Massage Therapist, Heal Thyself!
June 30th, 2009
As many of you know, when I’m not offering massage, I’m a dancer and dance instructor.
Recently, while preparing for five performances in two days, I experienced severe knee pain, muscle soreness, headaches, and other classic symptoms of overtraining.
I was able to complete my performances by using a combination of:
- Massage! Flamenco footwork takes a toll on the upper and lower legs. After each practice session, my thighs & calves benefited from gentle “beating” to wake up the muscles and restore blood flow. The massage term for this is “tapotement” – it resembles hitting yourself with your fists. It feels better than that, though!
- Stretching. It’s difficult to overstate the benefits of post-workout stretching, whether that workout is two hours of tap-dancing or thirty minutes of walking. The key is to do it AFTER your workout, not before!
- Sleep. When we sleep, we produce human growth hormone, which promotes healing of muscle tears.
- Vitamins and Electrolytes. Under periods of stress, our bodies produce adrenaline. Adrenaline depletes vitamin C. So in addition to my daily multi, I carried packets of Emergen-C, a drink powder that offers a boost of vitamins B and C and electrolytes. And I carried bananas – a great source of potassium – in my dance bag at all times.
Hopefully, you can take these suggestions to heart as you do your own training, whether it’s for performance, a race like Beach to Beacon, or just a hike in the woods – once the weather clears up, of course.
Which reminds me – I’ll be doing event massage at Beach to Beacon this year. If you’re running, stop in and say hello.
July Newsletter: Heal Thyself! – iContact Community.
Posted in Musings, Newsletter