Justification for the differentiated use of various warm-up massage techniques for swimmers

Massage is well-known to result in a complex of physiological changes in a human body, as it provides health support, regain of working capacity and positive effect on the nervous system. During the massage, the receptor apparatus of the body perceives mechanical stimulation, while the central nervous system gets a stream of pulses reaching the brain cortex and stimulates the corresponding brain centers. In its turn, the central nervous system develops the responses resulting in increasing lability of the central nervous system and changes of skin and muscle sensitivity. The effect depends on the techniques applied and the nature of stimulation. Massage can be used in warming-up the athletes before a sports competition. It can be assumed that by combining ordinary warm-up activity of an athlete with a massage, we can increase a stream of pulses from the skin tactile receptors, proprioceptors, which can improve the overall perception and special intermuscular coordination. Our study shows that by applying various massage techniques, we can affect blood circulation of the massaged area. According to the obtained data, the functional state of skeletal muscle system may vary depending on the massage. When giving massage to an athlete, rubbing is the most effective technique increasing the hemodynamics and tone amplitude within a short period of time (1 minute).