Monthly Q&A With Allan Drew
Every month, I’m going to choose the most interesting injury question I’ve received and answer it in this column. I encourage you to write with any questions pertaining to your muscular injury or joint pain.
Submit your question to Allan Drew today- click here to submit your question.
Question from Nov 15, 2010
Answer
Dr. William Simpson, Professor of Family Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina says, "If we stay active, many of the things that supposedly decline with age really don't decline." Study after study bears this out. For example, researchers measured the effects of aging on 756 athletes aged 35 to 94, who participated in events such as rowing and swimming and track and field during the 1985 World Masters Games in Toronto. Terence Kavanagh, M.D., Director of the Toronto Rehabilitation Center and principal author of the study says, "We found some people in their late sixties and seventies who had about the same cardiopulmonary fitness as you would expect form sedentary 25 year olds." When compared to sedentary people their own age, they averaged twice the cardiopulmonary fitness. Plus, they had more lean body mass and stronger cardiovascular system. But what is most astounding is the amount of effort that went into getting them in such good shape. Most trained less than 7 hours a week in preparation for the games. That's less than one hour a day. They were people who were interested in having a good time and weren't fanatical trainers in any sense. It seems that even moderate exercise can push functional aging back 10 years. Exercise can help you to live longer but more importantly, at least to me, you can live healthier.Question from Oct 1, 2010
This weeks question comes from Craig of Westport, CT.
"I'm a 42 year old man who has played competitive soccer all my life. This year I'm finding it more difficult to keep up with these younger guys. I am experiencing sciatic and low back pain on my left side severe enough to make me consider quitting this sport I love so well. I ‘m a house painter by trade and having trouble working because of the pain. What can I do?"
Answer
This is not uncommon in active people reaching their forties, but remember, you're forty not twenty. Aside from that you should be able to continue to play. I usually explain it this way, when you're two you can touch your head to the floor without bending your knees, when you're sixteen you can touch the floor with your fingers, when your thirty-five you may touch your ankles and when your forty-six you're lucky if you can touch your knees. If there is one thing I can suggest to anyone hoping to avoid injuries its ‘stretch'.
For your problem start by having someone test the range of motion (ROM) of your psoas muscles. These are powerful core muscles that can pull on the lower (lumbar) spine. What I believe you will find is the psoas on the right will be tighter than the left causing a distortion in the lumbar spine. If this is the case a massage therapist will be able to help release the tension, with massage and stretching and balance the right and the left psoas. Stretching is an integral part of the healing process. Because of what you do both for a living and playing, all the major muscles groups in the hip area should be stretched on a regular basis. When I say stretch this is not a five minute quickie but a concentrated effort to loosen and lengthen the muscles. The muscles I refer to are the quads, hamstrings and the abductors of the hips. Stretching can be uncomfortable and for some reason after a few minutes we want to quit, don't, feel the muscle stretching, imagine the muscle fibers lengthening. This will make a difference.
My book, The Reason You're Hurting, contains details on releasing and stretching needed to begin the healing process. Publication is slated for 2011.
Yours in Healing,
Allan Drew
A Book in Progress... Self-healing through evaluation, massage and stretching.