Getting through the Holidays

There can be many stresses on your body, as well as, mind during the Holidays. With rushing around to get last minute gifts, entertaining family and friends, not to mention over eating and drinking your body can take quite the beating. Here are some steps to get yourself back into a good healthy routine.
1) Always remember to put yourself first! If family is stressing you or plans are not going accordingly stop and take some time to take care of yourself. You have many choices of things to do to help yourself. Take an hour to hit the gym, do some yoga, get a massage or adjustment, take a walk. They all give you time to either relax or burn off stress.

2) Step away from the desserts! Most people over eat during the Holidays and it usually is something "bad" for you. Try adding a dish you really like to a meal instead of dessert. Savory dishes with garlic, onions and spices can actually help burn more calories. Also anything that has a lot of fruits or vegetables can help burn calories and make you feel full quicker and longer.

3) Use some of your down time planning for the coming year's athletic endeavours. Do you want to finish a Marathon or a Tri? Maybe you want to beat last years time. This is a good time to come up with a training plan. Not only will this help you focus on
what you need to work on but it will also get you psyched to start training.

4) Work off that New Year's Eve hangover. Many people drink too much on NYE and then spend the whole next day on the couch. Before the football gets started get up and have an active morning. You may feel lousy but the exercise will help you get rid of the alcohol. Make sure to drink plenty of water. This will help with rehydrating.

5) Finally, take care of those aches and pains. You may not have the time to go get treatment but you can always schedule for after the Holidays. That way you will know that you are going to finally get the treatment you need.

If you need help with any of these suggestions feel free to contact me at painfree123@gmail.com. At Capital Sports Injury Center we focus on all of athletes issues.

How to cope with travelling long distances.

I haven't blogged in awhile since I have been out of town and previous to that the DC area was hit with a blizzard. Both of those events have given me ideas for things to talk about.
Yesterday, I spent the better part of 15 hours travelling from the Pacific Northwest back to DC. In that time I sat on a bus, plane and train. This left me feeling less than ideal. Here are some of the things I did to "work out the kinks".
1) Get up as often as possible and walk around. This is the single easiest and most important thing to do while travelling.
2) When there is enough room stretch anything that is feeling tight. (ie, legs, back, neck) These stretches can be simply bending over and touching your toes or crossing one of your legs over the other and pulling your legs into your body.
3) Do some body weight squats to get your brain to engage your glutes again. Lunges and Good Mornings will help loosen your hips, legs, and low back as well. For your neck do range of motion activities like flexing, extending and rotating your head.
4) Drink plenty of water! Too often people don't drink enough while travelling. Not drinking enough water is asking for cramps.
5) Bring along the "Stick" or a soft ball to roll out extremely tight or painful areas. Don't be embaressed about rolling around on a ball. There is usually enough room in the back of planes to do so.
6) If you are travelling with children try turning all of these suggestions into a game. It will keep them engaged and offer you the opportunity to reduce your aches and pains.

Contact info and links

I wanted to add my contact info so that people can ask questions or refer people to me. If you have any questions, comments, or would like to schedule an appointment please feel free to contact me at painfree123@gmail.com. Also we have a very informative YouTube page that you can go to. It is http://www.youtube.com/user/MDSportsInjury. There are videos on everything from proper exercise technique to anatomy lessons and self treatment ideas.

Articles and Information

I will be periodically adding articles that I have written on specific injuries and treatment. In addition, I will be adding an article describing the treatment techniques that we use within our practice. Here is a link to an article on IT Band Syndrome http://www.marylandsportsinjurycenter.com/itbs.html.

Endurance Athlete Off Season Training

This past weekend I took part in a seminar, at CycleLife USA in Georgetown, that covered multiple topics for endurance athletes concerning their off season training. I covered common injuries, along with their symptoms and causes. Hopefully this will be the first of many seminars that our practice, Capital Sports Injury Center, will be involved in.

Please feel free to learn more about our practice at www.DCSportsInjury.com and our partners at CycleLife USA at www.cyclelifeusa.com.