How do i know exactly what is sports massage and how does it differ from ordinary massage?

Depends: Massage varies with the provider. Deep massage to promote blood flow and mobilize toxins from exercise is typically referred to as sports massage - quicker, outcome oriented to return a player to their game. Other types of massage for relaxation, lymph flow, therapeutic pain relief, and myofascial treatment often require a longer treatment.And careful mental focus.

Here is something: I find them a bit painful for just feeling good - but for a return to play they're effective... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/manual_therapy http://www.Massageenvy.Com/types-of-massage/sports.Aspx.