Dealing with Aches and Pains After Exercise
After participating in physical activity, particularly something new to your body, it is common to experience muscle soreness[i] but a survey by Movelat pain relief gel[ii] found that 35% of us don’t warm up before exercise, risking serious injury, with 10% admitting it is because they don’t know how to.
Olly Jones BSc, personal trainer and Head Trainer of the Marlow Club, says: “Whether you are exercising for fun or sport, every individual should have an idea of their limitations and how to deal with them before they start moving.”
If you are suffering from back pain Olly suggests doing some light exercise such as walking or yoga as you want to remain comfortable and not cause any further damage. Although it can be difficult, try to remain positive as being stressed can tense the muscles and cause more pain. Here Olly Jones gives us his top advice:
“There are so many different reasons why your back could be in pain. The key thing is to not just accept it, but to seek professional help. A physiotherapist, chiropractor or osteopath may be able to help and diagnose where the problem lies and treatment to relieve it.
If you are experiencing back pain the worst thing to do is stop moving as this can lead to it worsening. Avoid prolonged periods of sitting as this can shorten muscles that need to function properly.
Make sure you stretch regularly, if you don’t know what or how seek expert advice from an experienced source.
There are different severities of pain but if you can exercise, make sure you do so. This should be focused around corrective exercise to help engage and strengthen deficient dysfunctional areas.”
Preparing for exercise
Almost a fifth (19 per cent) of those surveyed admitted that they ‘forget’ to stretch after a workout
10 per cent don’t do it because they don’t know how to and 17 per cent avoid warming up properly because they are self-conscious of the way they look doing it.
Olly Jones also says: “It’s concerning to hear that so many of us don’t bother to warm up before exercise. Not only does a pre-exercise warm up enhance your performance, but it prevents injury by loosening the joints and increasing blood flow to the muscles, allowing the body to prepare slowly and safely. Without it, we risk sprains and strains.”
“An ideal warm up should last around 20 minutes and involve light cardiovascular work such as jogging, combined with stretches to warm up muscles. Lunges, high knees and squats are good to start with. A warm up is exactly that – you should feel warm after.”
Cautious regions
An injury conscious 32 per cent of Scots and 34 per cent of Londoners will take the time to warm up properly before working out
10 per cent of those in Northern Ireland shun it because they feel silly doing a warm up
22 per cent in the north east simply forget.
Injury prone Brits
21 per cent have injured themselves trying out a fitness activity, including falling over while running, back injuries from weight lifting and even broken bones
15 per cent of those surveyed said they had to stop a sport because of an injury.
For slight sprains and strains try a pain cream/gel like Movelat, its unique formula is easily absorbed in to the skin and delivers a clinically proven anti-inflammatory exactly where you need it. If you are experiencing severe back pain for longer than 6 weeks you should make an appointment with your GP.
Movelat Relief Gel & Cream
Movelat is a topical analgesic with clinically proven ingredients that provide targeted relief for local pain and inflammation caused by rheumatic and muscular pain, stiffness, sprains, strains and mild arthritic conditions.
Movelat 3d packsMovelat is applied to the skin at the site of pain, this means less of the medicine circulates in the body. Available as both a cream and a gel, once applied to the skin these ingredients are able to reach the source of discomfort and pain, providing effective targeted pain relief.
Movelat Relief Cream/Gel is available from Boots, Tesco, Independent & High Street Pharmacies. RRP £4.62 for 40g & RRP £7.36 for 80g. Visit www.movelat.co.uk for more information and advice on pain relief.
i http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/sore-muscles-dont-stop-exercising#1
ii Survey of 2,000 UK adults, Movelat, February 2016
