I’ve had the distinguished honor of fixing injured bodies for more than five years now, and there is a list of things that I wish all my hurting clients knew and did that would make life a lot easier to prevent and deal with injured muscles. Most of you are doing really well, though most of us are not always perfect. So, with no further delay;
- Stay away from soda! Unless you like stiff painful muscles
- Drink plenty of water
- Replace electrolytes if you’ve lost and drank lots of fluids
- Get away from what stresses you, before Wall Street the Doc’ used to basically say, “go home, drink fluids and rest”…
- Get some rest! It’s well known in sports medicine that most athlete’s do not get enough rest. Want to ever heal?
- Use gentle & slow, dynamic stretches (don’t stop moving) before you exercise and static stretches (hold for a bit if it’s comfortable) after your workout
- Get regular exercise but don’t over do it, less is definitely more when your getting back in the swing of things
- Eat quality foods, farm to table is best, though avoiding over processed ‘foods’ with high sugar is a start
- Get regular massages! You’d be surprised how much pain and money you can spare getting regular massages
- Roll your shoulders back and down, when we’re stressed and defensive our shoulders climb high, so bring em back down after you’re out of the woods
- Meditate, simply sitting comfortably where you’re not going to be bothered and feeling yourself breathe is one of the best things for you
There are a ton of things I could continue to list and go on about, though this is the core of what I continually see people needing to prevent and deal with pain and challenges. If you make enjoying these things part of your regular life you’ll reap the benefits of great health and have the ability to recover from injury and deal with stress much easier.
Best wishes, kind regards and Happy Holidays!
Daniel Dunn, LMT