How sports massage can help athletes find their perfect form

Virginia Lee, with ReVive Bodywork and Massage, performs spine mobility, shoulder and hip work on local competitive swimmer Jamie Ann Phillips while at Lee's Athletic Massage Studio Virginia Lee, with ReVive Bodywork and Massage, performs spine mobility, shoulder and hip work on local competitive swimmer Jamie Ann Phillips while at Lee's Athletic Massage Studio

By Myron Madden May 1, 2017 9 min read

Sarah Gibson

After weeks of training and anticipation, Chattanooga triathlete Sara Gibson can think of only one word to describe her experience competing in Florida’s half-Ironman last month.

“Uneventful.”

But for 32-year-old Gibson, who had a history of IT-band flares so bad she could barely jog, “uneventful” was exactly what she wanted.

On race day, Gibson not only avoided pain, she placed first in the women’s 30-34 age group, even shaving six minutes off her personal record for a time of 4:44:19 and qualifying for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Chattanooga this September.

Gibson says she owes that victory to ReVive Bodywork and Massage owner Virginia Lee, one of the many sports massage practitioners in the city enhancing the way local athletes prepare for competitive events.