Summer is Here, 50% Off in August
Welcome again to another edition of Refreshing Rehab! The days are getting longer and the weather has been pretty nice, hopefully it’s here for a little while longer. Throughout August you also have the chance to get 50% off your next appointment! All you have to do is introduce a friend or family member to the treatment and you can save yourself saving money as well.
I mentioned that I was holding a charity event in the previous newsletter and we raised £728 on the day. It ws a fantastic day and the money goes to a fantastic cause! I have already started organizing the next one on Sunday 22nd August, so I hope to see you there If I don’t see you before.
Nutrition in Sport
Many people ask how nutrition can play such a vital part in an active individual. It’s easy really. Food provides the fuel for our body to operate, with certain foods used for specific functions in the body.
The body at rest, needs around 1200 calories a day to function at its best. This is without doing anything. With exercise the body changes. As you take part in regular exercise, your metabolism speeds up and the daily calorie requirement increases.
It is important to fill your body with the right calories however. Food high in carbohydrates will provide muscles with the energy you require, though too much carbohydrate can cause any extra to convirt to fat. So be careful with the portion size.
Eating a low fat, high carbohydrate and high protein meal straight after exercise is the best way to get the correct calories back into your body. The carbohydrates refill the muscles with essential glycogen for energy and protein will provide repair for the damaged muscle fibres. For example, If you weigh around 70 kilograms and you run at a 10 minute mile pace, you will burn around 650 calories in an hour¹. This will burn fat as it is running at a sub-maximal pace and when you eat afterwards, as long as your meal is around 650 calories of healthy components, you will have maintained the weight you were before, but you will have replaced some fat out of the body with a more efficient body system.
Feel free to ask how many calories you should be consuming daily with the amount of exercise you are doing, so you can have a guideline of what you should be eating and feel free to ask anything else about nutrition that you feel you may need to know. You can also get you percentage of body fat tested with a non-invasive machine that can help hit goals and inform you on future targets.
Osgood-Schlatter Disease
This is a knee complaint which is most commonly diagnosed in active adolescents, specifically during a growth period as well. It is the result of the tibia (shin) bone in the leg growing quicker than the quadriceps muscle group. This means that at the tibial tuberosity, inflammation and pain will occur as this is the attachment of the muscle². It is more frequent in young males, and the symptoms disappear when the individual has grown fully. The signs of this are that you get pain just below the patella (knee cap), usually during activity and straight after. It would be painful to touch the area and you may find the skin may be red and hot as well. Treating this disease is not easy and can lead to inactivity of the individual for some time. Resting and educating the individual on what is occurring in the body is essential. If the individual can perform reduced activity, this should be encouraged, but a visit to the G.P. is important to get a correct diagnosis and plan of action.
Quick Facts
1. “Your skin is 1mm thick when you are born, growing to 2mm in adulthood.”
2. “The acid inside your stomach is strong enough to dissolve a razor blade.”
3. “Your thigh bones (femurs) are stronger than concrete.”
References
1. McArdle, W.d., Katch, F.I. & Katch, V.L., Exercise Physiology, 5th edition, Lippicott, Williams and Wilkins, London.
2. Peterson, L. & Renestrom, P., Sports Injuries, Their Prevention and Treatment, Taylor and Francis, London.