STAYING ACTIVE Newsletter

July 2014

Soreness vs Pain: What's the Difference?

There are many benefits to exercise, including the potential for improved physical and mental wellbeing. However, there may also be some physical discomfort associated with these activities due to the stresses placed on the body.

When experiencing discomfort, it is important to understand the difference between exercise-related muscular soreness and pain. Muscular soreness is a healthy and expected result of exercise. Pain is an unhealthy and abnormal response. Experiencing pain may be indicative of injury.

Individual Activity Threshold

In order to make physical improvements, your body needs to be pushed to an appropriate level where gains can occur.

Each person's body has a different activity threshold dependent upon many factors, including age, baseline strength, and participation level. Remaining on the safe side of your threshold will result in muscular soreness. Exceeding your threshold will result in pain.

One of the expected outcomes of exercise, when done appropriately, is that this threshold will progressively increase. For example, when an individual begins running, their safe threshold may be 5 minutes of running. After several weeks of progressive increases in duration, this runner's threshold may increase to 20-30 minutes.

To maximize your exercise gains and minimize injury risk, it is important to be realistic about your activity threshold and to be able to differentiate between moderate muscle soreness and pain.

Soreness vs. Pain: How To Tell the Difference

The chart below highlights key differences between muscle soreness and pain.

	Muscle Soreness	Pain
Type of discomfort:	Tender when touching muscles, tired or burning feeling while exercising, minimal dull, tight and achy feeling at rest	Ache, sharp pain at rest or when exercising
Onset:	During exercise or 24-72 hours after activity	During exercise or within 24 hours of activity
Duration:	2-3 days	May linger if not addressed
Location:	Muscles	Muscles or joints
Improves with:	Stretching, following movement	Ice, rest
Worsens with:	Sitting still	Continued activity
Appropriate action:	Resume offending activity once soreness subsides	Consult with medical professional if pain is extreme or lasts >1-2 weeks

To read the rest of this article............ click HERE.

Physical Therapy can help you relieve soreness and pain.

Set an appointment today.

303-757-1554

CLINIC NEWS

Weekly Classes For Your Health

Tai Chi Class

Every Monday at 11:00 am at Pearl clinic

Every Tuesday at 12:00 pm at Meridian clinic

Staff Birthdays This Month

Renee Gonzalez - July 6

Jordan Couchon - July 25

Other Good Stuff

Jordan Couchon is training for a triathlon in New York happening in August. Go Jordan!

School Supply Drive for Bishop Elementary School

We are collecting school supplies for Bishop Elementary. Donations are being accepted now

through August 3rd.

EXERCISE OF THE MONTH

Everyday Stretches

Try out these everyday stretches to keep yourself flexible and avoid soreness.

Back Stretch Back/Hamstring Stretch Quad Stretch Side Stretch

(elbows back) (flat back/both sides) (both legs) (both sides)

CHALLENGE OF THE MONTH

Avoid Soreness

Muscles can often feel sore after exercise or other strenuous activity. Although muscle pain can be aggravating and keep you from exercising, the good news is that the more you exercise, the less your muscles will hurt in the long run. Use these simple tips to alleviate common muscle soreness!

Rest the affected muscles from overly strenuous effort for 24-48 hours after the exercise that caused soreness -- especially, if the soreness is due to a weight lifting routine.
Massage is the best thing to do to your muscles. When you exercise to exhaustion, tiny tears occur in muscle fibers. The body's natural response to these tears is inflammation. Massage helps reduce the amount of cytokines the body produces, which play a role in inflammation. Massage also seems to increase the amount of mitochondria in your muscle, which enhances the muscles' ability to extract oxygen.
Stretch the muscles out. This will also help to get the lactic acid out of your muscles. Waiting a few hours after a strenuous workout before stretching is not the best. Stretch after activity that caused the soreness to prevent becoming stiff.
Ice the muscle indirectly.

Doctors recommend icing the muscle or muscle groups immediately after activity to reduce inflammation and provide more lasting relief.

When icing a muscle or muscle group, it's best to wrap an ice pack in some sort of buffer - light cloth works well - before applying the ice.
Apply heat. After the first day of soreness, heat can be used to help blood flow to the muscle. This will help rebuilding take place and provide some soothing relief.Take a shower. Allow warm water to hit the muscles, relaxing them. Alternate with warm and cool water for a homemade hydrotherapy treatment.
Plan a proper diet. If your muscles are sore from intense activities such as weightlifting, your muscles are rebuilding themselves, needing lots of protein.
Drink lots of water while you work out and throughout the day. Your muscles need water to function at their peak, and your body needs water to repair your muscles. Don't forget to drink water.9
Ease into your workout not by stretching, but by warming up with a light simulation, using the targeted muscles in lighter exercise than you are going to be performing in the following minutes.
Take a bath or cold Jaccuzi. Fill your bath with warm water and a muscle relaxing liquid soap. Stay in the bath for around 15 - 25 minutes for best results.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

You can feel sore tomorrow or

you can feel sorry tomorrow.

You choose.

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RECIPE OF THE MONTH

Foods that Ease Sore Muscles

This month we are mixing it up. Instead of providing you with a recipe, we are providing you with ingredients and you can use them in any recipe you like (knowing that their are health benefits to your sore muscles).

Blueberries

New research suggests that the antioxidants in blueberries may help ward off muscle fatigue by mopping up the additional free radicals that muscles produce during exercise.

Ginger

Ginger is rich in inflammation-fighting compounds, such as gingerols, which may reduce the aches of osteoarthritis and soothe sore muscles. In a recent study, people who took ginger capsules daily

for 11 days reported 25 percent less muscle pain when they performed exercises designed to strain their muscles (compared with a similar group taking placebo capsules).

Tart Cherries & Pomegranates

Researchers recently found that people who drank 1 ounce of concentrated cherry juice twice daily for 10 days bounced back faster from their workout (an intensive leg-resistance training session on day 8) than those who skipped the juice. The reason: The anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties in tart cherries-and other fruit juices like grape, pomegranate, acai, blueberry and cranberry-essentially act as natural nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (such as ibuprofen and aspirin), reducing exercise-induced muscle damage.

Thank you for your interest in health and wellness. We believe Staying Active is important for WORK.SPORT.LIFE.

From The Entire Staff

Physical Therapy & Injury Specialists

303-757-1554

www.denverptis.com

Give us a call today!

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