Aching Legs Accidental Athletes

Aching legs and Accidental Athlete’s-and leg health

The Do It Yourself Recovery System Accidental Athletes In these days when many jobs are being lost and companies downsize, it leaves those still working under more pressure for longer-and if it is a standing, walking, or sitting down at a computer, then the stress on leg muscles, lower back, and upper body can contribute to health problems A reason, other than to cut costs why many people go and buy do-it-yourself manuals is that there are not enough practitioners, tradesmen, or handymen around to do the job in hand when needed. Many people do not live in areas where the majority of those who are specialised in what is needed at the time, or if they are they could be too busy to fit you in anyway-others go for do-it-yourself for the challenge of learning something new The area of health is one that everyone to some extent or another is responsible for either for themselves or someone else’s-it is something which can’t be bought and which is under appreciated until something goes wrong with the body To stay as fit and healthy as possible some people go to the gym or take up a sport, others can’t do this because they are just not into these kinds of things, or they are simply too busy trying to survive financially on a day to day basis and it is all they can do to get up and go to work, home again and back to work This was me and I did it for years, working in factories on survival pay, which is all many workers in the lower paid factories get-I was sometimes on my feet 12-14 hours a day and while I was ‘trained’ to work the machines I was not trained in recovery after I finished work I had in effect become an ‘accidental athlete’ covering as much distance in a shift as many sports people do in the particular sport they are doing-only the main similarity was more to the endurance sports Fast forward to when the factory I was working in slammed the gates closed in my face-and out of the blue was jobless-for some reason decided to do a massage course-the government sponsored me in a re-training program It was through the massage schools that I initially became involved in ultra marathon and recovery While working at ultra long distance events I realized that most of the problems with my legs I had and which were affecting my lifestyle on the factory floor were being replicated by people on the running and walking tracks I had been an ‘Accidental Athlete’ all those years and had I training in how to recovery my aching legs and sore feet that I had on a daily basis over a long term, my health may have been better There are many occupations and professions that come under the ‘accidental athlete’ classificationwhile the people in them may have trained for many years how to do what they do, they have not learned how to recover from the hours of standing, sitting, or walking while they do it Retail staff • Catering/waiting staff • Machine operators • Teaching staff • Assembly line workers • Construction workers • Checkout operators • Hairdressers/barbers • Casino dealers • Dental staff • Postal workers/sorters • Traffic wardens • Industrial laundry staff • Bar/hospitality staff • Health care workers • Museum staff • Nursery staff • Library assistants • Reception staff • Warehouse staff • Meeter-greeters • Canvassers • Bank staff • Cleaners • Flight attendants • Ticket collectors • staff in hospitals • Maintenance workers • Security workers • cabin staff with airlines • Dockers • Printers • Laboratory technicians • Personal trainers • Doctors • Firefighters • Gardeners • Refuse collection workers • Nurses

2009 Copyright Michael Gillan

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Aching legs and Accidental Athlete’s-and leg health

Aching legs The reason for aching legs-too much standing walking, running or sitting The body is basically a column of blood and other fluids (between 65% and 85% is water) held upright by the body structures which is subject to pressure from gravity and air pressure-left to its own devices it all tries to accumulate in the lowest part it can find The lower legs and feet The only thing that stops it running out all over the ground it the ends of the toes-this is why whenever a cut happens that is quite deep, one of the main strategies to slow and stop the bleeding is to elevate the part higher than the heart-this reduces the pressure and hopefully the bleeding by reversing gravity and pressure

What happens when the legs are not working properly-swollen ankles as the fluid builds up Fortunately aching legs unless they are medically related (in which case see your doctor) are cheaper easier to fix than bad teeth if you catch them before they become chronic or long term Some problems that may develop if they are not addressed include •

Varicose veins

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Venous insufficiency

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Lower back ache

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Sleeplessness

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Angry muscles

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Spider veins

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Foot problems

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Swollen ankles

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Fatigue

There are many more areas of concern and to check some of these out I refer you to www.hazards.org/standing

2009 Copyright Michael Gillan

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Aching legs and Accidental Athlete’s-and leg health How can gravity and atmospheric pressure be utilized to help the legs to stop aching?

We could simply use the recommended way of doing it-and reverse the flow so that some of the weight of fluid flows back up the legs to the body

This way reverses the flow from the feet This is known as passive recovery because it relies on the blood and fluid to leave the legs and then the legs can recover themselves- because of the time it takes for all this to work (unknown), the legs which may be sore, stiffen up and on standing, walking may be difficult to do As the old blood and fluids have left the legs through the veins, new blood will have been pumped there by the heart through the arteries, but it too will have gone cold All this fluid from the legs has to go somewhere so it goes again to the lowest part of the body, this time towards the head-on standing many people will go dizzy and disoriented for a few minutes, they may even fall over or trip-this lasts until everything equalises and they regain equilibrium If You Don’t Move It You Lose It This also goes for the legs and the muscles While you have been lying with the legs elevated the muscles also stiffen up and they may go too light-the muscles in the legs forget how to move because they are not getting any feedback from pressure and stretch receptors located in the skin, muscle tissues and joints about their environment and position in relation to the rest of the body All the feedback goes back to a part of the brain called the Cerebellum in latin this means small brain-with all the information supplied to it, it compares where the muscles are now, and where they should be-this information is sent to the brain which organises the smooth movement of the body part to where it is going to

In these runners who have been on the track for 3 days, the legs have stopped moving, they could not get up and walk in a straight line if they tried

2009 Copyright Michael Gillan

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Aching legs and Accidental Athlete’s-and leg health Using an ‘active’ recovery method would both increase the removal of used blood from the lower legs and help the Cerebellum regain its use as a comparator so the legs can work smoothly again

This is an ‘active’ method of leg recovery What happens here that is different to the ‘passive’ version? Basically while we are still letting the body heal itself, we are helping it to do this which can help by-pass the waiting period that exists while using the ‘passive’ system

What is Light manual Muscle Relaxation? It is a Do-It-Yourself method based on encouraging the muscles and tissues to assist in their own recovery •

It is not a massage system

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It is not invasive

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It is not aggressive

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It is not time consuming

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It does not need disrobing

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It does not need oil applied to the skin

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It does not need strong hands and fingers

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It does not need hand/brain coordination

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It does not need equipment

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It does not work on the muscles

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It does not work on any specific injuries

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It does not threaten the integrity of the muscles

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It does not use force on the muscles

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It does not need more than a few minutes to do

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It does not require a long course or workshop

2009 Copyright Michael Gillan

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Aching legs and Accidental Athlete’s-and leg health Below is a chart from when I discovered working with the muscles rather than on them shows how much things did improve for the runners and walkers If these figures are translated into recovery speed for the person with aching legs they would be very happy Results from 1995 Coburg 6 day footrace Name A Krouglikov

Day 1 237.2 539

Day 2 113.6 284

Day 3 130 325

Day 4 106 365

Day 5 126 315

Day 6 108 Kilometers 270 Laps

T Rusek

215.2 538

98.8 247

98 245

139.6 349

138.4 346

122.4 Kilometers 306 Laps

M T aylor

174.4 436

128.8 322

143.6 359

123.6 309

138.4 302

122.4 Kilometers 223 Laps

B Beauchamp

180.4 451

133.2 333

124 310

117.6 294

110 275

93.2 Kilometers 233 Laps

150 375

134 335

105.2 263

94.8 237

111.6 279

106 Kilometers 265 Laps

138.4 346

108.4 271

106.8 267

116.4 274

106 265

107.2 Kilometers 268 Laps

168 420

119.2 298

90 225

116.4 291

106 180

107.2 Kilometers 247 Laps

G Watts

132.2 328

96.4 241

99.2 248

104.4 261

92.8 232

133.6 Kilometers 334 Laps

C Young

142 355

91.2 228

90 225

97.6 244

88 220

92 Kilometers 230 Laps

D Kettle

138.2 332

86.8 217

90.8 227

95.2 238

94.4 236

84.4 Kilometers 212 Laps

R H ill

128 320

80.8 202

99.2 248

70 175

95.6 239

96.6 Kilometers 241 Laps

K Fisher

164 410

91.6 229

50 125

115.2 288

49.6 124

81.2 Kilometers 203 Laps

P Gray

D Parri s

I Davis

G Pollard

T Rafferty

120 74.8 73.6 68.4 69.6 61.2 Kilometers 300 187 184 171 174 153 Laps The above group came in for Light Manual Muscle Rel axation The below group did not or had their own recovery people 141.6 112.8 104.8 101.6 98 96.4 Kilometers 354 282 262 254 245 241 Laps

G McConnel

145.6 363

110.8 277

126.4 287

113.6 284

108.4 271

106 ki lometers 265 Laps

G Audley

152.8

110.8

126.4

113.6

114.8

95.2 ki lometers

S Scanlon

140.8 352

82 205

84 210

J Timms

127.2

98.4

74.8

2009 Copyright Michael Gillan

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34 0 85 pulled out-bli sters 0

0

0 Kilometers Laps 0 ki lometers

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Aching legs and Accidental Athlete’s-and leg health

What does it do? It is a fully self contained non-technical, non-invasive 'cutting edge' recovery system It’s not what you do but the way you do it that counts

Quickly-easily and in an environmentally friendly way! The World Run Recovery System is a simple system that is easy to use without the need for equipment other than the hands Resource Box

Michael Gillan is an Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist who has been a masseur around many ultra long distance events both in Australia and internationally since he was a student in 1993 In 1995 while working at a 6 day run, he changed the approach to recovery of the athletes from the conventional way of working on the muscles using the hands and fingers to increase muscle blood circulation, to working with the muscles and making them work on themselves The results from this changeover can be seen on the Coburg result sheet on page 5 In 1996 Michael went to the Nanango 1000 Mile 16 day event where it was tested and helped the worlds 4-5 and 11th to achieve their distances Other notable events the World Run Recovery System was tested on was World Run 1 with Jesper Olsen www.worldrun.org and the World Run 2 training camp in Denmark in 2007 How can someone with aching legs benefit?

Because the muscles are being worked with they are actually doing the work-this means that the skills needed to do the recovery after training and competition do not have to be as great or as complicated as when they are being worked on Nothing is being fixed nor is any attempt being made to repair anything All that is happening is that the body is repairing itself-we are just facilitating it’s ability to do that by increasing circulation to the muscles

Aching legs should always be checked out by a medical professional before doing anything to and with them because there are many medical reasons why they may be aching-see a physician first If you want more details on Light Manual Muscle Relaxation go to my website at http://www.aching-legs.org 2009 Copyright Michael Gillan

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Aching legs and Accidental Athlete’s-and leg health or google me Michael Gillan ultra marathon masseur Books I have used in my research

Travell S.G. Simons D.G. Myofascial Pain & Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual Williams & Williams 1983 Travell J. Rinzler S.H. The Myofascial Genesis of Pain Post Grad Med. 1952 Modern Treatment for Lymphoedema Casley-smith Judith & Casley-Smith J.R. 5th edition Touching Montague Ashley Harper & Row ‘Guyton-Textbook of Medical Physiology eighth edition-1991 W.B. Saunders Company-ISBN 0726-3994-0 Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology-Seeley Stephens and Tate-Mosby Year Book ISBN 0-80160227-0 ‘Textbook of medical Physiology” (Physiology- fourth edition-Robert M. Berne, Mathew N. Levy, Bruce M. Koeppen, Bruce A. Stanton-Mosby ISBN 0-8151-0952-0) What they say about Light Manual Muscle Relaxation

Michael’s methods of massage and blister care helped me to stay mobile throughout the race and to recover quickly afterwards. His techniques are safe and gentle. Unlike some treatments, which put the runners and walkers at risk of muscle tears or infection, Michael’s techniques are light, safe, reassuring, and highly effective. They enhance comfort and flexibility, build confidence, and promote success. This booklet will help others to learn and practice Michael’s methods. It is recommended reading for everyone who walks and runs and who wants to go further, go faster, or just to enjoy life more!!' SANDRA BROWN 1996 Ladies 1000 Mile World Record Holder 1999 Ladies 100 mile Race walking World Record Holder “I know that your massage kept a number of competitors in the event. The cold weather of Saturday afternoon and night certainly got to many of the walkers and your prompt action had them back in the race after a short stop. In years past, that would have ended up as a non-finish; a number of walkers were able to keep going for the full 24 hours on the basis of your expert help.” Tim Ericson Secretary Australian Centurions Club 'I have known Michael Gillan for many years and have always got quick relief for my aches and pains from the stretching he performs'. CLIFF YOUNG-Ultra marathon runner

2009 Copyright Michael Gillan

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