Peak Physical Performance

...or "why is Caolan posting with alliteration this blog??"

...so, daylight saving is nearly upon us - and that means the beginning of summer sports competitions...

"...oh great - another blog where Caolan bangs on about all that stretching that I don't do..."


...yes, stretching is a part of playing any sport, as is physical training...but preparing your body requires more than that...

...of course, summer means increased temperatures - which means you will sweat more and therefore, lose more body water while you play or train...a general guide for most people is that you should consume around 5% of your body weight in water every day (for example, 83kg of me should consume about four litres of water, especially on the days when training or playing). 


...now I know that there are a lot of sports drinks out there on the market that advertise that they replace the important electrolytes that your body loses while you sweat (and they do), but I have a major issue with them. The amount of sugar in them - the leading sports drinks have 14 grams of sugar in a 600ml serving of the sports drink. 


"...yeah, so - what's wrong with sugar?? Wouldn't I have just burnt that off??"


...you may have burnt off the kilojoules of energy that the sugar supplies, but that's not what I am concerned about...sugar changes the way in which our body responds to injury and inflammation - it only takes 5-7 grams of sugar to markedly decrease our body's ability to repair itself. There are hydration formulas on the market that do not contain these processed sugars (apologies, most of them will be practitioner only so you will need to consult your chiro), and that's what I take myself...


"...okay, that's what I can drink - now's where you tell me I have to watch what I eat too..."


(I love it when patients finally get it)


...yes, you do...and the eating side of things can get a little complicated, so I am going to break it down into the times before the event:


4-6 hours before the event: eat a good balanced meal, with a focus on eating some good low glycemic index (low GI) carbohydrates...if you want to consume some fats or sugar, now is the time to do it...


30 minutes - 1 hour before the event: here is where you need a good source of simple carbohydrates to give you that extra little burst of energy before you play - fruit is a really great example (bananas are usually my choice of fruit here), a chocolate bar is not...this is also a good time to hydrate yourself too...

20-45 minutes after the event: now is the time to replenish the body's glycogen stores that would have been depleted whilst exercising (glycogen is a form of glucose that the body stores in the muscles as a quick source of energy) - you need to consume more of those good low GI carbohydrates...


...couple these tactics with a good, regular stretching program and adequate pre-event training and you should be all set for your summer sports...and as always, if you want to know more - ask your chiro...or me...

Exercise and Arthritis

I had a colleague of mine make me aware of this article during the week:


http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=817


"...wow, exercise is good for arthritis??"


...not that this is really a new idea, but it is nice to finally see research on the topic. However, I feel like it needs a little more explanation. Let's start with what arthritis actually is...

 ...in strict terms, arthritis is basically inflammation of the joints - but the term is now used to cover roughly a couple of hundred diseases that fall under this definition. 

...most forms of arthritis tend to occur when something goes wrong with the structure of a particular joint - in some cases this can be due to a physical injury or overuse (which usually results in osteoarthritis or OA), an autoimmune disease that breaks down the tissue of the joint (rheumatoid arthritis or RA) or via infection (infectious or septic arthritis).

...now, each form of arthritis has different signs and symptoms - OA will generally begin with mild symptoms that develop over time: specific joint stiffness after use, a lack of flexibility in the joint itself and at times, a grating sensation. RA will tend to lead to more systemic and bilateral symptoms that will tend to affect the more distal joints, like the fingers and toes, pain in generally worse in the mornings and the joint itself will become swollen and red. Fatigue is extremely common in people with RA, and weight loss may often occur as a result. Infectious arthritis will usually present with a fever and other symptoms of illness, and the joint itself will be swollen and painful.

...in all forms there are common findings - joint stiffness, a breakdown of joint tissue and atrophy of muscles surrounding the joints...

"...Caolan, that's a lot of blah-blah...how will exercise actually help??"

...so let's breakdown those three major components and see how exercise and physical activity can help:

...joint stiffness can be aided with a regular stretching program that involves all of the major and minor muscles of the affected joint - the more thorough the stretching program is, the more relief the patient will feel...

...the breakdown of tissue surrounding the joint is a little more serious - to attempt to rebuild, or at least arrest the rate of tissue erosion, a long term exercise program needs to be in place. Understandably, most arthritis patients will actually find rigorous exercise to be painful so the program needs to be tailored to the individual. Generally, walking or exercising in water are the better ways to go - both have a decreased amount of impact on joints and provide the necessary weight bearing to increase skeletal tissue density...

...and resistance exercise will help prevent the atrophy of the muscles around the affected joint. The exercises need to be specific for the affected joint, and not compromise the affected joint further...

...as always - if you want to know more, ask your chiro...