For the majority of individuals, fasting all day and then having a good evening meal is the best strategy for a fast day. A small calorie allowance on fast times is of 500-600 calories. A single 500 calorie meal can be very substantial, but you may be able to possess mini-meals if you try to spread the calories more than dinner, lunch and breakfast.
Most men and women find that eating just a small amount only cures the hunger pangs for a brief time and actually makes them hungrier for the rest of the day, therefore it is generally best to avoid snacking on fast days and spare your calories until you can have a full healthy meal.
In addition to being easier for many people, waiting to eat before is also more effective for weight loss, as you will have fasted for longer. A survey inquired into the factors that influence weight loss on the 5:2 diet has proven this. The analysis of our survey questionnaire discovered that fasting for over 20 hours on a fast day led to a greater weight loss than fasting for less than 16 hours. There are lots of possible scientific explanations for why this could be.
Some snacks you may find hit a bit of a low point at about 4 pm. A drink or a snack that is small may be the answer. In case you have problems with not sleeping well on a fast day, saving some calories may be the solution.
You make the rules here: should fasting daily does not suit you, don’t feel you need to follow this advice. You may discover that you would rather eat a small breakfast, skip lunch and then have dinner. Or maybe you prefer to skip breakfast, have dinner and a lunch. Or possibly a big lunch and a fast day snack suits you best. Together with the fasting way of eating, whatever works best for you is the best response.
Period your eating window: if you’re following an eating window intermittent fasting method, for example 16:8, you already understand when you need to eat: throughout your eating window. But, you do have to choose when that window should start and finish. Theoretically, if you’re currently following the 16:8 plan your window could open at 4 pm and complete your last meal at midnight. However, it may be wise to not leave it. The reason is that our bodies are intended to go at the end of the day into repair and rest mode: eating late in the day interferes with the rhythms of our own bodies’ hormones and might affect our health. It’s not known if fat loss slows or influences our health in different ways but until we understand more, it’s probably better to attempt and avoid eating late at night. This allows your body to digest your meal and start the process of preparing for the night-time repair period. However, as always, it works for you and should you need to eat afterwards or prefer, then you should do.
What to Eat on a Fast Day?
How can you make the most of your calorie allowance on a fast day?
1) Choose higher protein meals, which allow you to feel full for longer. As protein is high in calories you cannot have a huge amount to your 500 calories however make protein your source of carbs.
2) Fill up your plate with low calorie vegetables: they fill your belly, taste good and do you good. Steam them, oven-roast with a tsp of oil, or stir-fry and add some spices or flavourings to make a filling meal that is delicious. Or have them raw into a salad that is big.
3) Maintain carbohydrates to a minimal: they are packed with calories and make you feel hungry again quickly. Examples of carbohydrate-containing foods to avoid are: potatoes, sweet potato, pasrsnips, rice, pasta, bread, some fruits (bananas, grapes, melon, prunes, raisins, dates and other dried fruits), breakfast cereals, fruit juice, corn-on-the-cob/sweetcorn and anything including sugar, honey or other syrups.
4) Don’t be afraid of fat: although fat is high in calories, it allows you to feel complete. Small amounts of fat in your fast day food should be included as well.
Though the suggested calorie allowance of 500 calories for girls; 600 calories for guys is not so stringent that it really matters if you go over or below the allowance by a little, you will have to weigh or measure at least the high-calorie ingredients in your recipes and also workout the calorie content.
How to Eat on Non-Fast Days?
On non-fast times you are free to eat whatever you like. Though, of course, when you want to lose weight, perhaps not as much as you fancy. And, strange though it may seem, your appetite will be probably reduced by the fast days rather than increasing it. You will find you are not particularly hungry about the day after a fast. There’s no need to consume a lot if you don’t feel like it! It is fine to wait until you are hungry before consuming on a non-fast day.
Your tastes can change so that you no longer feel cravings for sweet, sugary foods. You may understand hunger better and find you snack less and can wait for supper times without worrying about when it will be time for you to eat.
These kinds of changes won’t happen immediately. Your desire on days may vary greatly. You may find that you have non-fast days when you are hungry and eat a lot. Many people experience this in the early days. Do not worry if this happens, only concentrate on sticking with the fasts. Following 6 weeks of fasting, you aren’t losing any weight, and if you are still having issues with overeating, consider changing your strategy that is fasting or to make changes.
You should plan to eat normally on non-fast days. Intermittent fasting’s pleasure is that you can spend the majority of your time feeling free of anxiety about food, while controlling your weight and residing in a wholesome way. Some people restrict their calories in their non-fast times in an effort to speed up weight reduction. While this may work in the short term, it’s probably not such a fantastic idea in the long run. If you do not have your days of normal eating you will probably feel deprived of your favorite foods and create ‘diet exhaustion’.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .�
By Dr. Alex Jimenez
Additional Topics: Wellness
Overall health and wellness are essential towards maintaining the proper mental and physical balance in the body. From eating a balanced nutrition as well as exercising and participating in physical activities, to sleeping a healthy amount of time on a regular basis, following the best health and wellness tips can ultimately help maintain overall well-being. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables can go a long way towards helping people become healthy.
Below, you�ll find the five most popular methods and the basics of how they work. Keep in mind, intermittent fasting isn�t for everyone. Those with health conditions of any kind should check with their doctor before changing up their usual routine. Note that personal goals and lifestyle are key factors to consider when choosing a fasting method.
Leangains
Best for: Dedicated gym-goers who want to lose body fat and build muscle.
The Way It Works: Fast�for 14 (girls) and 16 (men) hours every day, and then “feed” for the remaining eight to ten hours. During the period, no calories are consumed by you. But, calorie-free sweeteners black coffee, diet pop and sugar-free gum are allowed. (A dab of milk into your coffee won’t hurt, either.) Practitioners will find it most easy to fast throughout the night and to the morning. After waking up they usually break the fast roughly six hours after waking up. Maintaining a consistent window time is vital, although this schedule is flexible to any individual’s lifestyle. Hormones in the body get thrown out of whack and make sticking into the program harder, otherwise, Berkhan states.
What and when you eat during the feeding window additionally depends on when you workout. On days you exercise, carbohydrates are more significant than fat. On rest days, fat consumption ought to be higher. Protein intake should be fairly high daily, though it will vary based on targets, sex, age, body fat and activity levels. Irrespective of your program, whole foods should constitute the vast majority of your calorie intake. But whenever there is not time for a meal, then a protein shake or meal replacement bar is adequate (in moderation).
Advantages: For many, the highlight of this program is that on many days, meal frequency is irrelevant. You can really eat whenever you need to inside the eight-hour “feeding” period. Nevertheless, the majority of men and women wind breaking it up to three meals simpler to adhere to (because we are usually already programmed to eat this way).
Disadvantages: Although there is flexibility in when you eat, Leangains has pretty specific instructions for what to eat, especially in connection with when you are exercising. The rigorous nutrition plan and scheduling foods can make the program a little harder to adhere to.
Eat Stop Eat
Best for: Healthy eaters searching for an extra boost.
The Way It Works:�Fast for 24 hours a couple of times each week. Throughout the 24 hour fast, which founder Brad Pilon prefers to call a “24 break out of eating,” no food is consumed, but you can drink carbonated drinks. You then return to eating after the fast is over. “Act like you didn’t fast,” Pilon says. “Some people today need to complete the fast at a usual mealtime with a big meal, while others are OK ending the fast with a day snack. Time it however works best for you, and fix your time as your program changes,” he states.
The main rationale? Without restricting what you are able to eat according to Eat Stop Eat, Eating this way may reduce calorie consumption. It’s essential to note that regular workouts and resistance training, are important for succeeding with this strategy if weight loss or improved body composition are the goals.
Advantages: While 24 hours might seem like a long time to go without meals, the great news is that this program is elastic. You do not need to go all-or-nothing at the start. The first day, go without food and gradually increase fasting period over time to assist your body’s adjustment. Pilon suggests beginning the fast when you are busy, and about a day in which you don’t have any eating duties (such as a work lunch or happy hour).
Another perk? There aren’t any “forbidden foods,” and no counting calories, weighing food or restricting your diet, which makes it a bit easier to follow. That said, this isn’t a free-for-all. “You still have to eat just like a grown-up,” Pilon says. It’s all about moderation: You can eat anything you want, but maybe not as much of it. (A piece of birthday cake is OK, he says, however, the entire cake is not.)
Disadvantages: Going 24 hours without any calories could be too difficult for some, particularly initially. A lot of people struggle with moving extended amounts of time with no food, citing annoying symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, or feeling cranky or anxious (though these side effects can dimish over time). The fasting period may also make it more tempting to binge after a fast. This is easily fixed… but it requires a lot of self-control, and that many people today lack.
Warrior Diet
Best for: People who enjoy following rules. The devoted.
The Way It Works: Warriors-in-training can anticipate to fast for approximately 20 hours every day and eat one big meal every evening. When you eat that meal and everything else you eat is also key for this method. The doctrine here is based on feeding the body the nutrition it requires in sync with circadian rhythms and that our species are “nocturnal eaters, essentially programmed for nighttime eating.”
The fasting period of the Warrior Diet is really more about “undereating.” If desired throughout the 20-hour fast, you can eat several servings of raw fruit or veggies, fresh juice, and a couple of portions of protein. This is supposed to maximize the Sympathetic Nervous System’s “fight or flight” response, which is intended to boost endurance, boost energy, and stimulate fat burning.
The four-hour eating window, which Hofmekler describes as the “overeating” phase, is at nighttime in order to maximize the Parasympathetic Nervous System’s ability to help the body recuperate, promoting calm, relaxation and nourishment, while also permits the body to utilize the nutrients absorbed for repair and growth. Eating at night might also help hormones be produced by the body and burn fat based on Hofmekler. The order in which you eat food groups things is important as well. Hofmelker claims to begin with veggies, fat and protein. Only if you’re still hungry, you can tack on a few carbs, after completing those groups.
Advantages: Many have gravitated toward this diet because the “fasting” period still allows you to consume a few tiny snacks, which may make it easier to get through. As the methodology explains (and also the “success stories” section of this Warrior Diet website supports), many professionals also report increased energy levels and fat reduction.
Disadvantages: Although it’s great to eat a few snacks rather than go without any food for 20-plus hours, the guidelines to what you need to consume (and when) can be tough to follow long-term. Meal program and the schedule may interfere with social gatherings. Furthermore, eating one meal during the night, while following instructions of what to eat, and in what order, can be rough. It’s particularly hard for people who prefer not to eat big meals late in the day.
Fat Loss Forever
Best for: Gym goers that love cheat days.
The Way It Works: Not completely happy with the IF diets listed previously? This technique takes the best areas of the Warrior Diet, Eat Stop Eat and Leangains, and combines it all into a single strategy. In addition you get one cheat day every week, followed by a 36-hour fast (that might not be so easy for some). After that, the remainder of the seven-day cycle is divided up between the various protocols that were previously discussed.
Romaniello and Go suggest saving the maximum fasts for your busiest days, letting you focus on becoming productive. The plan also includes training programs (with weightlifting and free weights) to assist participants achieve maximum fat loss in the easiest way possible.
Advantages: According to the founders, whilst everybody is technically fasting every day, during the hours when we are not eating, most of us do so haphazardly, making it harder to reap the benefits. Fat Loss Forever provides a seven-day program for fasting where the body can get used to this timetable and reap the maximum benefit in the fasting intervals so that . (Plus, you get a complete cheat day. And who does not love that?)
Disadvantages: On the flip side, in case you have difficulty handling cheat times the healthy way, this method might not be for you. Additionally, also the schedule varies from day to day and since the program is specific, this technique can be somewhat confusing to follow. (However, the program will not come with a calendar, imagining the way to fast and exercise every day, which may make it simpler.)
Alternate-Day Diet or Alternate-Day Fasting
Best for: Disciplined dieters with a specific weight goal.
The Way It Works: This one’s simple: Eat very little one day, and eat like normal the next. On the low carb days, that means one fifth of your usual calorie intake. Using 2,000 or 2,500 calories (for both women and men, respectively) as a direct, “fasting” (or “down”) day ought to be 400 to 500 calories. Followers can use this tool to figure out how many calories to eat on “low-calorie” days.
To make “down” days simpler to stick to, Johnson recommends opting for meal replacement shakes. They’re fortified with nourishment and you can sip them rather than divide into meals. But, meal replacement shakes should just be utilized during the initial two weeks of the diet, then, you ought to begin eating actual food on “down” days. The next day, eat just like normal. Rinse and repeat! (Note: If working out is a part of your routine, you may find it harder to hit the gym on the reduced calorie days. It may be smart to keep any workouts on these times on the tamer side, or conserve sweat sessions to your typical calorie days.)
Advantages: This method is all about weight reduction, so if that’s your main goal, this can be you to have a better look at. Individuals who cut calories see a reduction of approximately two and a half pounds per week.
Disadvantages: While the method is rather simple to follow, it can be simple to binge on the “normal” day. The very best way to stay on course is planning your meals. Then you’re not caught in the drive-through or all-you-can-eat buffet with a stomach.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .�
By Dr. Alex Jimenez
Additional Topics: Wellness
Overall health and wellness are essential towards maintaining the proper mental and physical balance in the body. From eating a balanced nutrition as well as exercising and participating in physical activities, to sleeping a healthy amount of time on a regular basis, following the best health and wellness tips can ultimately help maintain overall well-being. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables can go a long way towards helping people become healthy.
Intermittent fasting is one of the most ancient secrets of health and wellness. Because it’s been practiced throughout all history. Intermittent fasting is considered a secret because this habit had been long forgotten.
But now, many people are re-discovering this dietary intervention. It may carry advantages if it is done correctly, including: reversal of type two diabetes, weight reduction, greater energy and many other things. In this beginner’s guide you can learn the function of intermittent fasting on the body.
How Does Intermittent Fasting Work?
At its very core, fasting simply allows the body to burn off extra body fat. It is necessary to realize that this is ordinary for humans and people have evolved to avoid negative health consequences from it. Body fat is merely food energy that’s been stored away. If you do not consume food, your body will simply “eat” its own fat for energy.
Life is all about balance. The good and the bad. The yin and the yang. The same is applicable to fasting and ingestion. Fasting, after all, is simply the flip side of eating. If you aren’t eating, you’re fasting. Here is how it works:
Once we eat, more food energy is consumed than can immediately be used. Some of the energy must be stored away for later usage. Insulin is the hormone involved with the storage of food energy.
Insulin rises when we consume food, helping to keep the excess energy in two separate ways. Sugars can be connected into chains, called glycogen and stored in the liver. There is limited storage space; and the liver starts to turn the glucose into fat, after that is achieved. This procedure is called De-Novo Lipogenesis.
A number of the newly created fat is stored in the liver, but most of it is exported into additional fat deposits within the body. Even though this is a complex procedure, there is no limitation to the total amount of fat which can be created. Therefore, two complementary food energy storage systems exist within our own bodies. One is readily accessible but with limited storage area (glycogen), and the other is more challenging to access but has infinite storage area (body fat).
The method goes in reverse when we don’t eat (fasting). Insulin levels fall, signaling the body to start burning stored energy as no more is coming through food. Blood glucose falls, so the body has to pull sugar to burn for energy.
Glycogen is the most readily accessible energy resource. It’s broken down to give energy to the cells. This provides enough energy to power the body for 24-36 hours. After that, your system will begin breaking down fat for energy.
So, the body just really exists in two states, the fed (insulin high) condition and the fasted (insulin reduced) state. Either we are storing food energy, or it is burning food energy. It is one or another. Then there is not any weight gain if fasting and eating become more balanced.
If we start eating the moment we roll out of bed, and do not stop until we go to sleep, we spend almost all our time at the fed state. As time passes, we will gain weight. We have not allowed our body some time.
To restore balance or to lose weight, we simply need to boost the quantity of time we burn food energy (fasting). Essentially, fasting enables the body to use its energy that is stored. After all, that is what it is there for. The important thing to realize is that there isn’t anything wrong with that. That’s how our bodies are designed. That’s what cat, dogs, lions and bears do. That’s what humans do.
If you are constantly eating, as is frequently advocated, then your body will simply utilize the incoming food energy rather than burn the body fat. It’ll be only stored by you. It will be saved by your own body for a while when there’s nothing to consume. You lack equilibrium. You lack fasting.
Fasting is Not Starvation
Fasting differs from starvation in a crucial way. Control. Starvation is the involuntary lack of food. It’s neither deliberate nor controlled. Fasting, on the other hand, is the voluntary withholding of food for health spiritual, or other factors.
Food is readily accessible, but you opt not to eat it. This could be for any time period, from a couple of hours up to days or even weeks. You will begin a fast and it may be ended by you at will. You may start or stop a fast for any reason or no reason at all.
Fasting has no typical length, as it’s merely the lack of ingestion. Anytime that you aren’t eating, you are fasting. As an instance, you may fast a period of approximately 12-14 hours, between breakfast and dinner the next day. In that sense, fasting ought to be thought of as a part of life.
Fasting is but a part of regular, normal life. It is possibly the oldest and most powerful dietary intervention imaginable. Yet somehow we have forgotten its power and discounted its potential.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .�
By Dr. Alex Jimenez
Additional Topics: Wellness
Overall health and wellness are essential towards maintaining the proper mental and physical balance in the body. From eating a balanced nutrition as well as exercising and participating in physical activities, to sleeping a healthy amount of time on a regular basis, following the best health and wellness tips can ultimately help maintain overall well-being. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables can go a long way towards helping people become healthy.
Return to play describes the stage in recovery from a sports injury when an athlete is able to go back to playing sports or participate in their specific physical activity at a pre-injury level.
Nobody likes to be sidelined with an undesired injury. Among the goals of sports medicine professionals and specialists is to try to restore an athlete back to action. Returning too soon, however before restoration or healing has taken place, can put an athlete at an increased risk for re-injury and down time.
With the ideal treatment and care plan for sport accidents and injury, from early identification and proper treatment to full functional rehabilitation, you can often safely accelerate your return to perform.
Lessons from Professional Athletes
Why does it seem that professional athletes come back to play so much quicker than the normal person or athlete? Professional athletes are often, at the time of injury, in tremendously good physical conditioning. This fitness level helps them in various ways. Various studies have demonstrated that conditioning the body properly can not only prevent injuries, it may also lessen the severity of an injury and speed up recovery.
Professional athletes also get prompt treatment once an injury happens, and this lessens the acute phase of the injury. Treatment and care is required as soon as an injury followed by symptoms such as, stiffness, swelling, and loss of muscle tone manifest. In addition, professional athletes work hard with a physical therapist or certified athletic trainer.
Many professional athletes contribute their healing to exactly what they bring to their game,a positive attitude. You are able to harness the power of a positive mindset to your own benefit, even though you may not have access to the tools that professional athletes possess.
Advice from the Pros to Boost Your Recovery
Maintain balanced physical conditioning
Make Sure injuries are recognized early and treated promptly
Participate in a complete functional rehabilitation program
Stay healthy while injured
Keep a positive, upbeat mental attitude
Proper Athletic Treatment Recovery Plan
Phases of Care
Recovery from an injury involves a set of logical steps from the time of the injury until you are able to return on the field or court. Every step should be summarized and monitored by your physician and therapist.
During the acute phase of injury, the focus should be on minimizing swelling. This entails the RICE formula (Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation), Together with a limitation of actions. Based on the type and severity of your injury, treatment may involve casting, or bracing and surgery in more serious cases.
During the acute period, it’s extremely important to keep overall conditioning while the injury heals. Creative techniques may be used to safely work around the injury. As an example, a runner with a leg injury may often run in plain water or use a bicycle to keep conditioning. By doing exercises if one leg is in a cast, the remainder of the human body can be exercised. Don’t wait till your injury is treated to get back into shape.
In another phase of recovery, you should focus on regaining full motion and strength of the injured limb or joint. Your doctor, physical therapist or certified athletic trainer will help outline an exact treatment plan. For injuries, gentle protective exercises can be started almost immediately. Muscle tone may be preserved by means of strengthening exercises or electric stimulation.
When strength returns to normal, functional drills could be started. For lower extremity injuries, this may include brisk walking, jumping rope, hopping, or light jogging. For upper extremity injuries, effortless ground strokes or light throwing could be carried out. The coordination that might have been lost in the injury can be brought back by specific exercises for agility and balance.
Once you have progressed with mobility, endurance, strength, and agility, and are tolerating functional exercises, you can try higher levels of sport-specific movement routines. Your physical therapist or certified athletic trainer monitors this. You could find that tape, braces, or supports help in this transition time.
Only when you are practicing hard without significant problem, and the healing has progressed to the point at which the probability of injury or harm is reduced, are you ready to return to play. During these phases of recovery, you ought to be carefully monitored. Special attention ought to be given to sufficient warm up following the activity prior to the activity and icing after engaging in the specific sport or physical activity.
Note Of Caution
The rational progression of recovery not only reduces the chance of re-injury but also assures that you will be able to perform at your best when you return to play. Frequently, athletes believe they are all set to return as soon as the limp or even the swelling subsides. They might feel good, but they are probably just 70 to 75% recovered. This invites re-injury.
Sports medicine experts are working on approaches to assist athletes to achieve near 100% healing as fast as the proper cautionary measures allows. The athlete’s health and safety has to be put over all other concerns, although there is enormous pressure to get the athlete back whenever possible.
A systematic recovery program has been successfully utilized every day, at all levels of play, from the recreational athlete to the elite professional or Olympic athlete, by a variety of specialized healthcare professionals. As with any type of sports injury, seek immediate medical attention from a qualified specialist to begin the rehabilitation process.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .�
By Dr. Alex Jimenez
Additional Topics: Sports Care
Athletes engage in a series of stretches and exercises on a daily basis in order to prevent damage or injury from their specific sports or physical activities as well as to promote and maintain strength, mobility and flexibility. However, when injuries or conditions occur as a result of an accident or due to repetitive degeneration, getting the proper care and treatment can change an athlete’s ability to return to play as soon as possible and restore their original health.
With the presence of blood flow restriction training in discussions surrounding intensity coaches and physiotherapists, people are beginning to seek out programs for the best training procedure which might help them reach new levels of athletic performance.
In arenas that were competitive; an athlete’s practice volume is often restricted by their capacity, not their desire to keep training. With elite athletes there are a handful of variables that influence recovery; sleep, nourishment, training volume, the modality of training, body work…etc.. Athletes are looking for everything they can to be able to recuperate faster so they can train harder. Blood flow restriction training is an alternative and should be included in the dialogue of methods which help you recover.
What is Blood Flow Restriction Training (BFR)?
In brief, it is when you use a tourniquet device to restrict blood flow to your extremities while exercising. Faster recovery, and amount of superior training, equals gains.
BFR and Recovery
First let us begin with the thought that BFR does not cause muscle damage. This is an extremely important aspect of BFR training. If we’re currently performing a modality to boost recovery, then we do not want to break down muscle fibers in the procedure.
Think of muscle recovery as an equation of protein balance. Net protein equilibrium muscle protein breakdown. We would like our web protein balance to be over 0 (in the favorable). A positive protein balance suggests we are building muscle, not breaking it down.
There are different markers used in study to quantify muscle breakdown such as CK degrees and myoglobin levels. Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) has also been measured in areas after BFR. The subject revealed no increase in DOMS after blood flow restriction. There seems to be no indirect or direct measures of muscular damage related to BFR when looking at the study. So we can conclude that using BFR will not increase muscle dysfunction following an athlete’s training session.
Process of Recovery with BFR
The very first thing we will look at is the greater release of growth hormone. Studies have shown there to be up to some 290% boost in growth hormone following BFR. Growth hormone is an integral component in collagen synthesis. Collagen synthesis enables the body to restore ligaments and tendons, which are reliant on hydration for strength and their structure.
Tendons, exactly like muscles, are subject to damage following training. When we’ve got higher tendon (collagen) breakdown when compared to tendon (hydration) synthesis we can ultimately wind up with bothersome limb injuries (tendonopathy, tendonitis, tendonosis). Various studies have shown there to be increased cross sectional area and tendon stiffness that was enhanced when comparing raised GH to a control group that was normal without GH.
What exactly does this mean to the athlete? The Growth hormone reaction with blood flow restriction training can lead to tendon strength and durability, thus allowing them to train longer without harm.
Growth hormone can also be correlated with greater healing in bone (thanks to the higher collagen synthesis). A frequent type of sport injury includes stress fractures. A stress fracture is when there’s more collagen breakdown when compared to collagen synthesis. BFR may play a role in helping to stop or limit stress fractures in athletes.
Next let us look at IGF-1. Insulin like growth factor -1 (IGF-1) is ultimately a protein that is connected to muscle growth. When we examine what is needed for muscle development, we could refer back to this equation cited before protein equilibrium muscle protein breakdown. If you have a favorable protein balance we could conclude that muscle development will be achieved by utilizing BFR therapy. More muscle being assembled compared to muscle being destroyed equals more muscle development. If we’re currently attaining a positive protein balance, we could conclude that our muscle fibers are recovering like they ought to be. When comparing to controls, when using BFR training various studies have shown there to be an increased number of IGF-1.
BFR Into Practice
The BFR would take place as the last thing you did before leaving the gym. You can do upper or lower body, however if your goal is strictly muscle recovery, I�d recommend doing the lower extremity. The lower extremity has muscle mass which will create a higher reaction. Since HGH and IGF-1 are carried throughout the blood flow, the result is systemic (whole body). You would be fine doing either the lower or upper extremities. BFR is safe to use on a daily basis, therefore its recommended to switc pper body on your primarily upper body dominant days and the lower body on primarily your lower body dominant days.
The exercise of choice for the lower extremity are some kind of deadlift or squat done at 20 to 30% of your 1RM. The exercise of choice for the upper body would be some kind of push up, row, or press. Once again you are currently aiming for 20-30 percent 1RM. You desire the exercises to be easy. It is not a wonderful notion when performing muscle ups or handstand pushups to perform BFR. That’s a recipe for failure.
The method would be to use 4 sets of 30/15/15/15 reps with a 30 second break between sets and a 2-second concentric and two- second eccentric contraction to get a metabolic reaction. The protocol would be complete in approximately 4-5 minutes.
The placement of the cuffs will be at the peak of your arm, the most proximal segment just before the shoulder, or the top of your leg, the most proximal segment below your hip. We want the limb occlusion pressure to be 80 percent for the lower extremities and 50% to the upper extremities. If you experience numbing and tingling sensations, you’ve constricted too much. It will be uncomfortable, and will be the greatest “pump” and “burn” you’ve ever encounter. There ought to be zero numbness or tingling when performing BFR.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .�
By Dr. Alex Jimenez
Additional Topics: Sports Care
Athletes engage in a series of stretches and exercises on a daily basis in order to prevent damage or injury from their specific sports or physical activities as well as to promote and maintain strength, mobility and flexibility. However, when injuries or conditions occur as a result of an accident or due to repetitive degeneration, getting the proper care and treatment can change an athlete’s ability to return to play as soon as possible and restore their original health.
BFR or blood flow restriction therapy has been around for a long time, but recently, the evidence for its use in the world that is rehabilitation has begun to emerge. The principle is very simple: that the circulation of blood flow is confined to the area of the human body that’s being trained or undergoing rehabilitation in a certain manner to boost the impacts of the training via lower load (less stress).
Is Blood Flow Restriction Effective?
According to the American College of Sports Medicine, to achieve an increase in muscle size and strength, you want to do 8 to 10 repetitions of an exercise. A moderate to high intensity is deemed to be 65 to 80 percent of their patient’s one rep maximum (the maximum amount of weight a person can lift 1 time). However, the majority of patients that are injured can’t deal with this kind of load, consequently restricting their capacity.
So again we’re faced with the question: Just how can we achieve hypertrophy and gain muscle strength without using heavy loads? The solution involves using a tourniquet to restrict blood flow into a muscle. This technique is known as blood flow restriction training (BFR).
According to the most recent research in the event the appropriate blood flow restriction therapy protocols are utilized, the benefits of the training are equal to those found when using 70 percent of an individual’s maximal load, while using as little as 20 to 30 percent of somebody’s maximum load. The secret is that restricted blood flow training allows healthcare professionals, such as physical therapists, to make a localized region of exercise that is anaerobic.
BFR is a tool that uses a doppler and tourniquet system placed on either thigh or the upper arm to limit blood circulation. After this, it begins to create lactate and hydrogen ions and denies the muscle oxygen. This is what causes the “burning” feeling when we lift heavy weights. The burn is simply the response to being in an active environment of the body. During heavy lifting (65-85%), we create small microtraumas in the muscle that the body then repairs by building more muscle. Together with BFR, we are not generating microtraumas at the muscle, so our body does not have to devote the energy to repair the muscle; rather our bodies just focus on creating the muscle.
Second, soreness is not experienced by us as we would when we were lifting weights. This means we can now lift at low loads (15-30%) and basically gain more muscle strength and size, at a quicker manner, as if we were lifting a more heavier load.
As soon as we create lactate, we activate growth hormone release. The release of IGF-1 subsequently stimulates once growth hormone is released. Such enables your muscles ability to activate; this in turn increases muscle protein synthesis, or our stem cells to the muscle. As previously mentioned, if we were to have muscle breakdown, these stem cells could have to concentrate on repairing muscles building. With blood flow restriction therapy or training, we skip the muscle repair and focus on muscle building. This result is not concentrated throughout the exercise, but impacts the tissues and muscles to create the greater benefit of BFR. BFR has shown to have the ability to help in endurance training and coaching, tendon healing and bone recovery.
All of our muscles are produced from other kinds of fibers, including type 1 which are slow to twitch and rely on oxygen and type 2, which are those we’re currently attempting to build with BFR training and fast-twitch fibers. By limiting the blood flow, we create an environment at the muscle group that compels the increase of more fibers that are type 2. Higher strength gains are the outcome because these type 2 fibers normally can produce more force. Another effect of blood flow restriction is that is allows for a synthesis of proteins needed to build and repair muscles and tissues.
In a treatment setting, this helps us achieve the outcomes for patients faster, and in sports it enables the gains to be attained with less strength and less damage to the muscle. That is why pro and college teams are currently turning to BFR as a training principle. In sports, athletes are attempting to come back to the field quicker after suffering trauma or injury from an accident. Some athletes re-injure themselves by lifting. That is really where BFR can come by lifting loads that are lower and receiving the same, or even much better profits. Healthcare specialists will tend to eliminate strength immediately following a sports injury, but they can not exercise at elevated levels. In this manner, they can not only keep the power but build strength in the process although together with blood flow restriction training.
Is Blood Flow Restriction Safe?
You might be thinking that its effects sounds fantastic, but is it safe? The brief answer is yes, but as with any rehab technique, there are precautions which should be taken and it’s recommended to first seek medical attention from a healthcare professional to discuss the option of BFR therapy for you. We certainly don’t recommend that individuals do this by themselves and tie bands around their limbs. In the practice, specialists can track it as you train and use special devices to know exactly how much you need to train to experience its benefits.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .�
By Dr. Alex Jimenez
Additional Topics: Sports Care
Athletes engage in a series of stretches and exercises on a daily basis in order to prevent damage or injury from their specific sports or physical activities as well as to promote and maintain strength, mobility and flexibility. However, when injuries or conditions occur as a result of an accident or due to repetitive degeneration, getting the proper care and treatment can change an athlete’s ability to return to play as soon as possible and restore their original health.
For many athletes following any major endurance event they will return to their houses, to recover, celebrate, reflect and rebuild to their next career step. Some, like the athlete in this case study will need to now focus attention on delayed decisions concerning whether to go under the knife to sort out a chronic injury.�El Paso, TX’s Injury scientist, Dr. Alexander Jimenez takes a look at the study.
My client has been competing in triathlon for 10 or more years, although his career has included a range of serious injuries which have kept him from races for months on end. In the previous two to three decades, however, he’s enjoyed a sustained period of injury-free training and racing, and has climbed to the peak of the world rankings. But the emergence of hip pain has seen him once more return to the physio’s table.
The triathlete’s accident history highlights a common pattern among sportspeople: 2 tibial stress fractures, a femoral neck stress fracture and a serious ankle sprain — every one of these on his right side. The significant contributing element to the bone stress injuries is a 1.5cm leg-length gap (his right leg is shorter).
He’d first experienced comparable hip pain in 2004; it kept him from running for three months. At that time, nothing was detected on a bone scan or MRI, or so the pain went paralyzed. An intra-articular cortisone injection (CSI) elicited no improvement. The athlete remembers that he chose to train on his painful hip, never allowing the symptoms to settle. The nearest he ever came into an investigation was a hypothesis that he could have a little, undetected, labral lesion.
The present episode of hip pain began initially at night after a hard three-hour bicycle ride. Earlier this, however, he hadn’t cycled for five times. He described his initial symptom as a profound hip tightness (lateral and lateral), together with slight pain in his groin. He was able to continue to train however, was feeling that the hip tightness and pain following both cycling and running (swimming was symptom-free).
A week later his symptoms dramatically worsened when he flew from Australia to Singapore, on his way to a French high- altitude camp. As he got off the airplane, he felt deep hip pain as well as the tightness. As elite athletes tend to do, he coached anyway, running a tricky track session, which made the hip much worse: he was unable to ride or run without pain. He instantly started a course of anti- inflammatories.
I met him in Singapore and evaluated him in the airport, initially ruling out any prospect of a disease or systemic matter. He explained he had been feeling an ache during the night, lying in bed; on waking, the hip would be OK, but got worse the longer he walked.
On assessment, he had the following physical signs:
� walking with obvious limp
� pain on hopping (6/10)
�painful right hip quadrant/impingement test (full hip flexion/adduction)
� reduced right hip flexion (-10 degrees compared to left)
� reduced right hip internal rotation (-10 degrees compared to left)
� increased tone on palpation of TFL, adductors, hip flexors, gluteal, piriformis and deep rotators
� lumbar spine and SIJ were OK
� femoral shaft bone stress test was OK � leg length discrepancy (right side 1.5cm shorter)
� right innominate (pelvis) anteriorly rotated
� weakness in right hip abductors/extensors
� reduced calf endurance on right side (-5 reps)
� ankle dorsiflexion range of movement was OK
� reduced proprioception on right (single leg stance, eyes closed).
I thought the differential diagnoses were:
� femoral neck stress fracture
� labral tear, possibly with hip synovitis
� FAI (femoro-acetabular impingement), possibly with hip synovitis.
I initially treated the triathlete with soft- tissue techniques to reduce the tone around the hip joint. Trigger-point releases were performed on his TFL, adductors, gluteals, piriformis, deep rotators and iliopsoas.�This reduced his jump pain into 3/10. Manual long-leg grip further decreased the strain on hopping (2/10). He still had pain and stiffness on walking but it sensed “simpler. As he prepared to embark on his long run flight to Europe, I counseled him to not sit for too long and maintain his stylish as straight as possible to decrease any potential impingement from hip flexion.
Luckily, the hip didn’t get worse throughout the flight. On arrival at the French high-altitude training centre, we initiated a strategy of two swims and two intensive treatments a day, aiming at reducing muscle tone, restoring his range of hip movement and normal muscle control and stamina. We had been expecting that the problem was not a stress fracture, but just minor hip synovitis that could settle quickly. Following a week of conservative treatment, though, we were just able to keep his hop pain in 2/10, and that he still could not run 20 meters without any pain and limping.
In collaboration with medics, we flew to London to see a sports doctor and get MRI scans. The scans revealed no bone stress reaction, fracture or labral ripping — which was a big relief; however, it did show signs consistent with FAI (femoro-acetabular impingement). He had hip synovitis with a rectal lesion on his femur.
Hip injuries aren’t much reported among triathletes — in fact they are notably absent from reports on Olympic and Ironman triathlons, which mention knee, back, H/ Achilles, lower leg, ankle and shoulder as the most common accidents (1-3).
In this state, when the hip is in maximum flexion and internal rotation, the labrum and cartilage abut and impinge; damage to the articular cartilage and acetabular labrum results from this pathologic bony contact. The contact generally results in a structural abnormality of the femur (“camera impingement”) along with the acetabulum (“pincer impingement”) or a combination of both (“mixed impingement”). Over time, via repetitive micro-trauma, the aggravating motion hurts the hip cartilage or labrum (or both) during normal joint motion. This happens along the anterior femoral neck and the anterior–superior acetabular rim. FAI is a possible trigger of early hip joint degeneration (4).
Arthroscopic surgery is the direction of choice for FAI if symptoms do not settle; however as his next Competition was only three and a half a year off, surgery was not an option. Instead, over a five-day interval, the athlete had two cortisone (CSI) and local anesthetic injections into the hip joint (under ultrasound guidance) to settle the indicators.
Our aim was to grow the hip range of motion and extend the capsule to reduce any additional impingement, slowly returning to regular training. Following the competition, the athlete would then should see a hip arthroscopic surgeon to acquire a surgical opinion to the best option for long-term direction.
Injection Relief
After both shots my customer felt sore for five days. The initial CSI settled his pain on hopping to 1/10 and after seven days he managed to operate without symptoms. But minor hip stiffness and aching at the end of the day prevented him from progressing to optimal training, so that he then underwent a second steroid injection. This settled the hop pain into 0/10 and decreased the aching; so after five times he returned to mild cycling and after seven days he started running again, also.
The athlete admitted that, following the first shot, he had done more and gone tougher in training than directed, as he had felt “good. This mistake of “too much too soon — all too common in elite athletes — had led to excessive inflammation and aching in the hip nightly after training. After the next injection he returned to normal intensity slower and more gradually.
My client built his training up to regular levels by four months following the final injection (swimming five times per week, cycling four days and running six to seven days). He began with very easy cycling on a wind trainer for 30 minutes, building slowly to 90 minutes before cycling on the street. He cycled two days on and one day away and avoided hills to the first two weeks. He started jogging on the apartment for 15 minutes and slowly built up to 90 minutes after three weeks. He did not run hills or about the track; and as he ran only on every single day, he would diligently concentrate on technique.
From week six to week 11, my client remained on anti inflammatory medication and underwent two treatments a day.
The hands-on treatment continued to:
� increase hip range of movement
� stretch the hip capsule
� normalise pelvic symmetry and hip muscle tone
� improve muscle control and strength � improve proprioception
� ensure optimal biomechanics via video assessment (cycling and running).
Eleven weeks after he first felt his hip pain, the triathlete returned to racing; however he failed to finish the first race, partially because of minor hip stiffness but mainly due to “fitness. Fortunately there were not any prolonged symptoms after the race and a week after he successfully returned to competition, coming second in a really strong field. His very minor ongoing symptoms were handled with anti-inflammatory drugs and hands-on treatments.
If this athlete wants to pursue a long- term triathlon career up to the London Olympics, then he will now require surgery. The arthroscopic surgical technique initially assesses the cartilage and labral surfaces, debrides any abnormalities of the hip joint cartilage and hip labrum, removes the non-spherical segments of the femoral head�and any prominent sections of the anterior femoral neck and bony growths on the acetabular rim that may continue to contribute to hip joint impingement.�The alternative is early joint degeneration and onset of osteoarthritis.
References:
1. Wilk B et al: �The incidence of musculoskeletal injuries in an amateur triathlete racing club�. J Orthop Sports Phys
Ther 1995 Sep;22(3):108-12.
2. Collins K et al: �Overuse injuries in triathletes. A study of the 1986 Seafair Triathlon�. Am J Sports Med 1989 SepOct;17(5):675-80.
3. Korkia PK et al: �An epidemiological investigation of training and injury patterns in British triathletes�. Br J Sports Med 1994 Sep;28(3):191-6.
4. Ganz R. et al (2003): �Femoroacetabular impingement: a cause for osteoarthritis of the hip�. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 417:112�120. For more information see: www.hipfai.com
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