Understanding Sports Massage

Updated and invigorated, Understanding Sports Massage, Second Edition, provides readers with an understanding of the fundamental theory and practical basis for using sports massage to keep athletes in top shape, recover from injuries, and improve performance. Like the successful first edition, Understanding Sports Massage is ideal for sport professionals and students in sports massage training programs. The book illustrates and explains massage techniques in detail and describes the procedures involved in conducting effective sports massage sessions, including determining goals, organizing the session, and choosing and applying techniques.

In addition to serving sport professionals, the new edition of Understanding Sports Massage will be useful to coaches, athletes, and teachers. They will be introduced to massage techniques that they can learn and apply in nonmedical situations such as in warm-ups, preparing for and recovering from competition, reducing the potential for injuries, and aiding in injury rehabilitation.

Understanding Sports Massage, Second Edition, also features many updates and improvements from the first edition:
-Nearly 100 photographs demonstrate proper technique.

-New two-color presentation highlights specific elements of the photos and text for a clearer understanding of the techniques presented.

-Updated and expanded material throughout the book includes new sections on medications and massage, specialized massage techniques, and joint movements and stretching; an updated trouble spots form; more examples of remedial and rehabilitation applications; and a description of the increasing use of sports massage in integrative sports medicine settings.
This text helps readers put theory into practice, first explaining the scientific underpinnings of sports massage and then describing in detail how to apply those concepts in a massage session.

This "how-to" approach extends to its planning and programming sections, in which the authors lay out the finer points of giving sports massage and then guide readers in implementing sports massage programs in various settings. The program-development portion of this book provides practitioners with detailed advice from the authors, who are well respected for their expertise and program-development skills. They address how to implement sports massage programs in various settings and how sports massage specialists cooperate with other sport and health professionals to provide the best possible care for athletes.

The result is a comprehensive and richly detailed guide to providing the best sports massage in a variety of settings and to developing a top-notch sports massage program in a school or university, a health club or organization, or a clinic or private practice.

Patricia Benjamin, PhD, has been a sports professional for over 30 years and has gained special insight into massage for athletes. She has been a high school physical education teacher and coach and a youth sports coach, and she has taught sports at the college level. Her own experiences as an athlete have contributed to her understanding of the benefits of sports massage.

Benjamin received her bachelor of science degree in physical education from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and master's degree in education from Northern Illinois University. Her PhD in recreation and leisure studies is from Purdue University.

Benjamin graduated from the Chicago School of Massage Therapy in 1984 and is a licensed massage therapist in the state of Illinois. She is active in the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA), in which she has served as director of education from 1989 to 1993, and more recently as Illinois chapter president. She is a former AMTA historian and writes a column on the history of massage in the Massage Therapy Journal.

Benjamin is coauthor of Tappan's Handbook of Healing Massage Techniques, Fourth Edition (2005), teaches professional foundations courses and ethics in massage therapy programs, and is a massage therapy education curriculum consultant and author. She lives in Chicago and enjoys Zen archery, tai chi, history reading, traveling, and gardening.

Scott Lamp has been a massage therapist since 1982 and has worked with athletes at all levels. He was the first massage therapist in the United States to be hired by a Division I college athletic association (University of Florida) to provide an ongoing massage therapy program.

Lamp is now the owner and director of Southeastern Sports Massage, a sports massage clinic that develops and implements a variety of projects and programs. He also has his own private practice that serves more than 30 clients per week ranging from professional athletes to weekend warriors and gardeners. In addition, he develops and teaches certification programs for sports massage therapy.

Lamp graduated from the Soma School of Massage in Gainesville, Florida, in 1982 and is licensed in the state of Florida. He is nationally certified in therapeutic massage and body work. He earned his bachelor of science degree in botany from the University of Florida in 1980.

Lamp has been very active in massage therapy associations, winning numerous awards and serving in many capacities including national president of the American Massage Therapy Association. He has conducted research on the effects of massage as part of a University of Florida research team. Lamp lives in Gainesville, Florida, where his interests include renovating houses, landscaping, traveling, practicing yoga, and watercolor painting.