Charlie,
A write up on massage I found recently*, reported guidelines by Russian sport-massage specialists: [ul]
[li]wait 2-2.5 hours after the sport event;
[/li][li]30-40 minutes of massage;
[/li][li]very robust kneading for 40-50% of the time.
[/li][/ul]
I consider the EMS Active Recovery program found on machines like Compex and Globus, a very effective form of massage (even more in my opinion). However, I was wondering how much the above guidelines apply to EMS Active Recovery. My rationale is that EMS seems more efficient than a massage therapist to reach deep tissue, and to deliver the massage twitches at a more frequent pace (continuously variable between 2 to 8 Hz).
As a matter of fact an Ironman competitor at Lake Placid this year, came to borrow my Globus machine on each of the three days preceding the competition, to recover from damage inflicted by his massage specialist 15 days earlier: this guy had pushed too hard with his elbow against his calf, causing a deep contusion. After three days of EMS the athlete was feeling back almost 100%. My anecdotal experience has been that people find EMS Active Recovery fully satisfactory with as little as 15 minutes for younger subjects and 20 for older subjects, all done anywhere between a 15 minutes to six hours from a race.
I was wondering what your experience has been with athletes.
Note*: by Ross Turchaninov, M.D., Ph.D., Boris Prilutsky, M.A. and Oleg Bouimer, M.A