Suffer from cramps?

This article came about after a client of mine talked about her night cramps. It got be thinking - why does that happen? And how can you prevent it?

Everyone knows the old wives tale that cramps happen when you lose salts from exercising strenuously and sweating...well that is something Mum always told me! It could be that she loves salt full stop! So i decided to test this theory with some research.

The facts first...

What are muscle cramps?It is an involuntarily and forcibily contracted muscle that does not relax (pic 3). Unlike pic 1 and 2 below showing the calf muscle at rest and contacted during movement such as walking or running.
Muscles naturally contract and relax during movement of the arms and legs. Muscles of the head, neck and trunk contract in the same way to maintain our posture. When a muscle contracts against our will and for a long period of time, it becomes a cramp. They can last for seconds or as long as 15mins and keep recurring before they disappear. How inconvenient of them!

Cramps are so common. Most experience one at some stage in their life. Any muscles that are under voluntary control (skeletal muscles) can cramp. Normally the legs and arms are affected. Believe it or not, it can affect the involuntary muscles of various organs like the uterus, blood vessel wall, and intestinal tract.


Why do we get cramps?Injury: Following an injury, such as a broken bone, persistant muscle spasm may occur as a protective mechanism. It helps to minimise movement.

Vigorous Activity: During or after lots of exercise, muscles fatigue and can cramp. It can happen hours after the activity. On the other hand, sitting or lying in an awkward position for a long time can cause cramps.
Rest Cramps: Often happen during the night and can be painful and frequent. The cause is unknown. It could be pointing the toe down while sleeping which shortens the calf muscle.
Dehydration: Excessive fluid loss from perspiration during sport or other vigorous activities often during the warmer months. Likwise a loss of sodium - those salts mum!
Low blood calcium, & magnesium; low levels of either increase the excitability of the nerve endings and the muscles they stimulate.
Low potassium: THis is more likely to cause muscle weakness but can occasionally cause muscle cramps.
Medication: some medication treating high cholesterol, asthma, Parkinson's and osteoporosis can cause cramps. Always read the leaflet with your medication for side effects if you are curious.
Vitamin deficiency: B1, B5 & B6
Poor circulation: in the legs can cause cramp-like pain because inadequate oxygen is reaching the muscle tissue causing an accumulation of lactic acid.
The Cures???
1. Stretch out the muscle eg with a calf muscle stand up facing the wall with heel on the ground and toes on the wall or flex foot towards shin bone lying down
2. Gentle massage will help relax it
3. Fluid intake & electrolytes (especially sodium & potassium)

How do you stop them altogether???....
  1. Stretching after a warm up & cool down (my constant reminder!!)
  2. Stay well hydrated during your sport & afterwards
  3. Stretches before bed to prevent night cramps
  4. Adequate calcium & magnesium from good nutrition ideally:
  • magnesium : greens, grains, meat & fish, bananas, avocados, apricots, cashew nuts, almonds & soybeans
  • calcium: almonds, green leafy veggies like kale, spinach, watercress, broccoli, swede, tofu, soya milk

Enjoy your Sport without getting injured - PART 2

This has been some time coming...no doubt you were waiting with baited breath! And none of you will be surprised to hear that it is all about stretching.


Why is stretching so important?
  • Improves Range of Movement by placing parts of the body in certain positions, we can increase muscle length. This reduces tension and normal range of movement is increased.eg. when kicking a ball, the muscles at the back of the leg are put under lots of strain so it makes sense to warm up and stretch before playing football to increase flexibility and pliability of the muscles. That way an injury can be avoided.
  • Reduces Post-Exercise Muscle Soreness which happens when we start madly gardening in the spring/summer after the winter break or decide to get that body ready for the summer bikini (shock, horror) by overdoing it at the gym. The reason those muscles feel sore and tight, is that minute tears within the muscle fibres during exercise have caused blood to pool and waste products like lactic acid to accumulate. Stretching lengthens the muscle fibres, which increases blood circulation and removes waste products.

  • Reduces Fatigue which can be a major problem for anyone, especially those that exercise. It makes you physically and mentally drained. Muscles work in pairs. The "working muscle" or "agonist" works with the opposite or opposing muscle called the "antagonist". If the opposing muscles are more flexible, the working muscles do not have to work as hard against them.
Stretching ALSO :
IMPROVES POSTURE - DEVELOPS BODY AWARENESS - IMPROVES COORDINATION - PROMOTES CIRCULATION - INCREASES ENERGY - IMPROVES RELAXATION
For more advice and sports specific stretches, please contact Vanessa on:
T: 01491 577480 M: 07906186912 E:info@completeworxmassage.co.uk

The Term 'Sports Injury'



Before I launch into the next part of injury prevention, I think I need to clarify the term "Sports Injury". It is a term used by many in physical therapies when in fact many injuries have nothing whatsoever to do with sport.

It is a fallacy to think that not being "sporty" means you cannot have a sports massage or be treated for a sports injury. The majority of bad backs and sore arms at this time of year are from gardening and trimming hedges. It is called "overuse" when you use the same muscles to do the same movement over and over again. Hence the term "repetitive sprain injury"for painful wrists from all that typing and mouse using.

Our bodies are not accustomed to the bending down for hours on end to weed the beds, stooping over a lawnmower, lifting great big bags of compost and digging up beds using the same hip over and over again. I am no kill joy - the joys of gardening are boundless! Just have a go at the following pointers and see if you feel any better:

  • Warm up with some arm circles, ankle circles and hip circles
  • bend down in a squat position and use your thigh muscles to lift anything heavy instead of your back muscles

  • Think navel to spine (trust me - this activates your core tummy muscles to support your back)

  • Stretch afterwards
Sport can be the trigger for overuse injuries as it is often the most strenuous type of activity people do. Overuse causes are:


Postural: poor posture causes some muscles to work harder than others. For example, in all the pictures on the left, the neck is forwards shortening the muscles at the front of the neck (flexors) and lengthening the muscles at the back of the neck (extensors). Over time, the flexors will become shorter and tighter while the extensors will be longer and weaker. In time it would be easy to strain the flexors by reversing out of a drive and suddenly turning the neck to look behind you.


Emotional: This one stumps many! Your state of mind is reflected in your body. If you are worried about exams, stressed about a work or facing a relationship break up, your body will "protect" you. Rounded shoulders can be seen as protecting a broken heart. Breathing patterns often change with stress. Normal, unforced breathing uses the diaphragm and intercostal muscles (between the ribs) where as laboured breathing during times of stress or overexhertion overuses the accessory muscles:sternocleidomastoid and the scalene muscles (neck flexors) as they attach the top ribs and the pectoralis minor (deep chest muscle).

Structural; muscle tissue changes in texture and tone that leads to an unhealthy build up of scar tissue which will have a negative effect on physical well-being (shortened muscles).

Scar tissue is formed naturally when tissue is damaged ( strained muscle) from poor posture or over-use. The muscle fibres tear and blood congeals at the wound and collagen fibres are laid down as part of the healing process. If this continues over a long period of time, and is left untreated, it becomes a chronic condition as the scar tissue builds up and then hardens. When muscle fibres “stick” together, the muscle struggles to contract or stretch as fibres need to be able to glide smoothly alongside each other. This affects muscle strength and flexibility. Deep friction (massage technique) breaks down scar tissue into small enough particles to be carried away in the lymph vessels, restoring muscle health.

Hopefully i still have your attention and have not completely lost you with the jargon! Prevention is the key together with listening to your body. If anyone you know has aches and pains after gardening, please send them my way.

Vanessa Mansergh T: 01491 577480 E: info@completeworxmassage.co.uk

Enjoy your Sport without getting injured...PART 1

For those of you planning on running a Marathon this year or even at the end of the month - this article will be a useful read.

Spring is one of those seasons that makes you realise you have survived Winter reasonably in tact and can now launch yourself into all those activities you had no desire to do in the snow, cold or rain. Gym going is handy but you cannot beat being in the outdoors, the fresh air, lambs and good old english countryside. For cyclists whizzing past - it seems all too idyllic - until "thud" you have been knocked off your bike. How many times does this happen?? One work colleague who is a triathlete and has to train for hours on his bike has witnessed this twice in the last month. Unlucky. He now has an injury unrelated to these incidents ..a partial rupture of his achilles tendon which basically means he cannot train for the next 6 weeks or race.

This is probably the worst possible outcome for anyone -whether you are an athlete or not to have to pull out of a race is soul destroying. You have trained for it, you have psyched yourself up for it, you have endured the pain of it and now you cannot be part of it. Any Marathon runners - take heed from this and make sure you prevent this from happening.

Some facts: according to Sports Medicine Australia, 1/17 sports people suffer a sports injury playing their favourite sport. Perhaps no surprises there. But the interesting fact is that up to 50% of these injuries may have been prevented.

Top Tips to Prevent Sports Injury:

Why Warm-up?
  • Prepares body and mind for more strenuous exercise

  • Increases body's core temperature

  • Increases body muscle temperature making them looser, and suppler

  • Increases heart & respiratory rate which means more blood pumping around body and therefore more oxygen and nutrients to the working muscles
Warm-up Structure - ALL 3 PARTS MATTER
General Warm up:
  • 5-10mins and a light sweat to elevate heart rate and muscle temperature so stretching is more effective now the muscles are warm.
Static Stretching:
  • Safe and effective after the warm up.

  • 5-10mins of main muscles groups ina relaxed way by breathing into the stretch and not forcing it. Hold each stretch for 15 secs.

  • This helps to lengthen muscles and tendons allowing for greater range of movement at joints and to prevent muscle/tendon injuries.
Sport Specific warm-up:
  • More rigorous activities such as football drills.
Cool-down
This is just as important as the warm up for staying injury free.
  • Why?
    Promotes recovery and returns the body to how it was before exercising. During strenuous exercise, muscle fibres, tendons and ligaments get damaged and waste products build up.

  • Helps with post-exercise muscle soreness - usually felt the day after exercise when walking downstairs is barely possible and you get "stuck" in a seat when working or driving. Not pleasant!
Post-exercise muscle soreness happens because exercise causes tiny micro -ears in the muscle fibres. These cause the muscle tissues to swell which put pressure on nerve endings causing pain. During exercise the heart pumps lots of blood to the working muscles bringing with it oxygen and nutrients. Once used the blood is pumped back to the heart through the muscles contracting. Once you stop exercising this force stops and blood, and waste products of exercise like lactic acid pool in the muscle causing swelling and pain.

Cool-down Structure
Gentle Exercise
  • 1 0-15mins (professional) or 3-5mins (amateur) of easy exercise that ressembles the type of exercise you were doing eg.jogging if you were running
Stretching
  • 20-30mins (PRO) or 5-10mins (AM)
Re-fuel
  • Drink plenty of water & a good quality sports drink & something to eat like fruit which is easily digestable.

Sports Massage has the same effect on the muscles in the cool down section - in that it prevents that post-exercise muscle soreness. If you would like to book an appointment, please contact Vanessa on 01491 577480 or 07906186912.

Using Temperature makes a Sports Massage Relaxing!

Sports massage is often mistaken for a "sadistic" painful massage that leaves you feeling rotten but in the long-term so much better for it. Others believe you have to be a marathon runner, a GB athlete or at least a regular gym goer to deserve a sports massage. Wrong again. A Sports and Remedial Massage giving it its full title is a deep tissue massage that treats pain or stress in the body. You may have a stressful job, or spend your days lifting a larger than life baby (or small human), perhaps you love being out in your garden at this time of year (Spring in case you were wondering) preparing the beds and getting rid of the weeds, or you are an athlete with a shockingly tiring training programme before the competition season. Whatever you do day-to-day, the chances are you are putting your body under strain - physically, mentally or emotionally. You most certainly qualify for a Sports Massage.


A good therapist will always work within your pain threshold so do not worry about the "pain". There are many of us about so find one that works for you. Everyone works completely differently and there is someone out there that will make you feel "whole" again. I personally focus on relaxation to begin with in order to work deeper with the body. If you are lying there dreading the hands on touch and contracting every single muscle in your entire body, including those facial ones and the jaw is locked rigid, the chances are you will resist every stroke i make and be tense. With the music of your choice, heat from hot stones and the realisation that the treatment you will receive will be exactly what your body needs, the chances are you will have a good treatment and your whole body will respond in a positive way.

My new Sports Massage and Stone combination is proving a godsend. By either lying on the hot stones or massaging with them, tight muscles are deeply relaxed and softened a good deal quicker than by hand which means i can move around the body quicker and provide a whole body treatment for even the tallest and toughest athlete in town! Once the muscles are relaxed i can work so much deeper to treat the "problem areas".

These are just a few conditions helped by the application of the cold stones:
  • Sprains
  • Strains
  • Chronic tension
  • Acute inflammation
  • Tennis elbow
  • Headaches
  • Varicose veins
Examples of Responses to Heated Stones to specific parts of the body....
  • Brain- calms the mind (useful if you struggle to relax)
  • Heart- helps to lower blood pressure
  • Muscles - softens and relaxes the muscles which allows for more intense massage work for longer
Examples of Responses to Cold Stones to specific parts of the body....
  • Brain - a short application of cold stimulates mental activity
  • Muscles - Increases range of motion (any restrictions in and around joints such as the shoulder, hip, knee and ankle are reduced and stretching becomes easier). You may be able to touch those toes again! It also reduces inflammation.
If you would like to book an appointment, please visit www.completeworxmassage.co.uk.