recovery after sport

The Theory

After a long training session or about of dynamic movement, the legs are full of by products of dynamic muscle use-this is usually referred to as lactic acid; but the lactic actually disappears back into the body within a very short time of the movement ceasing.

The muscles are usually tight and may be sore after prolonged use; this tightness prevents the by-products from being moved back to the body because the calf muscles which are the motor drivers for the calf muscle pump cannot function.

Tight muscles put constant tension on the venous and lymphatic systems setting up a cycle where the muscles are fatigued and needing fresh blood to enter them.

They can't recieve it because the old fluid is held down at the feet stopping the heart pushing new blood into the tissues; without it the legs stay fatigued until the muscles recover enough to allow movement so they can remove enough fluid to let fresh in.

Most sports people stretch after they have had dynamic movement; this benefits the circulation in the lower legs by reducing the tension in the muscle compartments and giving enough room for the veins to have some flexibility in the muscle tissues.

Unfortunately the athlete does not take advantage of this leeway they have to give themselves a faster recovery.

The World Run Recovery System does take the opportunity of this window to manually restart things moving without using invasive techniques to bring about recovery.

Gravity and the weight of blood in the body-hydrostatic pressure

The term for this is Hydrostatic pressure (Hydro-water Static-standing still) and is measured in mm hg.

Blood is sent through the body from the heart under pressure through the arteries; when it reaches the feet, the pressure runs out and there is none left to bring it up the legs back to the body against gravity for refreshment and recycling back through the system again.

-10 mm hg

+90 mm hg

In a standing person, pressure in the veins is low at the top of the head and high at the bottom; the pressure and weight placed on the veins in the legs is very high.

For the sports person this means that it is difficult to get rid of the used blood let new blood take its place so recovery takes longer than it should.

The Calf Muscle Pump
The way the body does this is through a system called the calf muscle pump

The muscle pump is made up of all the leg muscles, but the main motor to drive the pump are the calf muscles which compress the veins; the pressure forces open one way valves and moves the used blood and fluid against gravity up to the body.

Oxygen depleted blood is progressively moved from the lower legs back up to the body where it is re-nourished with oxygen and nutrients and sent back out again to various parts of the body through the arteries.

The World Run Recovery System takes advantage of using the body to assist itself to recover by working with the muscles-the recovering sports person can achieve a similar recovery rate to what we achieve just as easily.

There are 3 points to note

Reading across from the competitors name each days distance

1) day one distance is always high because they are fresh and as the event wears on fatigue sets in and the muscle become angry

2) day 6 there is barely any distance being made because the muscles are reacting to the abuse they have had

3) the increase in distance half way through the week when I changed my approach from using conventional massage of working on the muscles to working with them

The decrease in distance the next days was because I did not work with them again or because I was unsure of what I was doing, I went back to working on the muscles

Other comments

Tomas Rusek continued on from the day I took him over and kept up the distance until the last day when he wanted a conventional pre-event massage to speed him up-we slowed him down

G Watts did his first day of 131.2 kilometers and never came in until the last 24 hours then came in frequently his distance increased to 133.6 kilometers

B Beauchamp was an average runner who did better than he ever did previously at this event-in 1996 we went to the Nanango 16 day 1000 mile event

We had him off for Light Manual Muscle Relaxation every 6 hours to freshen his legs-he finished the run and was placed number 17 on the 1000 mile record holders for that year. (Not too many people can run or walk this distance in this time)

Cliff Young and Drew Kettle both broke their 48 hour age world records here

While it is impossible to have the 'Sports Institute of Hard Knocks' with you or attend our campuses because I am in Australia and hopefully the world, (you can come out and meet us if we are where you are; see our route www.worldrun.org) you can obtain an Institute manual to find out how.

Manual Therapies have been used in sport for many years

The times they are used be classifies the type of therapy used

Pre-event is a fast dynamic massage to prepare the muscles for action

Post-Event is slow and relaxing to help the body to recover from the action

In-training is done when the muscles can accept deeper work to sort out any problems that might have developed during competition

Pre-event and in-training manual therapies are not being discussed here as my specialization is not in these areas-it is in recovery so I am not going to cover them other than to say there are many other sites dealing with them in their various ways

Isolation and lack of facilities

Many sports, sporting areas, teams and individual athletes are isolated and have very few up to date modern facilities and trained people to service them

This is not a problem when substituting complicated manual therapies that only trained practitioners can do with the latest in non-technical 'cutting edge' solutions that can be used by anyone

True Story-When I went to look after the Danish team at the 2007 24 hour world championships in Montreal, the airline mislaid all all my clothes, tent and everything else, except for the few things I carried on board the aircraft with me



My equipment for the whole race consisted of a chair (next to the bottles) for eating sleeping and working on

How can I get hold of the system?

The athlete who wants to use the system can obtain the information they need by down loading a manual from this website.

By doing so they are also contributing towards the expenses of the 'Sports Institute of Hard Knocks' which is part of the World Run 2 North to South

The founder is the recovery specialist on the project but is not part of the sponsor package which quite rightly concentrates on the runners support

It is very difficult to obtain sponsorship as the support party who still has to meet ongoing costs

By contributing $20 for a manual the athlete is helping the runners to stay on the road until they finish; as well they help themselves improve their own sporting performance through a faster recovery.

Feel free to sort though our manual shop to see if your sport is represented; if not please contact the Sports Institute of Hard Knocks and we will do our best to write it for you!

Help Needed

Some of the money contributed will also go towards a charity the Institute will be setting up to help poorer children who cannot afford to do a sport because of a lack of equipment, money to pay fees and tuition.

While the Institute has struggled for many years without any funds or payment, this has not left much time for learning how to start and run a charity.

It would be appreciated if someone or company would be good enough to advise on this issue so I can work on this while on the run around the world collecting information as to what is actually needed and how best to apply it.

Meanwhile here are some photos to look at

World run team getting ready for a morning run on Mors (Denmark)

Me with Jeser Olsen World Runner at Antibes 6 Jour event 2007


The Institutes working area at 2007 world championships Montreal


The Sports Institute of Hard Knocks doing a workshop on Mors

The World Run Recovery System