Book excerpt: Sports Performance Massage instructs the student and practising therapist to use a combination of experience and scientific evidence to inform their sports massage practice, particularly when working with athletic populations. Strength and conditioning coaches, managers and athletes frequently ask questions about the best use of sports massage in order to recover quicker from injury and fatigue and improve performance. Sports Performance Massage empowers the therapist and gives them greater confidence by improving their scientific understanding when working with injured or competitive athletes. The exciting new volume covers all the aspects required to make a highly skilled, confident and employable sports massage therapist. Working with high-level athletes requires an additional skill level compared to working with the general public. Furthermore, advanced massage skills taught in this book, such as soft tissue release and trigger point therapy, are essential when working on muscular adhesions and injured areas. Pregnant athletes, those with disabilities, contraindications and athletes with special requirements have also been considered. Sports Performance Massage is a learning and research aid for those studying vocational sports massage courses as well as those studying other courses where massage forms part of the undergraduate and postgraduate degree, such as sports therapy, sports rehabilitation, osteopathy and physiotherapy. Unlike other sports massage books, Sports performance Massage has a strong academic focus, allowing the graduate therapist to stay up to date with the latest research in their respective field.