Post-Hiking PainWritten by Louise Roach
Calves are burning, knees hurt and legs feel like Jello. After a major hike, body is asking, “why torture?” How to deal with post-hiking pain and recovery is something every hiker faces as they advance to more strenuous levels.For day-hikers, backpackers and trail runners, after-care for pain is a very real part of sport. Injuries and lactic acid build-up can keep a hiker sidelined for days and make simple act of going down stairs excruciating. Many precautions can be taken to ensure less stress to legs, knees and feet during a hike, but as every seasoned hiker knows, it’s not going uphill that’s problem it’s coming down! Hiking down a steep descent places additional stress on knees and muscles that have not been conditioned for downhill activity. Joints and tendons become painfully inflamed. And pushing past ones level of ability and distance, increases production of lactic acid, resulting in a burning feeling in leg muscles. Don't let pain be a discouraging factor in pursuing higher achievements on trail. The sense of loftiness felt when reaching pinnacle of a climb is worth conquering post-hiking pain. Pre-hiking suggestions to minimize pain: - Get fitted with sturdy, stable boots or trail running shoes. - Buy shoes/boots that are at ½ to 1 full size larger than your regular shoe size. After several hours of hiking, feet will swell and need room to expand. - Wear socks made of Coolmax® for moisture control and to minimize blisters. - Pre-condition legs weeks before a strenuous hike by doing short hill hikes and strengthening exercises (squats, lunges, step-ups and step-downs). You can also increase your lactic acid threshold and level of fatigue (thereby lowering occurrence of sore muscles) by increasing your activity level and training at 85%-90% of your maximum heart rate for at least 20 minutes daily. - Use stretching exercises for problem areas such as hamstring, IT band, etc. to increase flexibility. - If needed, wear leg braces to stabilize knees and help reduce stress. Neoprene braces can be purchased over counter at any drug store. - Stay hydrated and eat carbohydrates and protein during and after hike. This can help minimize lactic acid build-up. - Use a hiking pole(s) to redistribute weight, help with balance and reduce stress on knees. - Learn technique of heel-to-toe walking so as to make full contact with heel to ground. - Try to control uphill and downhill progression so as not to bound, go too fast, or “pound” trail. Slightly bend knees when descending. Make a conscious effort to keep weight centered with knee tracking directly over toe (no twisting in or out). An automatic response to descending a hill is to lean backwards, rather than stay centered. This can result in injury, such as IT Band Friction Syndrome.
| | Atkins Diet Saptkins DietWritten by Gary R. Hess
It is said that as many as 40% of all Americans are struggling with obesity. To combat this, many diet and weight-loss programs have been popping up across country. The most known diet which has come to forefront is Atkins Diet.The Atkins Diet is very simple, eat low carbohydrates. Many people believe this means don’t worry about amount of calories or fat you eat, however that is a huge misconception. The dieters who use this program believe that calories and fat do not matter when eating low carb food, but in some cases this has proven to be fatal. When eating high fat food your cholesterol will climb and climb which may even lead to a heart attack or stroke. The reason why Atkins Diet has proven to work is because your body goes through a several changes when there is a sudden alteration of diet. The Atkins Dieters also tend to leave out several food groups including fruit and vegetables since they are “high carb food” and then tend to grab a steak instead which has very low carbohydrates. This is ridiculous, why? Because once you start eating carbohydrates again your body will act negatively and force victims to gain their weight back quicker and possibly even more than before.
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