Warm-ups: Warming up is very important, even when you only want to do stretches, let alone work out. So how do you warm yourself up to do stretches if you’ve been sitting at a desk, or just got up out of bed? Well, self-massaging the areas that you want to stretch out works great. You can also use a heating pad, or hot shower/bath for about 5 to 20 minutes. Why is it a good idea to warm up the muscles even before you do your stretching routine? When muscles haven’t been warmed up, they have an increased chance of being pulled or injured, even when just stretching. This is even more true for those who are less active or are just starting a new routine for either their workout or stretches.
Stretching/strengthening: These two things go hand in hand, but sometimes it can be difficult to tell which one should be done, and how to keep both of them balanced to keep a happy healthy body. When there is an imbalance in the body, the first thing that has to be done is to address the muscles that are causing the “pull” on the body. These are the muscles that are too tight and cause the body to curl/lean into their direction. These muscles have to be stretched first, to be able to make a bit of give for the weaker “overstretched” muscles. To do stretching, you have to remember a few things first before starting; warm up first, only go to the point where you are feeling the stretch, not to the point of pain, and don’t try to force yourself to go further by using any type of bouncing motion. Move slowly, so you can find this perfect stretch point, and keep the hold of your stretches to a minimum stretch length of 10 seconds when you are starting. This will keep you from injuring yourself, or even feeling achy because you’ve overdone it. After a while, you will be able to stretch farther and be able to hold your stretch for 30 seconds (this would be your time length goal). Stretches should be done on both sides of the body, 1 set of 3 reps, at least 3 times a day. But the great thing about stretching is if you feel like you need to do it a bit more often, you can. Especially if you feel like you’ve been stuck in one position for a long period. This can include sitting at your desk and you feel like you need to stretch once an hour, this is fine.
Once those muscles have been stretched, the weaker, overstretched, muscles will be able to be strengthened much easier because they won’t be opposed by those originally tight muscles as much. This is when you can start adding weights or resistance to your regime. When you are strengthening weakened muscles, you are doing the same action as you were to stretch out the “pulling” muscles. The difference this time is, you are now activating the weakened muscles, whereas, during the previous stretching, you weren’t activating them. And again, even here, the key is to start slow and increase weight or resistance slowly as well. Counting is key when you are doing strengthening exercises, and you must remember that your movement is from point A to point B, then from point B back to point A. For each segment (point A to B or point B back to A), the count should be to 3 seconds, each way, and hold for 2 seconds in the middle and at the end of the segment (hold at point B for 2 seconds, then hold at point A for 2 seconds). This is only for exercises that are going in one direction, not a circular motion.
For strengthening exercises you generally do 3 sets of 5 reps and are done either 2 or 3 times a day. Now depending on what your goal is with the strengthening, that will determine what you increase. If you want to increase your endurance, you increase the reps, then the number of sets that you do, rather than increasing weight. If you want to continue to increase the amount you can lift or resist, then you increase the weight or use more tension for your exercises, but keep the same amount of sets and reps that you are already doing.
*reps are the movement from point A to B then back down to A, this would be called 1 rep, doing this action again would be your second rep and so forth.
*sets are when you take up to a minute break between reps. If you do 5 reps, take a 1-minute break then do another 5 reps, this would be called 2 sets with 5 reps.
Upper back pain: Many people, when they have upper back pain, assume that the issue is from the upper back muscles, however, this isn’t the main cause for the pain in most cases. The real issue is the chest muscles, known as Pectoralis Major and Minor. These muscles are generally used daily, and overstretch the muscles in the upper back by forcing your shoulders to curl forward. This happens often with desk jobs, students, truck drivers, dentists, even hairstylists to name a few. Having your shoulders curled forward, for many hours during the day, creates an imbalance. Muscles like to work, and it is why the chest muscles, for the most part never bother you, unless they are touched, because they are being worked. The opposite is true for the upper back muscles when this happens, they aren’t working at all, rather they are being stretched constantly, and will feel pain as the body’s way of yelling for help to correct this imbalance. So how can you do this? Well, you have to start stretching out the chest muscles first. An easy exercise to do is: Pectoralis Minor muscles, using a hand towel, roll it up lengthwise, so it is about an inch thick. Place the towel along the spine and lay on top of it for about 5 minutes per day. Make sure that the surface that you choose isn’t too soft, as it won’t allow gravity to force your shoulders into a stretch, but at the same time make sure that you aren’t doing it on such a hard surface that it becomes uncomfortable. Using a yoga mat on the floor is a good option. If you find that this doesn’t give you much of a stretch, you can continue using a roll that is up to the thickness of a pool noodle.
Calf cramps: Everyone gets these, but why do they happen? Sometimes it is from dehydration, improper calcium levels, muscle strain, the side effects of medication, and pregnancy (you have a higher chance of having calf cramps when you are pregnant). For the side effects of medication, and even the improper levels of calcium being the potential reason for having the cramps, you can talk to your doctor about this to either change your medication or to have a blood test to see if you have too much or too little calcium, as this can cause either cramping or twitching throughout the body, not just in your calves. This can be easily fixed with taking a calcium supplement with vitamin C to help you absorb it better if you don’t have enough in your system, or to lower your calcium dose if you are already on calcium supplements. This, along with making sure you are well hydrated, can help you prevent future episodes of calf cramps for the most part. Always consult your doctor before changing any medication he has prescribed.
If you are experiencing a cramp, or pain from having a recent cramp, one really good way to get rid of it is by grabbing onto the Achilles tendon of the same leg, and pull or push on that tendon until it makes a “C” shape, hold for a few seconds then quickly release. This may have to be done a couple of times, but what it does is, when you press onto the tendon, it sends a signal up to the brain that it is under load, being used, and when you have the quick release, it sends a message that the muscle is no longer working and relaxes.
Headaches: One good trick to help with headaches is the use of a cold pack to the head and heat to the feet, or hands. This helps take some of the pressure from your head and bring it towards your extremities, to relieve the pain that you are feeling. Also dimming the lights and staying away from florescent lights can help.
Hot and Cold treatments: For cases where swelling is involved, you should use something colder than body temperature, to help manage the swelling. You should, however, make sure that what you are using doesn’t shock the muscles as this can also restrict circulation. You can tell that something is too cold when goosebumps are created, so if you are using something frozen, make sure that there is something between it and your skin to prevent this from happening. As for heat, it is used mainly when you have muscular tension, and swelling is not present. However, if you aren’t sure if you have swelling in an area that has chronic pain, you can always alternate between the heat and the cold. What this will do is when you place the cold onto the area, it will make the tissues contract, forcing the swelling to leave the area. Once you switch it with the heat, it will help relax the tissues, allowing new fluid and nutrients into the area, relaxing the muscles. So when you keep changing back and forth between the heat and the cold it will make a manual pump into the area, pumping old fluid out of the area, and allowing new, nutrient-rich fluid to come back into the tissue to help heal the area. Depending on the result that you want to have in the end from switching the hot and cold back and forth will determine which one you want to end with. If you want to help decrease the swelling, you should end with heat, as the air will be cooler to the skin, which will constrict against the area, pushing fluid away. If you want to have more of a relaxing type of response for the muscles, you end with the cold, this way the air will feel warmer, allowing the muscles to relax more easily.
The hot and cold method should not be used when an injury is less than 48 hours old, as it can move the swelling too quickly, and won’t let the body to go through its natural healing process, or giving the area the protection that it needs to keep you from injuring yourself again. However, if it does feel like the cold isn’t managing the swelling well enough, and the injury is in either mid to lower leg or arm, you can always put the cold to the injury, then heat into the highest joint of that limb. For example sprained ankle, cold to the ankle then heat into the groin area; wrist swelling, cold to the wrist, heat to the armpit. What this will do is draw the swelling into the main lymph nodes for that limb, by making the muscles constrict around the swollen area, and relax the area at the larger lymph nodes, so they can collect more of the swelling. Sometimes you will feel a cool trickling feeling going up the limb towards the heat. This is normal. Also, don’t forget to elevate the area with the swelling.