When you're the parent of a young hockey player, you might spend a significant amount of your time driving your son or daughter to practices, games, and out-of-town tournaments. The player's ability to succeed on the ice depends, in part, on staying healthy — and it's easy to amass a number of aches and pains over the course of a long season. It's worth investing a little more time into your child's career — in the form of scheduling some appointments at a local massage therapy clinic. Regular massages can help young hockey players in a variety of ways, including with the following.

Treating The Lower Body

Hockey players' lower-body muscles need to be loose and healthy to achieve the explosive power and endurance that are necessary for achievement on the ice. However, through repeated skating and strength training, your child's quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves can get tight. This tightness can lead to decreased performance on the ice. A massage therapist is adept at loosening up these major muscles, making them more malleable so that they can help your child perform.

Helping The Shoulders

A hockey player's shoulders are involved in every element of the game — they move while skating, stick handling, passing, shooting, and body checking. This use can lead to overuse injuries in any of the many muscles around the shoulders. Strains and cramps can cause your child to experience a limited range of motion from his or her shoulders, which can be highly detrimental to his or her game. For example, a child with aches and pains from either shoulder won't be able to shoot the puck with the desired velocity. Visits to the massage therapist can loosen up these critical muscles to help your child's game.

Helping With Stress

There can often be plenty of stress that comes with playing hockey, even if your child is still young. He or she may have trouble balancing a strict hockey practice schedule with schoolwork and even with a part-time job. Additionally, if the child is a little older and is playing at a highly competitive level, the prospects of wanting to succeed on the ice to earn a full or partial college scholarship can be extremely taxing. Seeing a massage therapist can be an effective way to relax. The therapist's soothing touch, as well as the quiet and calm atmosphere of the clinic, can provide your child with some much-needed relaxation time.

For more information, contact local professionals like Haring Marc DC.