LOCALadk Magazine

Oh, No...Not the STAIRS! Story by Kari Fitzsimmons Photos by John DiGiacomo We see it every year. The first snow falls, and everyone who loves to play outside (it's WHY we live here, right??) runs outside with all of their equipment and goes at their "fun stuff" with pure excitement and reckless abandon….and then we wake up the next day. And we try to become vertical. And heaven help us if there is a set of stairs that must be navigated on the way to the coffee maker. There are a few simple methods that those of us with unabashed enthusiasm can employ to recover from our outdoor endeavors. Many of them only take a few minutes, and when used consistently, or in combination with each other, can extend our happy days of activity and delay the fear of the stairs. Active Recovery – research has consistently shown that after a bout of intense exercise, active recovery (ie: don't hit the lodge for that beer quite yet) is very helpful in mediating that muscle soreness. It just means that taking a minute and walking your gear to the car before you meet your friends for the après ski beverage is a good idea. Keep moving for 10-15 minutes. Once you become stagnant, things will begin to stiffen, but if you keep your blood flowing, you help to continue to oxygenate and nourish those tired tissues and filter out any metabolites left over from your newly vigorous activity. Water, sleep, and food – The body needs the proper tools on hand to use while you are sleeping, so good nutrition and adequate water need to be available to do the repairs. In my professional opinion, these three pieces are the most effective tools you can use for exercise recovery. Your body does much of its repair work while you sleep, so bank an extra hour or two when you really shred it up on the hills. Proper hydration can be judged best by assessing your output – if your urine is only lightly yellow, you are visiting the outhouse about every three hours, and you find the trip to be worthwhile (voluminous), you are doing well! From the food standpoint, it's pretty standard stuff – lay off the soda, sugary, and processed foods (if it lasts on a shelf more than a week, question the value of putting it into your body) get 5 fruits and veggies in daily, and make sure you are getting enough lean protein to repair the muscles you just taxed. Massage – a good massage therapist will listen to your needs, and you will get off the table feeling like a champion again. Massage seems to reduce the inflammatory response that is naturally caused by the muscular breakdown of vigorous exercise. Massage also facilitates circulation, which will help to bring nutrient rich blood into the muscles, and increase lymphatic drainage, which helps to facilitate the healing process. Foam Rollers – For those of us that just don't have the cash on hand for a weekly massage, a foam roller will get you by (but we all know, it's just not even in the same ballpark as a real massage!). This is one of those tools that many of us in the world of physical therapy think "Why didn't I invent that?!" It is simple, light, easy to store and effective. Foam rollers have quite a variety of options out there - padded, 4 or 6 inch diameter, 18 or 36 inch lengths and a wide range of densities and coverings. LOCALadk 30 Winter 2014

• Cover