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A study by the Millman Medical Index reported that family health care costs have doubled over the last 9 years.
Another report suggests that much of our health care dollars are spent on diseases that are preventable.  What
can you do to help save your family health care costs?  Prevent as many preventable diseases as possible!  What are preventable diseases?  Diabetes and heart disease are two major ones.  Keeping yourself physically fit and eating well will go a long way in prevention.  Yes, it really is that easy.  When we boil it all down we are in control of whether we eat well and exercise, we are in control of preventing some health problems in our lives, we are in control of seeking professional advice on exercise and wellness as we need to, we are in control of whether we do it or not!!

Some of the best exercises for being healthy are walking, running, push-ups, sit-ups, and squats.  These exercises do not require equipment but only require you to do them.  Exercise three to five times a week once you have approval from your physician to exercise regularly.   If you have not exercised in “a while” then start with this walking program:

Walk at a moderate pace for 5 minutes, then walk at a brisk pace for 12 minutes, then walk at a moderate pace again for 5 minutes.

As you feel yourself improving in fitness over the upcoming weeks, then just increase your pace within this same workout.  If you become very good at this you may turn this into a jogging/running program.  Adding 5 push-ups, 5 sit-ups, and 5 squats after your walking program will enhance your fitness.  As you feel ready, try to add one or two of each every other workout!  Often the first two weeks after beginning an exercise program are the most difficult as far as motivation, consistency, and soreness.  After that, people often start to feel energized by their accomplishments!

You can have some control over your health and your health care costs.  Be your own health care reform package!

To Stretch or not to stretch?

 A lot has been said recently about stretching.  Stretching has been said to reduce injury, increase injury, and have no effect on injuries.  It’s been said to increase performance, decrease performance, and have no effect on performance.  We’ve been told to stretch prior to sport participation and we’ve been told that stretching before sport participation has no advantages.  Hold your stretches, don’t hold your stretches, move while your stretching, stretch after working out, stretch before your workout- many thoughts and lots of confusion.  Do we stretch or not during warm-up?

 The positive aspect is that stretching is being evaluated with scientific research.  The negative aspect is that there is more confusion among athletes as to what to do with stretching.  I would like to give a couple of key thoughts regarding how an athlete should stretch.

 1.            Don’t confuse stretching with warming up.  These can be two different activities.

2.            Stretching isn’t the only way to warm up.

3.            There are different types of “stretching.”

 Stretching, the way many athletes think of it, is done by lengthening a muscle into a range where discomfort it felt and then held for a period of time.  This is best described as passive static stretching.  Recent research has shown that passive static stretching immediately before high speed or power athletic moves such as jumping, hitting a golf ball, or sprinting can reduce performance.^1,2  Some research has indicated that stretching before sport participation does not reduce overall injury but may reduce muscle and tendon injury.³  Many parents, coaches, and athletes have interpreted that the information specific to stretching implies that a warm up does not improve performance or decrease injury.  However, remember, stretching is not a warm up.  Stretching can be a component of a warm up or a cool down and should be used differently based on the application.

The purpose of a warm-up should be to increase body temperature and therefore blood flow to prepare the body for sports activity.  Research has shown warm-ups that include activities other than stretching were effective in improving athletic performance.⁴  Dynamic warm up means the athlete is continuously moving.  Moving muscles into a lengthened position while other muscles are stabilizing is appropriate and effective for preparing the body sports activity.  In fact, one study has shown that aerobic activity before and following stretching improves range of motion and performance more than stretching alone or aerobics alone.⁵  Another study indicated that the negative effects of static stretching on sports performance can be eliminated if sports specific activities are completed after stretching and prior to participation in the sport.²

 So what does all this mean?  Do we stretch or not during warm ups?  My recommendations for a warm up are:

 5-10 minutes of a cardiovascular activity,

select static stretching to defined problem areas,

dynamic/moving stretches (such as walking lunges with alternating arm elevation and alternating trunk rotation), and

high intensity sport specific activities (such as off-ice jump progressions and landing positions for figure skaters.)

References

1.            Gergley JC.  Latent effect of passive static stretching on driver clubhead speed, distance, accuracy, and consistent ball contact in young male competitive golfers.  J Strength Cond Res. 2010 Dec;24(12):3326-33.

2.            Taylor KL, Sheppard JM, Lee H, Plummer N.  Negative effect of static stretching restored when combined with a sport specific warm-up component. J Sci Med Sport. 2009 Nov;12(6):657-61. Epub 2008 Sep 3.

3.            Small K, Mc Naughton L, Matthews M.  A systematic review into the efficacy of static stretching as part of a warm-up for the prevention of exercise-related injury.  Res Sports Med. 2008;16(3):213-31.

4.            Fradkin AJ, Zazryn TR, Smoliga JM.  Effects of warming-up on physical performance: a systematic review with meta-analysis.  J Strength Cond Res. 2010 Jan;24(1):140-8.

5.            Murphy JR, Di Santo MC, Alkanani T, Behm DG.  Aerobic activity before and following short-duration static stretching improves range of motion and performance vs. a traditional warm-up.   Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2010 Oct;35(5):679-90.

Author:

Bryan Ryndak PT, MHS, OCS, CSCS

Owner, Ryndak Physical Therapy

ptmhs@comcast.net