Art Gallery Aching Legs Relief

Art Gallery Aching Legs Relief Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist

Copyright 2008 Michael Gillan http://www.aching-legs.org

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Art Gallery Aching Legs Recovery

Fatigued Leg recovery using an environmentally friendly recovery system

The numbers of people visiting art galleries worldwide number in the millions-I have just checked-this is a lot of people visiting and walking around these huge places-and getting aching legs while they do it-they would probably see much more art than they do but unfortunately many can’t go beyond a few hours before calling it a day Why does this happen? Flat Floors and Slow Walking= aching legs

The body is like a column of fluid that is subject to air pressure, arterial pressure from the blood being pumped by the heart throughout the body and to the extreme parts such as the hands, arms, and down to legs and feet

When it gets down there, it runs out of pressure to bring it back up the legs against gravity back to the body for renourishment and recycling and recirculation as fresh blood

All the fluids in the body gravitate down towards the lowest part of the body; the feet-gravity holds it there where fluid separates from the depleted blood and fills the tissue spaces around the ankles

As it is not being pumped away fast enough from the lower legs, the ankles swell and if it wasn’t for the ends of the toes it would all flow out of the body all over the ground

The Calf Muscle Pump

The calf muscles are a major part of circulation in the lower legs; they are the motors for a pump called the calf muscle pump that forces used blood against gravity through one-way valves in the veins back up the body, but to provide the power for this they need to be moving

When you walk slowly around the flat floors in the gallery stopping to look at the artworks, fresh blood can’t enter the muscle tissues as the calf muscles tighten stop working efficiently which allows depleted blood to stagnate in the ankles and feet

Because the muscle tissues are not being refreshed with supplies of fresh blood, the muscles fatigue and they ache- with the legs increasing in weight as the fluid builds up-they become heavy to carry around

To stop the muscles fatiguing, fresh oxygen and nutrient filled blood has to keep being supplied to the muscles-but when the muscles are fatigued they can’t work at facilitating or supplying their own needs

http://www.aching-legs.org/



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Aching Leg Relief

Just sitting down to rest is not going to help them recover

When the muscles are not used they stiffen up-and on sitting for just a few minutes the muscles at the back of the legs including calf muscles shorten become ‘fixed’ in that position

On standing, the shortened muscles make it difficult to walk for quite a while until they ‘warm up’ and re-stretch making walking a little easier, but because the rest did not move any depleted fluid from the legs, it is not long before the feet are throbbing and the legs aching more

The relief of aching legs can be approached in different ways and the decision of which way to go is dependent on a number of factors-the biggest one being what other commitments you have in your life at that present time and the time you have to commit to it

There is the passive way for those with time to spare and the active way for those without

Passive Relief

This is the passive way-waiting for the legs to recover themselves

The ‘passive’ option is the most recommended way to relieve aching legs

Find a quiet area and lie down with the legs elevated to let the fluid flow back

(Been there-done that-didn’t seem to work too well- I was stiff when I stood up and went light headed)




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If you are like the ultra marathon runners and walk ers and do not have time to wait for passive recovery to work at relieving those aching legs the active option is better

They suffer from sore feet, sore legs, swollen ankles, stiffness, wasted muscles, muscle cramps, tiredness, mental fatigue, restless legs, sore skin, night pains, muscle spasm, muscle wastage, swollen ankles, hyperthermia, hypothermia, temper tantrums, vomiting, food sensitivity, allergies, rashes, loss of judgement-and that is the good part

These are 2 people who have just been running for 3 days around a running track in all

weathers and they have aching legs

Aching legs fatigued muscles and recovery

Someone with aching legs and ultra marathoners both have the same thing in common-how to recover from their aching legs and fatigued muscles quickly, and the quickest most effective way of doing this is simply to work the calf muscle pump so that the output of used blood and the input of fresh blood is increased

The secret to leg recovery-the active way

The calf muscle pump The calf muscles act as the motor for a pump to take it from the feet back to the body against gravity through the venous system where it is re-nourished and recirculated-but to be working they have to move.

Look at the photo above-how many towels and bottles of oil do you see?

None because the latest in non-polluting , non-technical method of leg recovery techniques is being used




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The active way to help the legs recover is to learn how to work with the muscles If you can use your hands you have the tools to do the job of recovery

Recovery from leg fatigue or ongoing leg maintenanc e

Light Manual Muscle Relaxation

Here I am giving a demonstration of leg recovery in Denmark using

Light Manual Muscle Relaxation

More details and references on ultra marathon can be found on my websites

Everyone needs recovery after a tough day-and the f act that to get it blood to the muscles in the legs needs refreshing But to get that old depleted blood in the lower legs needs pumping out of them so that new fresh blood can be pumped in-simple really

How much training and theory does it need to do thi s? Very little because it is not specific




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Below is a chart from when I discovered working with the muscles rather than on them shows how much things did improve for the run ners and walkers If these figures are translated into recovery speed for the person with aching legs they would be very happy

Results from 1995 Coburg 6 day footrace

Name Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6A Krouglikov 237.2 113.6 130 106 126 108 Kilometers

539 284 325 365 315 270 Laps

T Rusek 215.2 98.8 98 139.6 138.4 122.4 Kilometers538 247 245 349 346 306 Laps

M Taylor 174.4 128.8 143.6 123.6 138.4 122.4 Kilometers436 322 359 309 302 223 Laps

B Beauchamp 180.4 133.2 124 117.6 110 93.2 Kilometers451 333 310 294 275 233 Laps

P Gray 150 134 105.2 94.8 111.6 106 Kilometers375 335 263 237 279 265 Laps

D Parris 138.4 108.4 106.8 116.4 106 107.2 Kilometers346 271 267 274 265 268 Laps

I Davis 168 119.2 90 116.4 106 107.2 Kilometers420 298 225 291 180 247 Laps

G Watts 132.2 96.4 99.2 104.4 92.8 133.6 Kilometers328 241 248 261 232 334 Laps

C Young 142 91.2 90 97.6 88 92 Kilometers355 228 225 244 220 230 Laps

D Kettle 138.2 86.8 90.8 95.2 94.4 84.4 Kilometers332 217 227 238 236 212 Laps

R Hill 128 80.8 99.2 70 95.6 96.6 Kilometers320 202 248 175 239 241 Laps

K Fisher 164 91.6 50 115.2 49.6 81.2 Kilometers410 229 125 288 124 203 Laps

G Pollard 120 74.8 73.6 68.4 69.6 61.2 Kilometers300 187 184 171 174 153 Laps

The above group came in for Light Manual Muscle Relaxation The below group did not or had their own recovery people

T Rafferty 141.6 112.8 104.8 101.6 98 96.4 Kilometers354 282 262 254 245 241 Laps

G McConnel 145.6 110.8 126.4 113.6 108.4 106 ki lometers363 277 287 284 271 265 Laps

G Audley 152.8 110.8 126.4 113.6 114.8 95.2 ki lometers

S Scanlon 140.8 82 84 34 0 0 Kilometers352 205 210 85 pulled out-blisters Laps

J Timms 127.2 98.4 74.8 0 0 0 ki lometers




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Recovery quickly-easily and in an environmentally friendly way!

Light Manual Muscle Relaxation is a simple recovery system that is easy to use without the need for equipment other than the hands

Resource Box

Michael Gillan is an Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist who has been a masseur around many ultra long distance events both in Australia and internationally since he was a student in 1993

In 1995 while working at a 6 day run, he changed the approach to recovery of the athletes from the conventional way of working on the muscles using the hands and fingers to increase muscle blood circulation, to working with the muscles and making them work on themselves

The results from this changeover can be seen on the Coburg result sheet on page 5

In 1996 Michael went to the Nanango 1000 Mile 16 day event where it was tested and helped the worlds 4-5 and 11th to achieve their distances

Other notable events the system was tested on was World Run 1 with Jesper Olsen www.worldrun.org and the World Run 2 training camp in Denmark in 2007

Aching legs are easy to develop and unless they have a medical contribution to them (and there are many medical reasons so they should be investigated by a medical professional) they can be relatively easy to relieve

If they are put in a position where they constantly ache, they can actually be the cause of medical problems (see www.hazards.org/standing) How did I discover Light Manual muscle Relaxation?

Because for my first 2 years in ultra marathon I used conventional recovery systems and they really did not work-nothing changed, nothing improved-it was not until I accidentally changed my approach from working on the muscles to working with them did things improve for both myself and the ultra entrants

Aching legs should always be checked out by a medical professional before doing anything to and with them because there are many medical reasons why they may be aching-see a physician first If you want more details go to my website at http://www.aching-legs.org or to look at some nice picture instead go to http://www.redbubble.com/people/siamesecat


http://www.worldrun.org/

http://www.hazards.org/standing


http://www.redbubble.com/people/siamesecat



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Art Gallery Aching Legs Relief

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