Give Your Body An ‘MOT’ With A Deep Tissue Sports Massage

Taking up exercise in the New Year has tremendous health benefits. Be it at the gym, jogging outside or a fitness DVD at home.  If you are regularly training it pays to take care of your muscle and joint health. Whether you’re new to exercise or a seasoned athlete, you will benefit from sports massage treatment.

Sports Massage Therapist, Hayley Meeking from Reigate’s Chart Clinic explains,

“Exercise in all forms of sport, training or even from manual work means that our body’s are working repeatedly and this can place a lot strain on your muscles and joints. This strain may lead to muscular imbalances, increasing the risk of suffering an injury.”

“Like driving a car, using it regularly causes wear and tear.  To preserve its condition you take a car for a service and MOT, so why wouldn’t you give your body the same level of treatment?”

A Sports Massage will help to...

Maintain your flexibility, allowing you to exercise more efficiently

• Reduce your body’s recovery time between exercise sessions
• Help with aches, pains and post-exercise soreness
• Locate and treat areas of tension due to muscular imbalances
• Minimises the chances of suffering an injury
• You will feel good; consider it a well deserved reward for your body’s hard work!

 To find how we can help you or to book an appointment contact Chart Clinic on 01737 248 023 or email info@chartclinic.co.uk

Virgin London Marathon 2013, last minute preparations...

It’s been a long, gruelling journey to get to this point, but it is finally hear. Some of our runners have already pounded the streets home successfully after completing to Brighton marathon last weekend, now for the biggie the Virgin London Marathon!

Runner’s, this week you should relax, you have been tapering for the past few weeks, now just enjoy this final week and look forward to the big day,  the adrenaline and the uplifting support from the crowds, the experience alone will be amazing!

If you want to keep an eye on the weather visit the MET office website, this will help you prepare for what clothing you will need on the day, http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/events/london-marathon

In the next few days it’s worth doing a few things in final preparation:

• Rest and relax, you have done your training, now enjoy the rest and wait for race day.
• Eat sensibly this week; add an extra carb to your meals, such as jacket potato, rice or pasta.
• Trim your toenails before race day – to avoid any discomfort in your shoes.
• Pick your clothing for the appropriate weather.
• Check your running shoes – Remove any twigs, stones etc. from soles and check the laces are not fraying.
• Drink plenty of fluid the day before race day – your urine should be a pale straw colour.
• On race morning apply some petroleum jelly or similar lubricant to sensitive areas such as nipples, thighs and between arms and chest to avoid chafing.
• Eat something light on race morning bagel, toast, cereal or a banana are all good choices. Avoid eating too heavy a meal the evening before.

Good luck to all our marathon runners :-) - we will see you Monday for a well earned sports massage!

Running the marathon and sports massage

“The factor that probably boosted Paula Radcliffe’s performance more than any other is her ability to regenerate. Her regular massages were to give extra maintenance to the whole body. Above all it’s to give Paula’s muscles and tendons the best chance to recover from the heavy workloads she puts them through” The training secrets of Paula Radcliffe article written by Orlando Pizzolato in TN40 July 2003.


If you or someone you know is getting ready for the marathon, no doubt you are aware of the hard work and dedication that goes into running the distance. There is a fine line between training hard and over doing it, it is all too often the case that this leads to injury.


Regular sports massage is by far the best way to make sure that those muscle tissues get stretched and gain ample blood flow delivering the right nutrients, keeping the body in top physical and mental condition.


Sports massage has some key benefits as follows:


A regular session of sports massage promotes healthy muscles and encourages the circulation of blood. Basically what happens is, a deep massage reorganises the fibres in your muscles, permitting new oxygen and nutrients to flow and therefore allows a more speedy recovery.


The other important system is the lymphatic system; there is no pump behind this, so the lymphatic system is reliant on movement in order to function whereas the blood is pumped by the heart throughout the human body. When muscles tighten they contract and this holds back the flow of blood. The flowing movements of a massage not only relaxes tension but encourages the flow of blood and lymphatic fluid, removing toxin build up from your body and introducing fresh blood into your muscles aiding their  healing and repair.


A history of injury may also affect a runner; there could be scar tissue at the site of the injury. However some of the scar tissue can be broken down with regular massage, energetically affecting performance of your muscles, ligaments and tendons. That is not to say that massage can totally get rid of scar tissue, but it will certainly help to increase its flexibility to smooth the progress of training with less drawbacks.


There is a huge psychological benefit of massage; this is due to the release of ‘feel good’ chemicals - endorphins, natural pain killers. Not only does this aid mental preparation for activity but will help maintain a positive mental frame of mind. Half the battle with increasing mileage with training is the ability to get motivated and then keep going on longer runs. Massage reduces any anxiety, helping you to reach a state of calm.


Taking a regular weekly massage will without doubt help to keep your body in top form as you prepare for your event. It is not advised to have a sports massage before a heavy training session. The muscles will have relaxed and will not be ready for high impact exercise and could cause injury. For the greatest results schedule your massage at least 2-3 days prior to your big event.