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How to Decrease the Monday Morning
Soreness After Playing Weekend Warrior?
By Dominic McKinley, MD, CAQ and Joe
Mullins, M. Ed., ATC
It’s recreational
league basketball night or church league
softball game night. We’ve got our Lebron
James’ headband and jersey on or we are
supporting the Ken Griffey, Jr. forearm
sweatbands. We enter the playing arena with
the swagger of our yesteryear. All goes
well as we ring up a triple double (that’s
three double dribble calls) or go four for
four at the plate (that’s four hotdogs at
the concession stand since we didn’t eat
lunch or dinner).
Then comes Monday morning… We claim we will
never put ourselves through that again. We
demand that it isn’t worth it. Yeah,
right! All of us
“I-still-think-I-am-eighteen” warriors will
meet up again next week to do it all over
again. But before we do go out next week to
do it all over again, let’s take a moment to
think if there is anything we can do to
decrease those Monday morning doldrums…
We need to take into
consideration one of the most essential
aspects of exercise and physical training –
the repair of muscles and cells in our
bodies. Body parts that have just been
exercised beyond their normal routines need
time to recover. Professional athletes
improve their performance by using
Regeneration1. This is
definitely one area that we Weekend Warriors
need to imitate from our professional
counterparts.
How is
Regeneration performed? For the purpose
of this article and due to the length of the
program we will highlight a couple of the
physical recovery techniques that will
assist you in decreasing the soreness levels
after a hard workout or after a long game.
(For a complete download of the
Regeneration and recovery program log
onto
www.athletictrainingandconditioning.com
and click the regeneration exercises tab.)
Two items are used
with this program: 1) a foam roll and 2) an
8-foot long rope. The foam roll routine is
like receiving a massage. It uses deep
compression to massage out the muscle aches
and spasms that can develop over a period of
time. Increased blood flow, decreased
muscle tension, and relaxed nerves are
benefits from the foam roll routine (Fig.
1).
The rope is used to
perform a stretching philosophy known as
Active-Isolated Stretching (AIS). AIS
stretching is performed after exercise when
the muscles and other tissues are warmed
up. The rope is used to secure your
foot/ankle, for example, to stretch the back
of your thigh (hamstrings) (Fig. 2). AIS
stretching works on the principle of
activating the opposite muscle from the one
you are stretching so to cause the to be
stretched muscle to relax. The rope is then
used to gently assist the leg, in this
example, to be raised higher.
In summary,
Regeneration is important to assist your
body in recovering from physical activity.
By performing a Regeneration program
after your normal exercise routine or game,
you will be promoting recovery and
relaxation for your body thereby decreasing
those Monday morning aches and pains.
Dominic McKinley, MD,
CAQ is a primary care sports medicine
physician with Guilford Orthopaedic and
Sports Medicine Center in Greensboro. He
serves as team physician for N. C. A&T State
University and Bishop McGuiness High
School. He enjoys running. Dr. McKinley
can be contacted at 336-275-3325. More
information about Dr. McKinley and the
services he provides can be found at
www.guilfordortho.com.
Joe Mullins, M. Ed., ATC is Founder and
Director of Athletic Training &
Conditioning, Inc. He specializes in
functional evaluations and works with
athletes from middle school, high school,
and college to professional and Olympic
athletes. He can be contacted at
joe.mullins@athletictrainingandconditioning.com.
More information about Joe Mullins and the
services he provides can be found at
www.athletictrainingandconditioning.com.
References:
Core Performance by Mark Verstegen
and Pete Williams, St. Martin’s Press 2004
Contact
Athletic Training & Conditioning, Inc.
www.athletictrainingandconditioning.com
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