Regeneration and Injury Prevention in Badminton - 4 Massage Exercises You Should Do
Self-Massage exercises with a foam roller recently have become more and more popular in the performance and professional world in Badminton and many other game sports.
A few years ago, foam roller exercises became first popular internationally with the team of experts from EXOS (former Athletes’ Performance) working with the German Football Team using foam rollers and massage sticks for both session preparation and regeneration purposes. Not only does it improve muscle tissue quality like a traditional massage but also enhances blood flow in the musculature and so supports the delivery of minerals and other nutrients.
Four important areas in the lower quarter that are normally stressed the most in a Badminton single or double are the foot itself, the calf and the frontal and lateral tight.
In the following four videos you can see, how the massage on a small roller can be done. Besides the special roller used in the video, a simple foam roller for the calf and thigh and a tennis or golf ball can be used for the foot. A common practice is the work twice on each muscle: try to roll up and down about 15-25 times on the complete muscle belly, working first on the feet, then the calves and followed by the quadriceps (front of the tight) and IT-band (lateral tight). If you have smaller areas that locally feel more tense („trigger points“) you can apply a little bit more - but still gentle - pressure on that point and try to relaxe that part of the muscle (common practices here differentiate from 5-10 seconds to that point where you feel a noticeable change).
Self-Massage Foot:
Self-Massage Calf:
Self-Massage Quadriceps:
Self-Massage IT-Band:
Enjoy,
Diemo Ruhnow
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About the author:
Diemo Ruhnow is currently working as Head National Coach Doubles for the German Badminton Federation. In his free time he writes for his websites http://www.badminton-training.com (English), http://www.badminton-training.de (German) and other Badminton journals.
