Sports Massage – Bath
Real Recovery for Active People
Lobke
Three months ago, a runner from Larkhall came in barely able to walk. She’d pushed through a half-marathon with tight hamstrings, thinking rest would fix everything. It didn’t. Her IT band was so inflamed she couldn’t even sit comfortably. After two sports massage sessions with Lobke focusing on deep tissue work and mobility, she was back running. That’s what happens when you ignore your body’s warnings. Whether your training for the Bath Half or just trying to stay active around the hills in this city, your muscles take a beating. Sports massage isn’t just for athletes. It’s for anyone whose body needs proper maintenance.
Sports Massage Therapist Services in Bath
At The London Road Clinic, we work with people who actualy use their bodies. Runners dealing with shin splints. Cyclists with lower back pain. Office workers who’ve developed shoulder problems from terrible posture. Even gardeners who’ve overdone it on the weekend.
A proper sports massage therapist looks at the whole picture. Why is your calf always tight? What’s causing that knee pain that won’t go away? Sometimes the problem isn’t where you feel the pain. Your tight hip flexors might be why your lower back hurts every morning.
Lobke uses different techniques depending on what your dealing with. Deep tissue massage for chronic tension. Trigger point therapy for those spots that make you wince. Myofascial release when tissues get stuck together. Stretching protocols that actually work.
When to Book Sports Massage
Most people wait far too long. They think pain is normal when you’re active. It’s not. That nagging achilles issue? It won’t fix itself. The shoulder that clicks when you swim? That’s your body telling you something’s not running smoothly.
Bath’s hills are beautiful but they don’t help. Running up Widcombe or Solsbury (we’ve tried this!) or cycling around Bannerdown puts extra strain on your legs and back. Add cold, damp weather half the year (why do we live here!), and muscles get tighter faster. We see it every winter—people who were fine in summer suddenly dealing with injuries.
Common Problems We Treat
Sports massage helps with muscle tightness, reduced flexibility, chronic aches that won’t shift, training-related soreness, and poor recovery between workouts. If your struggling with any of these, sports massage can get you moving properly again.
Sports Injury Treatment
Sports injury treatment starts with figuring out what’s actually injured. Not every pain needs weeks of rest. Sometimes you just need someone to work out the knots and get blood flowing again. Other times, you’ve got a real injury that needs careful management and we may decide that osteopathy could help you more.
The goal isn’t just making pain go away. It’s getting you back to your activities without re-injuring yourself. That means addressing muscle imbalances, improving flexibility, and teaching you what to do at home between sessions.
Injuries We Commonly See
- Runner’s knee from pounding pavements around Royal Victoria Park with the Bath Fit Fam or the Sunday Park Run
- Tennis elbow (even if you don’t play tennis)
- Rotator cuff problems from swimming or overhead movements
- Plantar fasciitis that makes those first moring steps miserable
- Hamstring strains that keep coming back
- Lower back pain from cycling position or a weak core
Who Benefits From Sports Injury Treatment
We’ve worked with people training for marathons, rugby players from Walkcot, Bath and other local clubs, and weekend warriors who just want to play with their kids without hurting. Each person needs something different. Cookie-cutter treatment plans don’t work and not what we do.
If you’ve got back or neck pain from your sport or activity, combining sports massage with osteopathic treatment often works better than either alone.
Deep Tissue Massage
Deep tissue massage gets into layers that regular massage doesn’t touch. It’s not about pressing harder — it’s about working slowly through tissue to release chronic tension patterns.
How Deep Tissue Works
Your muscles have layers. Surface muscles might feel fine, but deeper muscles hold old injuries and stress patterns. That’s where chronic pain lives. Getting into those layers takes skill and patience. You can’t just dig in with an elbow and hope for the best.
Some sessions may be uncomfortable. Not painful, but you’ll feel the work. The next day, you might feel a bit sore—like you’ve had a good workout. That’s normal. Your body is adjusting to having proper movement again.
Deep Tissue vs Regular Massage
People often ask how deep tissue massage is different from regular massage. Regular massage works on relaxation and surface tension. Deep tissue massage targets specific problems—adhesions, scar tissue, chronic muscle tension that won’t release with lighter pressure.
We see alot of people with desk jobs alongside their sports activities. Sitting all day creates its own problems. Hip flexors shorten. Shoulders round forward. Then you try to go for a run or hit the gym, and your body can’t move properly. Deep tissue work helps reset those patterns.
Bath has an active community. People run along the canal, cycle up to Bradford-on-Avon, Box, Marshfield. Not many play rugby at the Rec, but lots swim at the leisure centre. All that activity is brilliant for health, but it comes with wear and tear. Regular sports massage sessions keep you moving without breaking down.
Sports Therapy
Sports therapy isn’t just massage—it’s understanding movement patterns and fixing what’s broken. Lobke’s background in climbing coaching and sports biomechanics means she spots compensation patterns most people miss.
Assessment and Treatment Approach
A sports therapist watches how you move. Where do you compensate? Which muscles aren’t firing properly? What movement patterns are causing problems? Then we adress those issues through hands-on treatment and specific exercises.
Example: A cyclist comes in with knee pain. We check their bike position, watch them pedal, test muscle strength and flexibility. Turns out their glutes aren’t working properly, so their quads are overworking and pulling on the knee. Treatment includes massage to release tight quads, exercises to activate glutes, and advice on bike setup.
Combining Sports Massage with Other Treatments
That’s sports therapy. Finding the root cause and fixing it, not just treating symptoms. Sometimes sports injuries need more than massage. If you’ve got tennis elbow or an ankle sprain, combining sports massage with osteopathic techniques speeds recovery.
Injury Prevention
Injury prevention is cheaper and easier than injury treatment. Most injuries don’t just happen—they build up over weeks or months of poor movement patterns, inadequate recovery, or training errors.
Warning Signs You’re Heading Towards Injury
- Muscles that stay tight no matter how much you stretch
- Pain that appears during specific movements
- One side of your body feeling different than the other
- Decreased range of motion
- Needing longer warmups before you feel normal
Catching Problems Early
Catching these early means a few sessions instead of months of rehab. We see patterns all the time. Runners who increase milage too fast. Gym-goers who skip mobility work. People who train hard but never rest properly.
Your body adapts to stress, but it needs time. Push too hard without recovery, and something breaks down. Regular sports massage helps maintain tissue quality and catches problems before they become injuries.
Many of our clients come monthly just for maintenance. They’re not injured—they’re preventing injuries. Smart athletes know their body is their equipment, and equipment needs maintenance.
Recovery and Performance
Recovery is where fitness happens. You break down muscles during training. They rebuild stronger during recovery. But only if you give them what they need—rest, nutrition, and proper tissue care.
How Sports Massage Speeds Recovery
Sports massage speeds recovery by increasing blood flow and clearing metabolic waste from muscles. That means less soreness and faster return to training. For serious athletes, that’s extra training sessions over a year. For regular people, it means enjoying activities without constant aches.
Performance improves when your body moves efficiently. Tight muscles restrict movement. Muscle imbalances create compensation patterns. Poor flexibility limits power. Sports massage addresses all of that.
Event Preparation
We’ve worked with people preparing for events—Bath Half Marathon, Ironman UK, Tough Mudders and cycling sportives. Regular treatment during training helps them stay healthy and perform on race day. We’ve also worked with people just trying to keep up with their active lifestyle without constant niggles.
Working With Your Body
Every body is different. What works for one person might not work for another. That’s why treatment plans need to be individual. Your training history, injury history, goals, and how your body responds all matter.
What to Expect in Your First Session
Within the first session, we really get to understand your situation. What brought you in? What have you tried? What makes it better or worse? Then we assess movement and tissue quality before starting treatment.
Follow-up sessions build on previous work. Chronic issues don’t fix in one session. It takes time to change tissue quality and movement patterns. But you should notice improvements—less pain, better movement, improved performance.
Your Part in Recovery
Between sessions, you’ve got homework. Stretches, strengthening exercises, mobility drills. Treatment works better when you’re doing your part. We’ll show you exactly what to do and why it matters.
Lobke’s approach combines her osteopathy training with sports massage expertise. She understands how the whole body works together, which means better results for complex injuries or chronic problems.
Book Your Sports Massage in Bath
The London Road Clinic has been helping Bath’s active community for years. We’re near the city centre, easy to reach from Bathwick, Widcombe, Oldfield Park, and surrounding areas. Evening and weekend appointments can be available and there is ample parking either on the street or in the New Oriel Hall.
You can book your appointment online or call us to discuss your specific needs. If you’re not sure whether sports massage or osteopathy is right for you, we can guide you to the best treatment option.
Sports massage Bath isn’t luxury—it’s maintenance. If you use your body, you need to take care of it. Simple as that.