Massage Therapy Journal Summer 2026

Summer 2026 • 27

Duke University Player Talks How Massage Benefits Him During the Season Playing at Duke University wasn’t the first time the basketball player we talked with had heard of the benefits of massage therapy. “During my senior year in high school, I heard from some other players about how massage might be beneficial,” he explains. Going to an elite program turned those whispers into real life experience with how massage therapy can be integrated into training. “For me, I believe massage helps most in recovery,” the player tells us, but he receives massage weekly, “… which keeps my body feeling great.” Communication between players and the massage therapists who work with them is important, as everyone we spoke to noted, including the player. “We have great communication before and during each session,” he explains.

the basketball program by including soft tissue days during the week, typically on Friday mornings, where the sole focus is massage therapy. “We will often try and sneak in some time during a week where we have high volume practice and game play as well,” he adds. The team’s massage therapist also travels with the team, Richey says. “We book our therapist in advance so that she can travel with us and be available in the hotel and/or after games in a tournament setting,” he explains. During heavy travel, Williams improvises when the team’s massage therapists, who only travel during tournaments, aren’t there. “I contact the massage therapists the host team uses and schedule massages at our hotel the night before the game or early in the morning of the game,” he says. The same is true at Duke University. “We travel our massage therapist during the post season where there is a high demand for soft tissue work and small windows for treatment,” Fonseca says. Although fair to say that a majority of the work focuses on the physical benefits offered by massage therapy, many athletic directors and trainers acknowledge the very real advantage of having players who can relax and get good sleep. “The mental reset is also very beneficial for us,” Richey says. “I also think that during a tournament setting, massage encourages relaxation, which is helping us with sleep after a game.” What Massage Therapy Looks Like for Elite College Athletes Assessment is key to players getting the most benefit. “I always go in with the standard SOAP notes method, asking them if there is anything in particular that’s bothering them, and then I write it down to see whether or not improvement is happening when I work on them next,” says Jenna Sundberg, a licensed massage therapist who works with Iowa State university basketball players. Sundberg will write her own observations down after each session (which typically lasts 30 minutes) and tell the player about anything she’s noticed. Sundberg can then plan an approach to help players sustain the benefits, as well as what they might need to address in subsequent massage sessions, whether stretching, deep tissue or other specific massage techniques.

“No matter the positions they play on the court, most of the players have the same ailments when it comes to the focus of their massage,” Sundberg says. “For example, most common areas of focus would be their traps and arms, which could be caused by the guarding or shooting that happens during a game. The same could be said for tension in their hamstrings, quadriceps or gastrocnemius muscles. With all the moving and jumping that is going on, muscles are in constant movement and become worn out.” Additionally, taller players may have more impact on their muscles compared to a shorter player, which could cause a slight difference in their sessions. Thomas Matthews, LMBT and Certified Advanced Rolfer, who works with players at Duke University, uses subjective self-reporting as his most important form of assessment on a weekly basis. “These young, elite athletes know their bodies extremely well, even if they are not always able to articulate in words their physical experience as clearly as older clients do,” he says. “Learning to speak and reflect the language that they themselves use about their own bodies is critical in this regard.

Thomas Matthews

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