Nutrition for training (Before and after)

For those looking to gain more information about nutrition for pre and post exercise have a read here.

Brian also breaks it down for body types and the type of exercise you are about to do.

Health Benefits of Zumba® fitness training: a systematic review

Read this paper here.

It concluded that:

Zumba® fitness could be considered an effective type of physical activity able to improve aerobic capacity. Limited evidence described positive effects on muscular strength and flexibility.

So a great one to try.  Good multidirectional, upright cardiovascular exercise.  Fun too!

If you are concerned about an injury, come and see on of the team at Back to Back.  Call reception on 020 8605 2323

-James Dodd

Walking. Simple but effective

Other than the obvious: It’s free and pretty much predictable at what time you will get somewhere, walking also has great health benefits. If your doctor has no concerns, walking briskly is even better.

The benefits…

It’s mildly aerobic, getting your heart and lungs working

Improves circulation and can help lower blood pressure

Walking a mile can burn about 100 calories

Has great cognitive benefits. Some suggest it improves your memory too

Great help with insulin sensitivity. A fifteen minute walk after every meal curbs risky spikes in blood sugar

Can help with sleep

Stress relief – especially in the fresh air!

Try to add walking more into your daily routine. To track your steps, use a pedometer, you can even get an app for your smart phone. Aim for 10,000 steps a day. It sounds like a massive amount, but once you take the stairs instead of the lift, walk home rather than the bus, walk around the block at lunchtime, you actually hit that number pretty easily.  If you get to 8,000 steps later in the afternoon, there is your target for the rest of the day, just 2000 more! Make it a daily challenge to get to your target.

James Dodd
Principal/Functional Osteopath
BSc (Hons) Ost. FAFS GPS

Sprained ankle on the tennis court? Think TWICE before grabbing the ICE

If you sprain your ankle on the tennis court, the first port of call is usually the clubhouse freezer. But is ice actually doing you more harm than good?

R.I.C.E. (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) has been the most common initial treatment of acute injury over the last 30 years, as introduced by Dr. Gabe Mirkin in his 1978 publication The Sports Medicine Book. A recent study by the American Journal of Sports Medicine (June 2013), however, has made Dr. Mirkin swallow a slice of frozen humble pie. The study demonstrated no evidence that ice hastened recovery, leading Dr. Mirkin in his 2014 article “Why Ice Delays Recovery” to admit that he was wrong.

So, why is ice not always the best solution?

Firstly, it is worth noting that the inflammatory process is vital for the repair and remodelling of tissues. Common sense would suggest that inhibiting this process may not be the best idea. Ice acts to constrict blood vessels thereby reducing the amount of inflammatory cells deposited by your blood stream.

Although this may reduce pain and pressure on an injury, it also stops healing cells from entering injured tissue. Ice, as well as constricting blood vessels, also constricts the lymphatic system which is responsible for clearing out inflammatory debris. So, you can begin to get a picture of the effect ice has on an injury; less healing cells and a reduced ability to remove inflammatory waste – not ideal for recovery.

So, what should you do?

Here are Dr. Mirkin’s new set of tips for acute injury treatment:

1. Stop exercising immediately; you don’t want to cause further damage.

2. If the injury is very painful, then cold has been shown to reduce pain, in these circumstances you can grab a bag of peas from the freezer but use intermittently – 10 minutes on, 20 minutes off.

3. As soon as possible, get yourself assessed by a health professional to ensure no serious damage has been done.

4. After 48-72 hours the inflammatory process will usually have done its job, movement and the correct exercises then become the order of the day.

5. Joint pumping is a fantastic way of naturally assisting the lymphatic system to remove excess waste, while the correct movements will stimulate tissue repair.

If you are suffering from an injury and need to have it treated, just call the clinic to book an appointment with me.

Neil Sharland
Osteopath M.Ost

True Proprioception and Function

Proprioception could be looked at as one of the inner ‘controllers’ of our body!

You get great proprioceptive training for free if you do authentic Functional Exercise. Proprioceptors provide us with information about movement and the position of our head, limbs and body in time and space. Their aim is to protect our body from damage by using ‘stretch reflexes’ and these can restrict or limit our movement at times of need. Some of these sit in joints, some in our muscles and some in skin and fascia. In combination, proprioceptors give our body a supreme and enhanced awareness of our ‘whereabouts’.

You do need to proprioceptively train the body towards the function it so requires. Doing a ‘plank’ for example will not train your abdominals proprioceptively to protect you in upright function with lumbar spine extension and rotation. Squatting will not proprioceptively train your legs to run and that ‘static squat hold’ at 90 degrees that many are given, will certainly not protect your hips, knees and ankles while you ski.

Training proprioceptors effectively requires movement and often (although not always) it needs ground force reaction too! Increased effectiveness is achieved by using different tweaks or additions to our movement such as adaptations in speed, depth, height and angulation and this may involve using your head, limbs and body, all in 3 planes of motion. An INTEGRATED chain reaction is needed, nothing is ISOLATED.
Whatever sport or exercise you want to do, to become and stay good at it, your conditioning and rehabilitative training needs to look and smell like the sport you want to do!

If you need any help with Functional Training or need an injury treated, call us at Back to Back on 020 8605 2323