Need to Recover Faster? You may want to try this...

Ever have a multi day event where you had to get back to your hotel room and try every recovery trick you can think of to avoid the "exercise hangover" the next morning? One research study found that Contrast Water Therapy resulted in a smaller reduction in- and faster restoration of- strength and power, compared with rest. Here's the protocol they used. They immersed the lower part of the body alternately for 60 seconds in cold water at 46-50 F degrees followed by 120 seconds in hot water at 104-107 F degrees for a total of 15 minutes.

How does this work? The idea is that contrast baths alternately expand the blood vessels and then quickly constrict the blood vessels which will create a pumping action, pumping out edema.

This is just one study. More needs to be done, but the bottom line is we are all very different. Different physiology, different body composition, etc. So, you may be able to use this technique as a guideline and tweak the numbers a bit to find what works best for you. You may need to adjust both the temperature and/or immersion time.

I found this study valuable since I've already blogged about overtraining. Hopefully more and more athletes are realizing that recovery should be a part of training.

The effect of contrast water therapy on symptoms of delayed onset muscle soreness. Journal of Strength and Conditioning 2007: 21 (3) 697-702

The Bench Press: Big Pecs, Bummed Shoulders

The bench press is one of the best ways to grow big muscles in the chest so it’s no wonder why so many gym-goers routinely use it in their exercise repertoire. However, the bench press is becoming more and more blamed for ruining weight lifters’ shoulders. I’d like to shed some light on the biomechanics of bench press injuries.

The Bench:

The bench itself can cause shoulder injuries by restricting the normal motion of the shoulder blades (scapulae). In turn, the shoulder joint (glenohumeral joint) will have to move excessively to compensate for the restricted movement of the scapulae. I often tell my patients that most athletes’ bodies will figure out how to get from point A to point B with obstacles in the way. Unfortunately, they don’t realize that they are using the wrong muscles or joints to compensate and thus, they get injured.
The bench can prevent the shoulder blades from going back flat against the rib cage and towards the spine. If this happens, the shoulder blades are now rounded forward, but in order to lower the weight all the way down to the chest, the “ball” must move while it is not centered in the socket. (The shoulder blades house the “socket” in which the ball must sit centered on.) This can be very dangerous for the shoulder joint itself and the external rotation rotator cuff muscles that attach to it as the external rotators will become tight and the internal rotator cuff muscle (Subscapularis) will become weak. This causes the “ball” to move forward and up causing injury and pain.
This is true for those who have pain doing a bench press, but no pain performing a push-up. For those of you who have pain doing both, you may have already injured the shoulder joint or the tissues surrounding or attaching to the shoulder.

The Bar:

As the weight lifter pushes up, the forearm, wrist and elbow joints move into supination to allow the shoulder to stay in neutral or slight external rotation, which is safer for the shoulder joint. However, the bar restricts supination of the forearm, and thus causes some internal rotation of the shoulder joint possibly leading to impingement. Ideally, to overcome this biomechanical problem, the weight lifter can use free weights, which allow normal movement of the elbows and wrists and shoulders during a press.

Still want to Bench Press?

Follow these suggestions to reduce the risk of injuries.
1. Place a pool noodle about 10 cm or less in diameter along the bench. Then lay on the noodle so the noodle is along your spine and your shoulder blades can roam freely. A half foam roller will do, but do not use a full foam roller unless you are on the floor.
2. Tie red tubing around each end of the bar and then have your spotter pull on the center of the tube away from your head at bar height so as to make a “V” with the tubing. The point of the “V” will be at the spotter’s hand and the opening of the V will be at the bar. As you lower and lift the bar, your internal rotator muscle (Subscapularis) has to activate.
3. As you lower the weight and the elbows lower past the bar, make sure your chest opens up via the shoulder blades moving towards your spine. Once the shoulder blades stop moving, then do not lower the elbows any more.
4. When pushing up, focus on allowing the shoulder blades rounding around your rib cage (away from the spine) WITHOUT hiking up your shoulders to your ears or rounding or flexing the back. This is very important, as you will feel like you are punching your arms towards the ceiling, which activates the Serratus Anterior muscle. The Serratus Anterior muscle has a large influence on Scapular Stabilization, which is necessary to decrease the risk of injury.

Adapted from Sports Injury Bulletin, Issue No. 80.

THE WALL

I’m not talking about “hitting the wall” or “bonking.” I’m talking about OUR wall- Innersport’s wall of very happy faces and active bodies. Those of you who have been treated at Innersport have seen our wall of pictures of patients doing the athletic endeavors they love. Many of you have given us a picture, too. However, there are some of you who have not- and we’d like to change that.

The wall reminds us of our patients’ accomplishments and the hard work they put in to an event or to stay healthy and active. It inspires us to work hard so our patients can train hard. The wall encourages us to be happy, proud, and committed. It promotes great conversations with patients as well as healthy banter between practitioners. The wall is unique and it makes us happy.

I know for many of you the last time you had your picture on a doctor’s wall was at your childhood dentist’s office. Well, there’s nothing wrong with being a kid again. There’s nothing wrong with being proud of yourself for accomplishing an athletic task whether it’s kayaking on vacation or qualifying for the Olympics. We want your picture- and a picture of you doing something that makes you happy!

Beijing Bound!

Boston was a success for our patients here at Innersport. We had 4 patients running the Boston Marathon and all finished with great times. Congratulations to Mirek Boruta, and Suzanne Franco, Magdalena (Magda) Lewy, Gabor Torak! I'll write more in our next newsletter due in May, however, here's an email I received from Gabor about his experience at the Boston Marathon and the Marathon Olympic Trials for women the day before. He writes:

"Steve and I came out of the T (subway) on Sun and right after the motorcycles the first runner was Magda. This was at mile 24 I think. A mile later she was passed by Deena K. Still it was cool to see the transports logo setting the pace.

Our run was great too; Steve and I ran together until about mile 19 at which point I decided to slow down (in order to stay alive.) The hills were not bad, but I had to hammer a bit on the last 5 miles to make a sub-3hr pace. Great crowds and weather!

Thanks again for all your help! I couldn't have done it without you!!
--Gabor"

For those of you who have not heard, Magda finished SECOND in the Olympic Trials with a time of 2:30:19. Yes, this means she is going to represent USA at the Beijing Olympics this summer! Congrats to Magda, Gabor, Mirek, and Suzanne!

Weekend Warrior

Occasionally, well, not so occasionally- frequently, some of my patients decide to cram in as many "weekend warrior" activities in an amazing 2 week trip as they can. Here's a summary of such an adventure from a dear patient:

"In February of this year I went on a 2 week trip to the south island of New Zealand. I went with a company called "Active New Zealand" and boy did they live up to their name! I came home in great shape although in need of some chiropractic and active release therapy treatment. I hiked, biked, kayaked, ran trails, bungee jumped and river boarded! I had never heard of river boarding prior to this trip. They suit you up in a wetsuit, with a helmet and flippers and a boogie board and send you off down the river to run the rapids with 30 other knuckleheads who also have no idea what they are in for. It was the most incredible workout I have had in years! When we were done with that, they dragged us around on a board off the back of a jetski and flung us back and forth (big fun), then sent us down a water slide (30 foot drop) and then off a rope swing in to the river! The bungee jump was off a bridge over a river (over 120 feet). The most beautiful scenery. An even more incredible adrenaline rush. Whew! I knew i should have base jumped off a paraglider but alas there just wasn't enough time!"

Training hard or overtraining?

Yep! Sick as a dog. I’m on the couch, watching “Semi Homemade” with Sandra Lee on the Food Network and writing my first blog. And since I’m unable to torture my patients with ART® these past two days, I’ve decided to talk about slowing down.

It is true, we all need to slow down in our daily and weekly lives to avoid the dreaded cold and flu. When you are out for the count, you are as useless as a dull knife. Attempting to get everything done ASAP can actually hurt you, and can even set you behind.
Training is no exception. There is such a thing as overtraining. And overtraining can hurt you. I know we all get excited to run our first marathon or do our first half Ironman or Full Ironman. And many of us are able to do so injury free. However, what you don’t feel during training can haunt you for future races.

I typically see many injuries occur during training for the second marathon, or the second half ironman. One possibility for this is we do not give ourselves ample recovery time. Our bodies have their own odometers and we cannot turn back the miles. If you have not been training consistently and then train for a marathon or half Ironman, you are racking up miles pretty quickly. Sticking with the car analogy, think of an injury springing up on you “out of the blue”. It’s like the wear and tear of a timing belt. You don’t know it’s wearing out until one day it breaks.

My advice? It’s ok to take a week off from training or to have “rest days.” Your body needs to recover. Most repetitive strain injuries occur due to the body’s inability to rebuild tendons in time before the next workout.

Whew… enough of Sandra Lee. GiadaDeLaurentis is on. Gotta learn some mean Italian cooking!