Baby Boomers Long Flights

Leg recovery during a long flight-Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist Minimizing swollen legs and ankles in flight Many baby boomers are taking long flights to various destinations around the world for their own reasons-but in these days of super aircraft with hundreds of seats available for filling, and less need for stops in between main destinations it means more time in the air Preventing the ankles swelling like this can be a problem

These are my ankles after a long trip from Australia to Europe

Extra air time means that the body has to adjust to sitting down for longer periods during the flight with problems of soreness and swollen ankles to deal withThere are various strategies for the baby boomer to approach swollen ankles and prevention of ‘economy class syndrome’ as they call deep vein thrombosis and they should be implemented and used in conjunction (with medical advice) but no matter what you do or wear on the flight to keep it at bay-it is no substitute for moving Movement is the key to preventing both the ankles swelling and minimizing the chances of developing deep vein thrombosis- Why is moving more effective? Sometime during the pre-flight briefing that you were not listening to, the airline probably made an announcement, mentioned a card/showed a video about moving the legs to help prevent which can also help keep the ankles from swelling The calf muscle pump

The way blood and fluid get shifted from the lower legs back to the body for renourishment and recycling is through the venous system-the veins have one-way valves in them which prevents leakage back down towards the feet again To enable this upwards movement, the pumping system is powered by the calf muscles acting as the motor-they apply pressure to the veins which opens the valves then releases it which lets the valve flaps close. To apply and release this pressure, the calf muscles have to move otherwise all the blood in the lower legs just becomes static-nothing is moving, fresh blood can’t enter the muscle tissues and depleted blood and other fluid can’t leave them 1 Copyright 2008 Michael Gillan http://seniors.aching-legs-relief.com/airlines_and_after-flight_recovery.html

Leg recovery during a long flight-Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist When depleted blood is left to stagnate, the water or lymphatic fluid separates from the depleted blood and makes its way through the vessel walls where it fills the tissue spaces; as it cannot be pumped away the fluid pools in the lower legs and the ankles swell. Separation of water (or lymph fluid) from the blood

For the travelling baby boomer or senior flier, this means problems because when the water leaves the blood it upsets the balance between 2 important components that are part of the blood complex These particular components are clotting agents that make the blood congeal and stop the flow of blood to an injury site when we are have been hurt-and anti clotting agents that prevent it clotting before it should, this is responsible for the free flow of blood around the body If the balance between them is changed in favour of the clotting agents, then blood clots can form anywhere in the veins-if it changes in favour of the anti-clotting agents then if you cut yourself then you could bleed to death without medical help Deep Vein Thrombosis The body is a column of fluid held in by the skin; it is made up of blood and water, which flows through a series of vessels called veins and arteries that supply the muscle tissues with blood when the legs stop moving on a long flight so does the blood. Clots in the veins can be very dangerous because they may break away and lodge further up in the body causing a blockage of blood flow to the heart and this may result in serious illness or death

In this picture you can see the difference in legs after my flight-notice the width and tightness from the fluid build up and the bright redness from the trapped blood trying to get into the muscle tissues and unable to 2 Copyright 2008 Michael Gillan http://seniors.aching-legs-relief.com/airlines_and_after-flight_recovery.html

Leg recovery during a long flight-Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist

(I knew all about deep vein thrombosis but being an experimental person I deliberately set out to see what happened when I copied my fellow passengers-I simply moved as little as the people sitting around me did-when the flight ended only their doctors or mortuary attendant would have known how badly affected they were) To minimize the chances of this happening, see a physician before flying for advice on Deep Vein Thrombosis prevention as it relates to your individual circumstances-and follow their advice A major way of minimising swollen ankles and the threat of the DVT is to move

During the flight, there is always something stopping the exercises or the legs being moved; many people are self conscious about doing them when no one else is, or feel there is not enough room, or they can’t get out into the aisle to walk around With the increased number of people on board, who may be attempting to shuffle around the aircraft accidents may happen if an unexpected descent occurs as happened on Qantas QF72 accident Singapore-Perth October 2008 when 74 people were injured as the plane dropped in altitude without warning-due to a computer fault which over rode the pilot controlscan anyone predict this? If they had been sitting strapped in their seats unless going to the toilet (except for the 10 cabin crew who have to do their work) the injury toll would have been much less than it was Whatever the reason, not too many people move their legs enough and are placing themselves in more danger of developing deep vein thrombosis than they otherwise would be if they moved during the flight Listen to the airlines and watch the videos on moving All airlines (depending on who you are flying with) have some information on DVT and what to do to reduce the chance of developing it-read their handouts and practise what they say on the video and do not worry whether the person in the next seat is doing them or not-they may not be worried about their health If you do not move your legs may finish up like mine did after my long flight-it took 2 weeks of inconvenience for my legs to revert to normal-and I was using my own recovery systemLight Manual Muscle Relaxation to do it Without it, it may have taken twice as long for my body to repair the damage to my muscle tissues Move the legs and to make the calf muscle pump work by exercising the legs in the seat space provided and you may prevent the problems I had

3 Copyright 2008 Michael Gillan http://seniors.aching-legs-relief.com/airlines_and_after-flight_recovery.html

Leg recovery during a long flight-Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist 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 N ame A Krouglikov

Day 1 237.2 539

Day 2 113.6 284

D ay 3 130 325

D ay 4 106 365

Day 5 126 315

Day 6 108 Kil ometers 270 Laps

T R usek

215.2 538

98.8 247

98 245

139.6 349

138.4 346

122.4 Kil ometers 306 Laps

M Taylor

174.4 436

128.8 322

143.6 359

123.6 309

138.4 302

122.4 Kil ometers 223 Laps

B Beauchamp

180.4 451

133.2 333

124 310

117.6 294

110 275

93.2 Kil ometers 233 Laps

150 375

134 335

105.2 263

94.8 237

111.6 279

106 Kil ometers 265 Laps

138.4 346

108.4 271

106.8 267

116.4 274

106 265

107.2 Kil ometers 268 Laps

168 420

119.2 298

90 225

116.4 291

106 180

107.2 Kil ometers 247 Laps

G Watts

132.2 328

96.4 241

99.2 248

104.4 261

92.8 232

133.6 Kil ometers 334 Laps

C Young

142 355

91.2 228

90 225

97.6 244

88 220

92 Kil ometers 230 Laps

138.2 332

86.8 217

90.8 227

95.2 238

94.4 236

84.4 Kil ometers 212 Laps

R Hill

128 320

80.8 202

99.2 248

70 175

95.6 239

96.6 Kil ometers 241 Laps

K Fisher

164 410

91.6 229

50 125

115.2 288

49.6 124

81.2 Kil ometers 203 Laps

P Gray

D Parri s

I Davis

D Kettle

G Pollard

T R afferty

120 74.8 73.6 68.4 69.6 61.2 Kil ometers 300 187 184 171 174 153 Laps The above group came i n for Light Manual Muscle Relaxation The below group did not or had thei r own recovery people 141.6 112.8 104.8 101.6 98 96.4 Kil ometers 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 Ti mms

127.2

98.4

4 74.8

34 0 85 pulled out-bli sters 0

0

0 Kil ometers Laps 0 ki lometers

Copyright 2008 Michael Gillan http://seniors.aching-legs-relief.com/airlines_and_after-flight_recovery.html

Leg recovery during a long flight-Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist 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://seniors.aching-legs-relief.com/airlines_and_after-flight_recovery.html 5 Copyright 2008 Michael Gillan http://seniors.aching-legs-relief.com/airlines_and_after-flight_recovery.html