Massage for hockey players in Calgary

For hockey players, massage helps most with the tight hips, groin, thighs and low back that skating leaves behind, and with soreness after games. It does not prevent groin strains on its own: the evidence for prevention is adductor strengthening, ideally screened before the season. Goalies with hip pain should be assessed first. At Renu, a 60-minute massage is $120 and 75 minutes is $141.

Skating asks the hips and inner thighs to do something they rarely do anywhere else: push hard sideways, over and over, from a crouch. That is why hockey players walk into a massage room pointing at the groin, the front of the hip and the low back. Massage is good at easing that tightness and the soreness after games. It is not, on its own, how groin strains are prevented, and some hip pain in goalies needs a diagnosis before anyone works on it.

Why the groin and hips take the load

Groin strains are a hockey injury more than most. A 2023 review of adductor strains found an incidence of 1.29 per 1,000 exposures across 25 US college sports, with the two highest rates in men’s soccer (3.15) and men’s hockey (2.47). Like most muscle strains, they come back: the same review reports recurrence in 24% of professional hockey players.

Sixteen years of NCAA injury surveillance in men’s college hockey added two useful details:

• Injury rates were more than eight times higher in games than in practices (16.27 versus 1.96 per 1,000 athlete-exposures).
• Preseason practices had more than twice the injury rate of regular-season practices, and pelvis and hip muscle strains were the most common practice injury.

For a Calgary player, the practical lesson is that the weeks when you go from summer to full skating are the riskiest. That is a better time to start booking than mid-season, once something has already gone.

Prevention is strength first, massage second

The best-supported prevention step in hockey is not a massage. A critically appraised review of the research found that measuring the ratio of hip adductor (inner thigh) to abductor (outer hip) strength before and during the season can help predict groin strain risk and pick out players who would benefit from a strengthening program. The evidence is modest, rated level 3, but it is the approach that has been tested.

Massage fits around that work. The 2020 meta-analysis of 29 randomized studies found massage gives small but real improvements in flexibility and delayed onset muscle soreness, without improving strength, sprint or endurance. In hockey terms, it can help your hips feel looser and less sore between ice times, which may make it easier to keep up the strengthening that does the preventive job.

Goalies are a different case

Butterfly goalies spend hours dropping into deep hip flexion with the knees turned in, and their hips show it. In a series of 44 butterfly-style goalies who had surgery for symptomatic hip impingement, scans showed a bony shape at the top of the thigh bone that was larger and sat in a different position than in positional players with the same problem. Hip dysplasia was also common among the goalies.

That is bone shape, not muscle tightness, and massage cannot change it. If your hip hurts at the front when you drop into the butterfly, see a sports medicine doctor or physiotherapist first. Massage of the glutes, hip flexors and thighs can be useful once you have a diagnosis and know what to avoid.

How hockey massage works at Renu

A Registered Massage Therapist will start by asking your position, how often you are on the ice and where it hurts. A typical session for a skater covers the hip flexors, the inner and outer thighs, glutes, hamstrings and low back. Work close to the groin is graded carefully, explained before it starts, and always done under the drape; you can ask for a change at any point.

• Weekly rec league players: a 60-minute massage ($120) every few weeks, or after a tournament weekend.
• Players coming back from a groin strain: coordinate with whoever is guiding your rehab, and book 75 minutes ($141) so there is time for the hips and low back.
• Minor hockey families: Hockey Calgary runs community, elite, female and recreational programs from U7 up to U21, so ages vary widely. For players under 18, a parent or guardian books and is part of the consent conversation.

We are open until 8:30 pm on weekdays and on weekend afternoons, which helps around late games and early practices. Book through Jane and mention hockey in your notes. For general sports work, see our sports massage in Calgary page, and for regular in-season visits, maintenance sports massage.

Fitting massage around games and practices

Because injury rates are so much higher in games than in practice, the day after a game is often when players feel worst. Massage reduces soreness ratings most clearly at 24 and 48 hours after hard exercise, according to a 2017 meta-analysis of 11 trials, so a session a day or two after a weekend of games lines up well with the evidence.

When you book, tell us:

• your position, and whether you play the butterfly as a goalie;
• your weekly ice times, including any tournament coming up;
• any groin or hip strain in the past, since recurrence is common;
• what strengthening work you are already doing, so the session supports it.

When to see a doctor first

Get assessed before booking massage if:

• you felt a sudden pull in the groin or inner thigh and now have pain, weakness or bruising there (the NHS lists all three as signs of a strain);
• the pain is very bad or getting worse, or the swelling or bruising is spreading;
• you heard a crack when you were hurt, or the area has changed shape, which the NHS treats as an emergency;
• a goalie’s hip hurts every time you drop into the butterfly and has not settled with rest.

Lingering low back pain is another common complaint in skaters. Our low back pain page covers when massage fits and when it does not.

Questions people ask

Can massage prevent a groin strain in hockey?

Not by itself. The prevention evidence in hockey centres on measuring the strength of the inner thigh muscles against the outer hip muscles and strengthening players whose adductors lag behind. Massage can sit alongside that work by keeping the hips comfortable and mobile.

Should I get a massage right after a game?

A light session the next day suits most players better than deep work straight after a game. Massage reduces soreness ratings at 24 and 48 hours after hard exercise, so booking a day or two later still captures the benefit.

Is massage safe for a teenage hockey player?

Yes, with a parent or guardian involved in booking and consent. Any pain that has not been diagnosed, especially around a joint, should be seen by a doctor first, and we will ask about it at intake.

My hip pinches when I drop into the butterfly. Will massage fix it?

A pinch at the front of the hip in deep flexion can point to impingement in the joint itself, which massage cannot change. Get it assessed by a sports medicine doctor or physiotherapist first; massage of the surrounding muscles can follow once you know what you are dealing with.

Sources

1. International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy (2023): Adductor strains in athletes
2. Journal of Athletic Training (2007): Descriptive epidemiology of collegiate men's ice hockey injuries, NCAA Injury Surveillance System
3. Journal of Sport Rehabilitation (2020): Measuring the hip adductor to abductor strength ratio in ice hockey and soccer players
4. Arthroscopy (2015): Characterization of symptomatic hip impingement in butterfly ice hockey goalies
5. BMJ Open Sport and Exercise Medicine (2020): Effect of sports massage on performance and recovery
6. Frontiers in Physiology (2017): Massage alleviates delayed onset muscle soreness after strenuous exercise
7. NHS: Sprains and strains
8. Hockey Calgary: Programs

Page reviewed October 5, 2026. This page is education, not a diagnosis. For your own situation, talk to your doctor, surgeon or care team, or ask us.