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By Ethan Farr, Myotherapist It is widely recognized that myotherapy offers numerous benefits for athletes, both in terms of enhancing performance and speeding up recovery. However, many of you may be asking: When is the ideal time to see my myotherapist to ensure I perform at my best during my next event and continue to thrive in future competitions? If you're unsure, this blog post is tailored just for you! We'll dive into the timing and benefits of myotherapy before and after your events, helping you make the most of your treatment for optimal results.  Now, should you see a myotherapist before your event to prepare, or should you schedule a session afterward to recover? The answer isn’t a simple one-size-fits-all; it depends on your needs, goals, timing, and what your event entails. Seeing a myotherapist before an event is all about preparing your muscles, joints, and fascia for the physical demands ahead. Before a big competition, it’s crucial that your muscles are fully “activated” and prepared to perform at their best. A pre-event session can help with this by targeting specific muscle groups that need to be loosened and activated.Techniques such as soft tissue release and stretching can improve your flexibility and range of motion, ensuring that your body is ready for any movement demands during the event. One of the most important benefits of pre-event myotherapy is injury prevention. By identifying and treating areas of tension, tightness, or past injuries, your myotherapist can help mitigate the risk of strains, sprains, and other common sports injuries. Regular treatment before events can keep your muscles and fascia in top condition, reducing the likelihood of injury during high-intensity activity. Now the next big question is how long before your event should you schedule your appointment and to that I would suggest that it is best to schedule a session 2-3 days before your event. This gives your body enough time to benefit from the treatment without any lingering soreness or fatigue post treatment. Post-event myotherapy is all about recovery — helping your body bounce back more quickly from the physical stress it endured during your competition or training. After a high-intensity event, your muscles may feel sore, stiff, or fatigued. Myotherapy helps to alleviate this discomfort by improving circulation, reducing inflammation, and promoting muscle relaxation. Techniques like deep tissue massage and myofascial release can break down muscle adhesions and knots, speeding up the recovery process and static cupping. In addition to easing muscle soreness, post-event myotherapy can also help in the repair and restoration of muscle tissue. Intense physical activity can lead to microtears in the muscles, and myotherapy works to accelerate the healing process by increasing blood flow to the affected areas. This increased circulation helps deliver oxygen and nutrients to the muscles, promoting faster tissue regeneration. Moreover, myotherapy supports the body’s natural recovery mechanisms by reducing the build-up of lactic acid, which can contribute to delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). The timing of post-event treatment is just as important as pre-event preparation. Ideally, you should seek treatment within 24-48 hours after your event. This is the window when your muscles are most receptive to recovery techniques and where the impact of myotherapy can be the most beneficial. Delaying treatment too long may hinder your body’s ability to recover efficiently and delay your return to full performance. In some cases, a follow-up session after a few days may be necessary to address deeper muscle tension or areas that didn’t fully heal after the first treatment. Both pre- and post-event myotherapy have distinct benefits, but the real magic happens when these sessions are incorporated into a regular routine. Athletes who undergo consistent myotherapy treatments — even outside of specific events — experience long-term improvements in flexibility, strength, and overall performance. Myotherapy can help reduce the risk of chronic injuries, improve posture, and maintain muscle balance, which is essential for preventing overuse injuries that can develop over time. Are you training for a major sports event? Book an appointment with Ethan to make sure you're in top condition for the big day. He can create a personalised treatment plan to help you perform your best during the event and recover effectively afterward.  Whether you’re an athlete or a weekend warrior, an injury can set you back when it comes to your exercise goals. How you handle an injury can make a big impact on the recovery process. If you want to speed up your recovery and minimise the risk of injury in the future, this is the guide for you.
What to do immediately after an injury So you’re reading this right as you’ve hurt yourself. Props to you for Googling the answer! But on a serious note, it’s good to have the injury assessed by a GP if you suspect a fracture, dislocation or muscle tear. That way, you know right away whether you will need any significant treatment such as surgery or a cast. In the meantime, start with elevating the injured body part. This helps to reduce fluid retention in the area. It also means you’re not on it, so you’re less likely to keep injuring it! Rest and elevation are also a good idea for minor injuries such as sprains and twisted ankles. If you have a pre-made support or brace for the injured part, you can pop it on for some stability and compression. If not, you might like to bandage it if compression feels supportive for you. There is a bit of debate out there about whether heat or ice is best for an injury. Ice is the old-school treatment, and may be useful for reducing pain sensitivity and fluid retention. On the other hand, if there is pain without any swelling, a heat pack or warm bath might help increase blood flow to the area and reduce pain. Once the swelling has gone down This is the time when it’s good to see your friendly local myotherapist. We can’t really help if you’ve just done a significant injury such as a break or a muscle tear. But after the first few days, we can put together a treatment plan to get you back to your everyday life ASAP. Some of the therapies we can offer to help you recover include:
How to support recovery and reduce risk of re-injury Are you ready to jump back into it after an injury? Here are some tips to maximise recovery and minimise your risk of getting hurt again. Start slow – I know you want to jump straight back in, but this is a recipe for disaster! When you’ve been injured, your body part often needs time to strengthen and get back to your pre-injury levels. Begin with low impact versions of movement such as yoga and walking, and build up over a period of 4-12 weeks depending on your injury. Use rest and compression after exercise – if you do find your injured area aching or swelling after exercise, head home to rest and a support or brace. This can minimise the fluid retention and ease any pain you might experience. If you experience sharp or shooting pain, stop – some aches are common as you get back into movement. But sharp, shooting or severe pain is a sign that something is not ok. Stop whatever you’re doing until your pain has been checked out by a qualified practitioner. Eat plenty of nutrient-dense foods – even if your rehab program is perfect, your body can’t recover without the good nutrients you need for healing. Eating plenty of fruit, veggies, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices and high-quality is protein is a good start, according to our nutritionist friend Samantha Gemmell. Work with a myotherapist – a myotherapist can help you with rehab exercises to rebuild strength. But they can also keep you on track with supportive taping and addressing any muscle imbalances. Are you dealing with an injury? Our myotherapist Emily works with people with sports injuries, particularly muscle tears, joint injuries and rehab. Her goal is to get you back to training, events and everyday life as soon as possible while minimising your risk of re-injury. To book an appointment with Emily, head to our booking page and select ‘Emily Wells’ as your practitioner. We’re a nation of sports lovers. One in five Aussies regularly participates in competitive sports, and many more engage in non-competitive activities. But with sports comes a risk of injury. The good news is, you can work to prevent injuries before they even happen. Let’s look at how myotherapy can reduce your risk of injury.  Why prevention is better than treatment
You might wonder why it’s smarter to put in the time and effort to prevent injuries, rather than just treating them. Here’s why:
How myotherapy can help prevent sport injuries Ready to stop injuries before they even happen? Myotherapy is a must-have therapy in your toolkit. Here are just some of the ways that myotherapy can help prevent sport-related injuries: We explore the balance of your muscles – It’s a little known fact that most of us have imbalances between the muscle groups. This is particularly true in sportspeople, as they train the muscles they need, but often neglect other groups. The problem is, imbalanced muscles leave you more open to injury. During your myotherapy assessment, we can check your muscles and spot any imbalances early. That way, it’s easy to prescribe exercises and stretches to correct the problem – BEFORE you get injured. It helps with recovery after an intense training session – nobody likes being super sore after an intense training session. But using bodywork techniques and targeted stretching, myotherapy can help to loosen up tight muscles and mobilise joints. This can increase circulation to the muscles and boost recovery. So your soreness will fade in no time! We can personalise at-home care to your needs – if you have any old injuries or muscle imbalances that need some extra TLC, myotherapy is there to help. Together, we’ll craft a care program to your needs that might include exercises to stretch and strengthen your muscles, and using self care tools like foam rolling, spiky massage balls or hot/cold therapy. Taping can help to stabilise muscles and enhance performance – taping isn’t just for looks! It can stabilise muscles that may be at risk of injury. Plus it can help to enhance performance by supporting key muscle groups needed in your sport. So it can give you that real competitive edge for the big events. Ready to get a tailored plan to keep you fit and ready for your sports? There’s no better time to organise on-going management for your body than today! Be sure to book in your appointment now. Us Aussies love our sports! Keeping active is an essential part of living a healthy, happy life. But whether you love your extreme sports or just enjoy a spot of golf on the weekend, you have a risk of getting injured.  What injuries can occur during sports?
Pretty much every injury you can imagine can happen, depending on the sport you’re involved in. Every single bone, joint, muscle, ligament and tendon that can be injured WILL be injured by someone at some point! Some of the more common injuries you might come across include:
Just because your sport is “low impact” doesn’t mean it’s risk-free. Any time we move our bodies, there is a small chance of injury. It’s part of life! But the good news is, injuring yourself doesn’t mean you have to suffer through unnecessary pain. Myotherapy can help with injury recovery Because myotherapy is all about ‘muscle therapy’, it is fantastic for helping you recover from an acute injury. Here are some of the ways that it might be able to help with your sports injury: It can help to drain excess fluid and swelling – when we massage and mobilise an area, it increases the lymphatic drainage from the area. That lymphatic drainage is what can help to pull excess fluid away from an injury, which aids with recovery. It can loosen the muscles around an injured joint – when we are injured, our muscles can tighten up to protect us from further pain. Unfortunately, that’s not so helpful when it comes to recovery. It can keep a weakened joint out of place, and it can strain other muscles that have to compensate. Working the muscles with myotherapy techniques will loosen them, allowing the joint and other muscles to return to a neutral position. Taping can help with swelling, pain and proprioception – it’s great to get some bodywork done. But taping can keep working on the injury days after you’ve left the table. Different taping techniques can be applied to reduce swelling and stabilise the injured area. The most important thing about sports injuries If you have injured something, remember this: the quicker you get it seen to, the quicker it will heal. If left untreated, you may end up with a chronic injury. And believe me, chronic pain is not something you want to get familiar with. Once you’re recovered, you can head on back to your beloved sport! But that’s not where it ends – as we’ll discuss next week, myotherapy can be a great supportive treatment for prevention of injury as well. Been injured while at your favourite sport? It’s best to get it looked after asap. Book in an appointment today, and we’ll get you back into the swing of things quickly. |
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Shop 12B/150 Kelletts Rd, Rowville VIC 3178 |
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