[i.munro]

It feels like it's helpful. Anybody got any good/bad experiences?

[route149]

sorry guvnor, but not understanding the question.  sports massage is a well-known recovery mechanism if ya can afford it.

(I deliberately mislead your q to mean was it wqs helpful for someone doling out sports massage to be trained. It's clearly disastrous when that happens and a completely intuitive, 'ground up' approach is better.)

[i.munro]

sorry guvnor, but not understanding the question.  sports massage is a well-known recovery mechanism if ya can afford it.

I think it's well-known and widely used in other sports but I don't know of any climbers who have used it, so I was asking.
(Perhaps Graham & Sharma have an entourage ... masseur, dietician & in Grahams case probably a dealer)

[Serpico]

Just had my first one an hour ago. She found loads of scar tissue/tight muscle in my shoulder, lat, and tricep, and REALLY worked it
I'm feeling pretty battered, but also strangely relaxed now. If what she says is true a lot of the problems I've had with my elbow are caused by the tightness in my shoulder/tricep.
I'm going back from some more abuse next week.

[i.munro]

Just had my first one an hour ago.

Can you let me know how you get on. I was imagining  it more as an aid to post-training recovery but she seemed very keen to address
my shoulder posture... Hmm

[Houdini]

Had 3 hours of Thai massage a week to help me through 3 months of bouldering when I was out there a couple of years back.  I'd never have managed w/ out it.  Found it great for taking take of niggles but also in maintaining flexibility when ones' body starts to grow w/ such prolonged periods of exercise.

The problem in the UK is cost, so I'd only use physio-types when I'd hurt something, which is not the best use of such people, I think.  I'd love a beasting ever 10 days or so, but that would be 140 quid or so a month...

[rodma]

It feels like it's helpful. Anybody got any good/bad experiences?

Great experiences at F.A.S.I.C., although maybe a little bit on the soft side, I always found them to be beneficial.

Had a really brutal massage from a chap at a different physio (physio he was not) who was twice my weight, he did submission wrestling as a hobby and tried (unsurprisingly) to pull my head off my neck. I didn't feel very good after it and felt rubbish for about the next two weeks.

I think if you can find a good physio and can afford it, then it really helps.

[i.munro]

I think if you can find a good physio and can afford it, then it really helps.

How about someone with a qualification in sports & remedial masage?
Physio's a bit different isn't it? Although I'm sure it's part of their training.

[rodma]

I think if you can find a good physio and can afford it, then it really helps.

How about someone with a qualification in sports & remedial masage?
Physio's a bit different isn't it? Although I'm sure it's part of their training.

The guy who nearly broke my neck was qualified, but appeared to have no idea of how much strength he was applying when he was twisting my neck at horrible angles 

I've had a very good massage from someone who was just a massage-therapist-type person. It was nearly as aggressive as a sports massage and had similar results.

You'll should try and get a recommendation from someone you know.

[webbo]

i've had a couple of sessions on my rhomboids which seemed to loosen things up.however the last time i went there were several comments from the masseur "mmmmmm i've never seen that before" "thats supposed relax the muscle not send it in to spasm"
35 years of abuse has apparently led to some unusual muscular development in my case.

[Serpico]

Can you let me know how you get on.

I've had three now. The first one she really focussed on some scar tissue in my left infraspinatus, as well as tightness in my left triceps (almost in spasm she said) , and tightness in left lat. As she worked the infraspinatus (which was intensely painful) I started to get some referred pain in the front of my shoulder, that has been quite bad since, though it's now subsiding. I do seem to have better range of motion in my shoulder, and in particular a click where it felt like it was rolling over a tendon has disappeared.
I'm going back for another session, then I'll reduce it to once a month/as necessary.
I think you have to educate you PT to the demands of your sport, they tend to focus on what they see as the major climbing muscles (lats, biceps, etc) and don't focus on the forearms as much.

[Rabies]

It's a bit off topic but it is also worth considering seeing an osteopath as opposed to a physio if you have any aches or pains. I saw one last year due to some tightness in my left shoulder and got a really good diagnosis and some massage too.  Basically told me that I had some muscle imbalance which I have been able to remedy when training.  A friend of mine also sees an osteopath for cranial massage and has had good results although it didn't help when I fell on top of him when at the wall a few weeks later!

[BB]

I have regular (every 3-4 weeks) deep massage on my forearms, biceps and shoulders just to keep everything free of tightness and scar tissue. Can't recommend it higly enough. In fact, about a week after a session I experience a marked improvment in strenght. As has been said, it's not cheap though. I recently saw a poster at the local gym advertising for guinea pigs for sports physio students to practice on for a couple of quid. I guess if you know what you need doing and don't want any diagnosis then this could be a cheap alternative. It's a bit of a risk, but I would hope that they're supervised.

[Twiglett]

I get them off my girlfriend (who happens to be a student) and they are awesome. I used to go in as one of them guinea pigs and it was OK to so I would suggest that if you were considering it. They hurt like a mo-fo though!