A New Back Massage Exercise With “The Stick”.

Hello everyone,

I have taken a little time off of blogging to concentrate on getting the word out about The Stick in Alberta, Canada.  I am now back to my schedule of providing great material and tips for Stick users.

Here is a video that explains how to use The Body Stick to massage that hard to reach place in the middle of your back.  The massage technique can be done anywhere at anytime.  People who spend a lot of time at their computers may be especially interested in this video.

Using “The Stick” for Reducing Muscle Soreness

Many people believe that stretching before and after an activity or training session will prevent muscle soreness. 

Before we get to far into this topic, it might be a good idea review another post I did titled “Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness and The Stick“.

Muscle soreness is a result of microscopic tears to the muscle itself.  After vigorous activity, it is not uncommon to have tight, sore muscles.  There is a place for stretching and it does help to relieve some of the tightness, but is it effective?  Some people say Yes, others say No!  As you might guess, this is a hotly debated topic!

Research has stated that stretching after exercise does not help muscle soreness!  In fact 10 studies produced very consistent findings. They showed there was minimal or no effect on the muscle soreness experienced between half a day and three days after the physical activity. In other words, the author found that the evidence derived from mainly laboratory-based studies of stretching indicate that muscle stretching does not reduce delayed-onset muscle soreness in young healthy adults.  To see the whole article, click here!

It is well known that massage therapy reduces muscle soreness.  That is where The Stick comes in!  You can massage your muscles anytime and anywhere.  NO SPECIAL EQUIPMENT IS NEEDED!  You can roll out your muscles sitting in a chair, standing with a leg up, sitting on the ground or even kneeling! 

The Stick is the right massage tool to help reduce muscle soreness!  Many people refer to The stick as a massage stick.

The Sprinter Stick

Massage Therapy Reduces Muscle Soreness

As you can see from my last post, massage has been the topic of study for its ability to relieve pain and soreness. Especially concerning high intense exercise.  Specifically, sore muscles, are attracting increased attention as sports massage becomes a regular part of an athletes’ training regiment.

As I mentioned before, there has been recent studies that highlight some of the benefits of receiving massage therapy after a training session to reduce soreness.

Researchers at the University of Iowa, studied DOMS. Participants in the study exerted their muscles, then were assessed for Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. Deep tissue massage was given to the participants, then their level of soreness was reanalyzed.

In this study from Iowa, Frey Law et al., were looking for the analgesic effects of massage on reducing soreness. They found that the participants muscle symptoms were decreased by as much as 50%. Depending on the pain measures taken, they found muscle soreness was relieved by 25%-50%.  Those are significant findings! 

In addition, at Kings College of London,  a study by Hurley and Bearne reported that massage was amongst the non-exercise physical therapies found to be effective for treating musculoskeletal conditions. They also mentioned other reasons to use massage for pain relief as cost efficient and easy to self-administer. 

After reading these studies, The Stick is the perfect tool for helping with muscle soreness when it comes to DOMS.  You can use The Stick anytime and anywhere with easy and accuracy.  The Stick is very cost efficient.  To find out more, visit our site – The Stick provided by Zealous Vitality Inc.

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness and The Stick

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS is the fancy name to why your muscles hurt so much after a workout or training session.  There have been many suggestions to why this happens.  Some theories include:

• The muscle itself has been damaged and therefore is sore.  Microscopic tears and lesions form throughout the muscle.
• Muscle soreness is the natural occurrence after a particular bout of exercise that has a high intensity or duration.
• Muscles need to be broken down and recover in order to get bigger and stronger.
• Muscle soreness and stiffness after exercise is most common when an exercise/training program has been implemented or altered.

Needless to say, I think anyone who has experienced a tough training session can expect some soreness over the next 24 -48 hours.  The key question is how to alleviate that muscle pain!!  The Stick can help.  I know this because new research out of Australia has suggested that simply stretching out the next day is not very effective at all.  Here are some ideas from Elizabeth Quinn who is a sports medicine expert: (I Have placed “The Stick”beside the tips that apply to using this great massage tool.)

Here are some tips for dealing with soreness after exercise:

• Try an Ice Bath or Contrast Water Bath. Although no clear evidence proves they are effective, many pro athletes use them and claim they work to reduce soreness.
• Use active recovery techniques. This strategy does have some support in the research. Perform some easy low-impact aerobic exercise to increase blood flow “The Stick”. This may help diminish muscle soreness.
• Use the RICE method of treating injuries. Rest,Ice,Compression,Elevation
• Although research doesn’t find gentle stretching reduces soreness, some people find it simply feels good.
• Gently massage the affected muscles. Some research has found that massage was effective in alleviating DOMS by approximately 30% and reducing swelling, but it had no effects on muscle function. “The Stick”
• Try using a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication (aspirin or ibuprofen) to reduce the soreness temporarily, though they won’t actually speed healing.
• There is some evidence that performing Yoga may reduce DOMS.
• Avoid any vigorous activity that increases pain. “The Stick”
• Allow the soreness to subside thoroughly before performing any vigorous exercise.
• Don’t forget to warm up completely before your next exercise session. There is some research that supports that a warm-up performed immediately prior to unaccustomed eccentric exercise produces small reductions in delayed-onset muscle soreness (but cool-down performed after exercise does not). “The Stick”
• If your pain persists longer than about 7 days or increases despite these measures, consult your physician.
• Learn something from the experience! Use prevention first. 

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness – Prevention
While DOMS is common and annoying, it is not a necessary part of exercise. There are many things you can do to prevent, avoid and shorten the duration of DOMS:

• Warm up thoroughly before activity and cool down completely afterward. “The Stick”
• Cool Down with gentle stretching after exercise. “The Stick”
• Follow the Ten Percent Rule. When beginning a new activity start gradually and build up your time and intensity no more than ten percent per week.
• Start a new weight lifting routine with light weights and high reps (10-12) and gradually increase the amount you lift over several weeks.
• Avoid making sudden major changes in the type of exercise you do.
• Avoid making sudden major changes in the amount of time that you exercise.

As you can see “The Stick” can be instrumental in reducing muscle soreness.

To read the full article from Elizabeth Quinn click here.