how often you should get a sports massage.

When sports massage is not the answer

Worth saying plainly, because the honest answer is sometimes no.

• The first few days after an acute strain or tear. Deep pressure over a fresh injury is the wrong thing at the wrong time.
• Infection, fever, or skin that is broken or inflamed over the area.
• Blood-thinning medication, a clotting disorder, or a suspected DVT. Speak to your GP first.
• Pain that has an obvious non-muscular cause. Massage will not fix it and may delay you getting the right help.

Some symptoms need a doctor the same day rather than a therapist: numbness in the groin or inner thighs, loss of bladder or bowel control, progressive weakness in a limb, unexplained weight loss, or pain that is markedly worse at night.

Where the problem turns out to be joint restriction or a recurring trigger point, spinal manipulation or medical acupuncture may suit you better, and we will say so.

Book a sports massage in Bromley

SMSM Therapy is a sports injury clinic at Carlton Chambers, 5 Station Road, Bromley BR2 0EY — use the red side gate to the right of the building. It is a three-minute walk from Shortlands station. We treat clients from across Bromley, Beckenham, Shortlands, Hayes, West Wickham, Chislehurst, Petts Wood and Orpington.

Call 07896 257328, book an appointment online, or see our full prices and how to find us.

Written by Dharam Vyas, sports therapist and clinic director at SMSM Therapy, Bromley.