Sports Massage, LLC

Shari Darman, LMT #4452 • 505 585 1335

1400 Carlisle Blvd. NE Albuquerque, NM 87110

We improve our clients’ physical wellness through preventative, rehabilitative, and maintenance techniques commonly used by sport support staff.

Welcome to Sports Massage, LLC!

Facilitating your Healing

Marathoners, cyclists, triathletes and anyone who hurts all come to our small office looking for relief. They seek optimal muscle performance, but are deterred by old sports injuries and chronic pain. They can’t sleep because they’re worried about not being able to do what they love. But thankfully, they and You are in the right place.

Sports Massage, LLC can help you run faster, pedal harder, or tolerate the conditions of work life pain-free by using your muscles effectively. That way, minor injuries heal quickly, and more painful episodes are prevented. Whether you’re an athlete of any sport or just want to feel better in your body, we’ll teach you how to avoid common problems and solve minor aggravations so you can focus on playing instead of going to appointments.

The goal at Sports Massage, LLC is to

Help you function without pain,
Get you back to doing the activities you love,
Perform at your highest level,
Prevent injury and shorten the time needed to recover,
Address all holding patterns, not just symptoms.

We do this through educating you about your body’s healing processes and finding the right techniques for your body that improve long-term health.

Even clients who have been suffering for years, or seen countless specialists, have benefited from our sports massage. Many of our clients experience significant pain relief in 3-5 sessions. Many see the benefits of regular maintenance massage that keep them at the top of their age group. You don’t have to put up with pain; you can learn what it is trying to tell you to improve your game for life!

Sure, you might get through training with your usual aches and pain, but why suffer? We can help you perform better. Call 505 585 1335 to schedule your appointment!

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE:

As owner of Sports Massage, LLC, I’ve been enjoying my own massage practice in Albuquerque for over a decade (since 2004).

What makes me different from most massage therapists?

While my work is detailed and specific, I focus on your entire body’s neuromuscular connections. This methodology addresses the cause of the problem, not just the pain symptoms, so you’re less likely to reinjure the site.
My education was extensive so a lot of my knowledge, techniques and style are unknown to therapists here.
I know how to take care of your well-being from my early work in spas as well as have a high impact on your long-term healing.
Having completed my massage training at the Utah College of Massage Therapy in Salt Lake City in ’02, I immediately went on to study in a three month Clinical post-graduate program, totaling my credit hours to 1152 (at the time, this was more than double the NM license requirements). From there I worked in Vail, CO for a year before I came to Albuquerque. I’ve worked on former Olympians, Olympic hopefuls, entertainers, and professional athletes but what I find most rewarding is helping you discover how amazing your body can be. My intent is to align the body’s structure to be in harmony with gravity. It is a (mostly relaxing) full massage that focuses on specific problematic areas, as well as finding sites predisposed to injury so you avoid losing time away from life.

If you’re looking for a massage therapist who understands what the body needs to heal itself, we can help facilitate your healing.

Tell us what areas you want to improve in your body on the Contact page!

Shari Darman, LMT

Shari and I met in 2018 and started working together soon thereafter. Working with a like-minded therapist has been a rewarding endeavor ever since. I am looking forward to assisting you on your way to recovery.

For me, massage is about facilitating lasting change. While I address a specific areas of tension thoroughly and meticulously, my work is always holistically oriented. Muscles are connected to each other and function in an intricate interplay. When there is one specific area that causes trouble, surrounding areas are out of alignment as well and need to be addressed in order to achieve lasting change.

During any session, I use a combination of deep, myofascial release techniques to lengthen muscles and reduce fascial adherence, as well as sports massage techniques to reduce muscle soreness and relaxation techniques to give you a sense of calm and wellbeing.

I trained under outstanding massage professionals both at the Austin Community College and the Lauterstein and Conway School of Massage in Austin, TX. After the basic training, I quickly realized I wanted to know more and signed up for the advanced training as well as many continuing education classes. I enjoy engaging with your unique body and finding the origin of your tension or pain. Healing touch has been a great source of happiness in my life and I’m looking forward to sharing my passion for massage with you.

Grit Ramuschkat, LMT

photo credit: Q.Q. Jade photocopy LLC

MODALITIES:

Russian Sports Massage
Deep Tissue
Neuromuscular Therapy
Myofascial Release
Cranial Sacral
Lymphatic Drainage
ROM and Active Stretching

Others occasionally needed include:

Trigger Point
Orthopedic Massage
Facilitated Stretching
Structural Integration
Thai massage
Shiatsu
Prenatal
Acupressure
Foot Reflexology
Visceral Manipulation

Sports massage is different from your basic (or therapeutic, Swedish, spa, relaxation) massage in many respects:

It focuses first and foremost on restoring balance to muscles and their connective tissue, e.g., lengthening muscle fibers and healing weakened areas.
The goal of sports massage is facilitating long-term healing, not short-term relaxation. Although it may feel good, it is not the end goal.
The pace, pressure, intensity, techniques, and amount of stretching are also increased and more varied throughout the massage.
Sports massage requires advanced knowledge of muscles and their attachment sites, typical range of motion of joints, and area specific injuries.

Sports Massage, LLC holds itself accountable to these higher standards of massage. If you demand the best for your body, rest assured you’re getting one of the best massages in Albuquerque.

Many athletes think they need to battle through pain as if it’s some necessary rite of passage to get to the finish line. We’re here to tell you it’s not. You can actually be making the problem worse by spreading compensation dysfunctions to the rest of body, which take longer to rehabilitate. So shorten your recovery time and take care of minor pain NOW.

Another athlete fallacy is that massage isn’t necessary as long as you’re stretching and cross-training. These ARE important, but they do not take the place of a professional sports massage. Even if you brush your teeth and floss everyday, you still need to visit your dentist regularly for a thorough cleaning.

The cost of long term prescriptions, doctor visits, and surgeries that only temporary relieve symptoms can be astronomical when compared to preventative maintenance massage visits (not to mention their side effects- Yuck!). Wouldn’t you prefer being temporarily relaxed as your side effect? And with evening and Saturday hours, there’s no lost work or training time.

So call for your appointment and let’s make you a leader in the pack.

You don’t have to be an athlete to
need a Sports massage. It is a
health necessity for all!