“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” Jim Rohn.
We are all aware of how important it is to keep fit and healthy. A great way of doing this is through sport. Running, cycling, swimming, walking, golf, racquet sports, playing football or rugby, triathlon whichever sport you choose there are many benefits to regular activity.
Once you get into a particular hobby it is very easy to spend money what with kit, shoes, clubs, bikes, memberships, gym fees, entry fees, green fees. The latest shiny gadgets are so appealing; that run next month looks like good fun; I’ll cycle better with new wheels; I’ll improve my handicap with this golf club!
But there is one item that is absolutely vital for any sport and is very often chronically under-invested in. Your body.
Most of us who participate in sport have picked up an injury at some time or another and know how frustrating it can be to have to drop out of an event. An entry to an ironman can be a couple of hundred pounds, let alone travel costs, that’s quite a lot of money lost if an injury prevents you taking part. For a team sports player picking up an injury that puts you out of games could also let your team down. And for anyone, being injured and in pain is frustrating.
Preventing injury is often about investing in and thinking about your body as a vital piece of equipment – without your body working well all your kit, no matter how expensive, is pretty useless.
Warm up.
Muscles work best when they’re warm so always include a good warm up into your exercise routine. This should include five to ten minutes of low-level aerobic exercise such as walking to get your heart rate up slightly and blood moving around your body. Then spend a few minutes doing some dynamic stretching to prepare your muscles for the activity. So for example for running do some lunges, high knees, heel flicks; golf do some slow practice swings; swimming shoulder rotations and leg swings.
Strength and flexibility training.
A lot of people will only take part in their chosen sporting activity. When balancing a busy life with sports this is understandable but investing some time to work on strength and flexibility with something like Pilates, yoga, body balance and some weight training will pay dividends in preventing injury and improving performance. Improving muscle strength and flexibility will improve posture, increase muscle mass therefore increasing metabolism, increase bone density, improve muscle co-ordination and improve range of motion. A strong and flexible body will be less likely to develop injuries.
Rest Days.
Exercise, especially resistance training or efforts will cause microscopic damage to your muscle tissues, the regeneration process from this damage is important as done correctly will make the muscle stronger. Rest days allow your muscles, nerves, bones and connective tissues time to rebuild properly. Sleep is also important as REM sleep supports the production of the body’s growth hormones aiding in the repairing and rebuilding of muscle tissue. Avoiding rest days can also lead to overtraining syndrome which can take quite a while to recover from.
Nutrition and hydration.
Along with rest days giving your body adequate nutrition and hydration is important to help with the repair of muscle tissue. Good fats, calcium, protein and carbohydrates are all important in allowing your body to recover after workouts.
Technique/training load.
Taking the time to learn and practise the correct technique for your chosen activity and following a good training plan will help to prevent injuries. Get your running gait analysed, don’t increase mileage or training loads too quickly, take up the free induction in the gym, go to a class, get some coaching. There are many resources available online but be careful to ensure the advice given is good, anything that emphasises speed over form is probably not correct!
Equipment.
Make sure you have adequate equipment that is fit for purpose. It may seem cost effective to buy the cheapest trainers you can find online but inadequate footwear can contribute to running injuries.
Sports Massage.
As mentioned earlier athletes can develop injuries through overtraining and poor recovery between sessions. Micro-trauma in muscle tissue needs time to recover. During a massage blood circulation is increased in the local area, this improves the provision of the nutrients required for the muscles to repair themselves and improves the removal the waste products (for example lactates). Sports massage will also help to realign muscle fibres and therefore reduce the risk of further injuries in that area. Overworked muscles can sometimes be hypertonic or “tight” which can also be described as tension. By encouraging relaxation of the muscles a massage will reduce hypertonicity.
It is best to have a general massage as soon as possible after the hardest training session. This will improve the quality of the next training session.
Massage can restore mobility to muscle tissue. Micro-trauma can build up over time in small localised areas of tissue. This tissue damage can cause the muscle fibres to adhere together and also can form scar tissue that is tough and inflexible. These knots in the muscle will probably not be felt initially but will impair performance eventually as they get larger. This will cause a reduced range of motion in the affected area. A good sports massage can reduce these adhesions and scar tissue to restore a full and stronger range of motion. And as a massage therapist can usually feel these adhesions and scar tissue in the muscle before the athlete is aware of them a regular massage can help to prevent over-use injuries developing in the first place.
Posture and proprioception. A massage therapist can work with a client to pinpoint where they are weaker or stronger, identify compensatory patterns from under and overdeveloped muscles and improve proprioception. Advanced techniques such as Soft Tissue Release (STR) and Muscle Energy Technique (MET) can restore range of motion and improve flexibility.
A massage not only provides physiological benefits but also can improve feelings of well-being and help with relaxation. If you feel relaxed and rested then you will be able to train better during your next session.
A regular massage isn’t that expensive and yet for a lot of people it’s seen as a luxury. But it is worth it as in the words of Benjamin Franklin “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.
