Fit to Play Smart Recovery Guidelines
By-Carl Petersen PT.
& Nina Nittinger
With
present day pressures of work, school and family it is difficult if not
impossible to ensure proper recovery between training or playing sessions.
Being smart about your training and recovery means recognizing non-adaptive
responses to training such as prolonged fatigue, elevated resting heart rate,
sleep disturbances, pain and inflammation in any joints or muscles. Some
people work out or play even when they are sick and sometimes they do too
much, too fast, too hard and too soon risking problems associated with
over-training or overuse injuries.
Respect
the warning signs your body is sending you.
Common
sense should always prevail.
·
Recovery: Is
a generic term used specifically with reference to the restoration of the
physiological systems and regeneration of psychological parameters that have
been altered during activity.
·
Rehabilitation:
Refers
to recovery from illness or injury which may or may not be the result of
over-training but utilizes recovery techniques.
Recovery sessions must be
incorporated into sports specific training programs. The benefits of
structured recovery sessions are well documented both in terms of improved
performance and decreased injury rates. Coaches and athletes alike need to be
more aware of the importance of restoration and regeneration following heavy
workloads and how to use the equipment, facilities and modalities available to
facilitate recovery.
Your
responsibility as an athlete is to minimize the effort it
takes to recover.
Do
not commence heavy training until you have fully recovered from previous
training, competition or travel. Allow adequate time for recovery, and modify
training to optimize taper and peak if getting ready for an important
competition. Following are some practical tips to help keep you Fit to Play.
Re-Hydrate
Drink plenty of water or clear fluid. Try clear juice or sports drinks cut with water, the minimum is ½ - 1 liter per hour’s training. The goal is to have clear urine. The harder, higher and hotter conditions you train or play in, the more you need to drink. Pre-hydration and immediate re-hydration are key since once you become de-hydrated it may take 24 hours to top up your tank and that means 24 hours of potentially impaired training or playing.
Re-Fuel
Ensure
that adequate nutrition (carbohydrate fuel) gets back into the muscles as soon
as you can post-training. Try eating 50-70 grams of carbohydrates within 20-30
minutes post-match or of stopping training. You can get this by eating a small
potato, ½ cup raisins, cereal (1/2 cup raisin bran or other cereal) and milk
(1 cup) or a variety of Sports Drinks or Sports Bars if available. Be sure to
check the label. Slower carbo- hydrates are best and even better if mixed with
a little protein (30%).
Re-Align
Most
training and sports like tennis are asymmetrical in nature and can torque the
body’s muscle and fascial systems leading to an imbalance in length and
strength of muscles and tendons. As well, the flexed posture of competitive
sport further adds to this imbalance. Simple symmetrical stretches for the low
back and hips will help keep you aligned. However, if you’re experiencing
low back, sacral iliac joint or hip pain, tightness or
discomfort talk to your Therapist to see if your pelvis is mal-aligned.
He or she can give you some simple hold relax exercises followed by some key
stretches to remedy it.
Re-align Spinal roll
Pretzel stretch Hip flexor stretch
Hamstring Static Quad stretch
All
stretches should be held for 30-40 seconds to point of tension NOT PAIN.
Recovery
Workout
To
help flush out the lactic acid and other waste products that built up in the
muscle during training and play, try the following routine “spin only”
light resistance cycle at 75-80 RPM (revolutions per minute) and a H.R.(heart
rate) of 100-115 BPM (beats per minute).
Two ways to achieve this are:
o 1 x 20-30min cycle spin followed by light stretching or
o 2 x 10-15 min. with some light stretching in between.
-
You can substitute pool, fast walk or elliptical trainer for variety.
