May 12th, 2008 Milan
Some over the counter pain relievers are an effective way to combat the effects of overuse injuries caused by sports activities.
The majority of over the counter pain relievers sold in U.S. contain one of the following ingredients: acetaminophen, ibuprofen, or aspirin. At recommended doses, all three have about same effect on reducing pain.
For reducing pain and inflammation, only ibuprofen and aspirin are effective.
Aspirin (brand names: Anacin, Ascriptin, Bayer, Bufferin, Ecotrin, Excedrin)
- is most commonly used anti-inflammatory medication
- sport doctors recommend aspirin to reduce the pain and inflammation seen in the initial stages of most injuries
- aspirin is strong enough to reduce mild to moderate pain caused by inflammation like tendon inflammation, nerve inflammation
- first effects of aspirin are felt in 30 min, although its maximum benefits are experienced two hours after the dosage is taken
Aspirin has well known side effects like tendency to irritate the stomach lining; prolonged use may cause permanent kidney damage; some people are allergic to aspirin and others.
Ibuprofen (brand names: Advil, BayerSelect Ibuprofen, Midol IB, Motrin IB, Nuprin)
- is less irritating to stomach than aspirin
- is effective in controlling the pain and inflammation of sports injuries
- ibuprofen is a powerful drug, and only the amount necessary to reduce symptoms should be used
You should always ask your doctor before you use aspirin and ibuprofen!
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April 3rd, 2008 Milan
A tissue’s response to injury, no matter what the cause or type, is inflammation.
Here are the symptoms of inflammation:
- increased temperature at the injury site, due to dilation of blood vessels and increase of blood flow
- redness, due to increased blood flow
- swelling, due to movement of a fluid into a injured area
- pain, caused by swelling that has put pressure on the free nerve endings (pain=protective mechanism of the body and should not be ignored)
- loss of function, which results from the first four symptoms
What to do:
Immediately apply RICE - rest, ice, compression, elevation.
REST. Rest is necessary to allow the damaged tissue to heal without further injury. Use “relative” rest, which means avoiding activities that stress the injured area, but continuing with activities for healthy parts of the body. For example - when you develop inflammation in your shoulder-tendinitis, you can still work out your leg muscles and the opposite shoulder.
ICE. Ice may be applied in variety forms, crushed ice in the plastic bag mixed with water is common. This pack should be applied for approximately 20 minutes, 3 to 8 times per day for at least 3 days immediately following the injury. Ice reduces inflammation, stops swelling and promotes healing.
COMPRESSION. Compression, usually with an elastic wrap or cloth, aids in reducing swelling, forcing the fluid into the drainage system of the body. Compression is often used when applying ice.
ELEVATION. With the ice pack wrapped in place, elevate the injured area above the level of the heart. Elevation allows gravity to assist in the movement of fluid toward and into the drainage systems of the body.
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January 27th, 2008 Milan
The symptoms of tennis elbow:
- Pain when bending the wrist upward against a force or when stretching muscles by straightening or bending the elbow or bending the wrist downward
- Pain felt over the bony part on the outside of the elbow
- Swelling of the elbow area
Who is at risk?
- Anyone who overuses his or her forearm muscle
- It is not limited to tennis players - less than 5 percent of all tennis elbow diagnoses are related to playing tennis
- It occurs among people who do a lot of heavy lifting, typists, construction workers, baggage handlers and others
- Tennis elbow gets its name from the fact, that up to half of all frequent players develop it at some time during their careers. It is especially common among players who swing improperly, or players that overuse their forearm muscle by playing too frequently or too long.
How it develops?
Tennis elbow is a form of tendinitis caused by continued stress on the forearm muscles used in grasping and extending motions that originate in elbow.
Pain first occurs in the tendons involved in extending the wrist, such as when tennis player hits the a backhand shot. With continued stress, the muscles and tendons begin to hurt when bent or extended, or even at rest due to tiny tears that become inflamed and do not have a chance to heal.
What can you do when tennis elbow pain appears?
- Rest from the activities that cause elbow pain is the most important treatment for tennis elbow
- Apply ice to the area - for two days - 20 minutes every two hours through the day
- Place an elastic bandage around the forearm just below the elbow
- After two days of ice treatment - alternate warm compresses with ice packs to promote healing
- See the doctor if the pain persist for more than two weeks
How can you prevent tennis elbow?
- If playing tennis, use the right backhand movement
- Weight train and stretch your arms to make them stronger and more flexible - Chin ups are great exercise to strengthen your arms and upper body. Do them 3 times maximum repetitions - 3 times a week.
- Learn to pace yourself; for example, if playing tennis every day provokes the symptoms, cut back to every other day
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November 24th, 2007 Milan
Ted Tanaka, doctor of pediatric medicine in interview also about wearing high heels and their impact on womans body:
For women, it’s hard to escape wearing high heels. Are they really that bad for the feet?
When you raise your heels more than two inches off the ground, the biomechanics of the whole body dramatically change. You force more weight on the balls of your feet, which adds more pressure onto joints and nerves and than changes the pull of the tendons and muscles. Wearing high heels continually over a matter of years can actually cause the calf muscle to shorten and tighten, which can cause arch cramps, achilles tendinitis and knee and hip joint pain. The back can become tired and sore because your muscles will try to keep you in balance.
So you would say don’t wear them?
Not higher than two inches. They look nice, but they aren’t very functional. They’re made purely for for cosmetic reasons - not long walks.
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November 9th, 2007 Milan
From fitness magazine about benefits of jumping-kind of exercise:
You know high-impact exercise builds bone mass, but how much does it take for results?A recent study found that women who did an average of just one 60-minute high-intensity exercise session a week (running at a 7.5-minute-mile pace, jumping and aerobic stepping), as well as two 10-minute workouts (again high intensity), gained small but significant increase in thighbone density.Do your bones good and add sprints, jumping jacks, rope jumping, jumping with weights to your exercise plan two or three times a week for 10 - 15 minutes.
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October 20th, 2007 Milan
Muscle cramps are painful, sustained contractions of all of the muscle fibers in a muscle. They can last for just a few seconds or continue for several hours.
Although cramps can occur during sleep, they usually occur during intense exercise. No athlete or fitness buff in any sport is immune to this common condition.
Thera are many causes:
Salt deficiency
Low levels of other minerals such as potasium or magnesium
An injury or strain on the muscle
An obstruction of the muscle’s blood supply by sustained muscular contraction
Hyperventilating - breathing too fast when it is not necessary, which prevents the body from using calcium
Most common cause of cramps in athletes is a low body level of one or more minerals, particularly potassium and salt. Potasium is the mineral that is lost in large ammounts during hard exercise.
I suggest that you eat more fruits and vegetables to replace potassium. I do not recommend that you increase your dietary intake of salt. When an athlete consumes large amount of salt, his body loses its ability to conserve salt. Consequently, if he suddenly decreases his intake, his level will become unusually low and this will cause cramps.
If you still continue to have cramps in spite of an increased intake of mineral-rich foods, see your physician. Since potassium and magnesium are found primarily inside the cells, blood tests are not always an accurate measure of the body’s level of the two minerals. The best way to measure this minerals is to cut out a piece of muscle and measure the amount of minerals inside it. However, because the treatment of mineral deficiency is so simple - eating fruits, vegetables, and grains - a muscle biopsy is never necessary.
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October 12th, 2007 Milan
Myth 1. You can become fit by exercising a few minutes a week
A basic element of fitness is the capacity of the heart to do work. This is called cardiovascular fitness.
To achieve cardiovascular fitness, you must push your heartbeat to more than 60 percent of its maximum for at least thirty minutes three times a week. Your maximum is the fastest your heart can beat and still pump blood to your body. If you are between ages of twenty and forty, that level is about 200 beats per minute. That means that you must raise your pulse rate to 120.
If you are trained athlete and want to maintain a high level of fitness, you must raise your pulse to at least 80 percent of its maximum, or 160 beats per minutes, for an extended period.
Since bowling and golf do not raise your heartbeat to these levels, they do not give you cardiovascular fitness.
Myth 2. The more you train, the more fit you become
You can make a mistake by training too hard or by training too much.
The more intensely you train, the less training you can do. Beginners often exercise so vigorously that they become breathless and must cut their workout short. As a result, they don’t get enough exercise to achieve fitness. A good rule of thumb for a beginner: never exercise so hard that you are gasping for air. As your level of fitness improves, you will be able to exercise more vigorously.
Myth 3. The best way to improve your fitness or athletic performance is to train hard every day
Every time you exercise vigorously, muscle fibers are slightly damaged and your muscles burn up their fuel and become depleted. You must allow time for your muscles to recover. If you don’t, you will be more susceptible to injury.
Myth 4. If you attain a high degree of fitness, you will remain fit even with layoff
Ridiculous!
Whether you’re runner who can run ten miles with ease or tennis player who can play three hard sets, you will not be able to handle the same workload after a layoff or even a few weeks.
This is called reversibility, and describes the fact that your muscles - including your heart muscle - quickly loose their ability to utilize oxygen efficiently if they are not stressed constantly. As a result they do not have the same capacity for work after a layoff.
Myth 5. You don’t have to do stretching exercises if you’re fit
To stay flexible, you have to stretch regularly even if you’re fit and active!
Myth 6. Exercise can harm you because it enlarges the heart
Exercise puts a moderate stress on your heart, which causes it to become stronger, larger, and more muscular.
Heart attacks are caused by failure in the supply of blood to the heart. In an extremely well conditioned person, the arteries supplying the heart with blood are enlarged, and are therefore much less susceptible to clogging or stoppage. This almost guarantees that individual immunity from heart attack.
Myth 7. A normal electrocardiogram means your heart is healthy and you can safely perform vigorous exercise
Not so. A normal resting electrocardiogram means very little. There are reports in the medical literature of people dying of heart attack immediately after taking a normal electrocardiogram.
A stress electrocardiogram, taken while you are exercising, is another story. If your stress electrocardiogram is normal, you are extremely unlikely to have a conventional heart attack when you exercise.
Myth 8. Vitamin supplements improve fitness and performance
There is no scientific evidence to support this belief. The average American for example eats so well that his diet provides all the vitamins he could possibly need.
Myth 9. Vitamin B12 injections cure chronic fatique
Actually B12 injections can only perk up pure vegetarians who have abstained from eating animal products for at least ten years, or persons with pernicious anemia - a rare disease in which this vitamin is not absorbed from food.
A more common cause of chronic fatigue in athletes is potassium deficiency.The treatment: eat large quantities of fruits and vegetables.
Myth 10. Athletes require more protein in their diet
Muscles are composed of protein, but scientific studies clearly show that protein requirements do not rise significantly with exercise. Hard exercise depletes muscles of muscle sugar (glycogen), not protein.
Myth 11. Steak and potatoes are the best pre-game or pre-exercise meal
Stake ranks as a poor source of immediate energy. Furthermore, the fat in the stake is relatively slow to digest and, if eaten too soon before exercise or game, can actually impair performance.
The best athletic fuel is carbohydrates - found in potatoes, crackers, pasta, rice and bread.
Myth 12. Exercise should be avoided in cold weather because cold air can freeze your lungs
Frozen lungs has never been reported in an athlete.
Myth 13. Amphetamines improve athletic performance
If anything, they hinder it. Amphetamines only make you think you are doing better.
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