PHYSICAL THERAPY RECOVERY FOR RUNNERS

Certain foods consumed at specific times and amounts can help prevent soreness and promote recovery after a training session — namely complex carbohydrates plus protein to help repair and rebuild muscles. Eating at a ratio of 3 complex cards to 1 protein, within a half hour of running when your muscles are most receptive to rebuilding glycogen stores is advisable by the American Council of Exercise (ACE). The easy solution here is to find a favorite protein bar that has a 3:1 ratio of carbs to protein or perhaps a plain bagel with peanut butter or almond butter. ACE also advises drinking lots of water to “help regulate blood pressure, body temperature, and redistribute energy and nutrients throughout your entire body. If you run for less than 90 minutes plain water will sufficiently rehydrate your body. For runs longer than 90 minutes plus, you’ll want to replenish glycogen to your muscles so a sports drink or alternative will help keep you going. To perform at your best you will want to consult a dietician or nutritionist versed in sports nutrition. They will be able to tailor a plan specific to your training and lifestyle to ensure optimal results.

Running requires specific amounts of range of motion to be successful. If you are not able to get certain joints into specific positions your body will find alternative ways to achieve the task via compensation patterns. This can lead to inefficient movement patterns and also increasing stress/load into tissues that are not well suited to the stresses of running and possibly lead to injury. At Perfect Stride we can assess your musculoskeletal system, prescribe and educate you on how to optimize your mobility training routine by:

Testing your range of motion. This allows us to clearly identify areas in your body that have joint and soft tissue restrictions that could benefit from proper mobilization and mobility training.​

Detecting underlying movement inefficiencies that may be contributing to range of motion limitations. For instance, you may have “short” hamstrings due to issues with a weak core, poor ergonomic set-up at work, previous injury or neurological limitations. But unless those contributing factors are properly identified and resolved, stretching your hamstrings probably won’t provide you with any lasting relief, since the underlying triggers will still be there!​

Teaching you how to incorporate mobility training properly into your training routine. When you go to a gym and watch people stretch and mobilize tissues, you’ll often see incorrect or even unsafe techniques being used. We use the science of biomechanics and human physiology to show you exactly when, what, how, and how long to stretch, mobilize or activate your tissues so you’ll actually start to see significant improvements. Just as importantly, we can also teach you where NOT to focus your mobility training if you have specific joints or areas that have adequate mobility but may need some stability or strength training instead.​

We will introduce you to a variety of mobility enhancing techniques. Holding a stretch statically is just one way to work on your mobility. But there are also a lot of other highly effective ways to stretch, mobilize and activate tissues that you may enjoy and find use out of.​

Assessing your movement quality before and after mobility training. We can help you see the “before” and “after” changes in your movement patterns to give you extra feedback and motivation for keeping up with your mobility routine.​

Cross-training can be effective in protecting muscles from being overworked as you continue active exercise. The purpose of cross training is to improve your aerobic fitness and tissue resiliency without the impact of running. This is why most people consider cross-training to also be an injury reduction and performance enhancing tactic during training. Cross-training days should be used strategically to either promote recovery or prepare you for a hard effort (like a long run). It depends on your level of fitness and what type of race you’re training for. But for example, on days you need to give yourself time to recover from running, do a low-impact activity such as biking, strength training, swimming, yoga or using the elliptical trainer at your gym. A short walk can even give your running muscles and joints a needed change of pace while allowing you to maintain your fitness level.

Manual therapy is more than a passive hands on treatment modality: It’s also an effective way to help reduce muscle tension and soreness, reduce injury risk, increase range of motion, and more. When you use a muscle group to do work repeatedly and consistently for extended periods of time, you break down your muscle fibers so that they may rebuild to become stronger and more efficient. This is how your muscles adapt to increased workloads. In the process your tissues become sensitized due to the breakdown of tissue fibers. Using a foam roller post-workout or active recovery routine will allow you to desensitize the involved tissues, reduce post workout soreness and even improve range of motion so that you can get your body back to healthy functionality. A Physical Therapist can help you with providing skilled manual therapy and also providing guidance on what forms of soft tissue mobilizations are best for you. 

After a long hard training session or race, a good night’s sleep is very important as your body needs quality downtime to recover and repair. This means that even on nights after you haven’t exercised, you should be in the habit of going to bed and getting up at times that will allow you to log at least 8 hours of sleep (of course this number may vary for individuals but this is a good general rule). Sleep is often overlooked by runners, but it is so important in preventing injury and building muscle. Getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night is one of the first things to try when a runner experiences problems with injuries or endurance/fatigue. By staying up too late and not sleeping properly a runner makes it impossible for the body to adequately repair itself.

There is no muscle growth that occurs during your workouts. In fact, after a hard speed session or long run, the muscles are actually broken down and demonstrating small micro tears. The body has the ability to repair the muscle and actually make it stronger so that it can withstand future workouts. However, this rebuilding occurs primarily during sleep.

When sleeping, the body’s temperature and heart lowers and the entire body enters a stage of relaxation. During the deepest stage of sleep, which is called rapid eye movement (REM), the body releases growth hormones to repair muscle tissue. The muscles are paralyzed during this time to allow maximum repair.

Visit Perfect Stride in Union Square, New York City and enjoy a relaxing session with our Air Relax Compression Boots. If you’re feeling sore, whether from chronic pain, injury or from a workout, or simply to help boost lymph drainage (detox). Used world-wide by orthopedic surgeons, athletic trainers, professional and Olympic athletes, compression therapy has quickly become the treatment option of choice for:

Pre/Post Workout

Post-Surgery Rehab

Treating acute and chronic injuries

Injury Recovery

Recovering faster and performing better

Healing Faster with less pain.