The hardest party of this WOE is...
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angela233Z wrote: »Foamroller wrote: »Edit: Sometimes I foamroll to relax muscles. It's very painful, so the body releases beta endorphins after.
I wondered if that was why you had that username- do you have suggestions of exercises on the foam roller? i have one, but not really sure how to use it?
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I don't only foamroll because of the added health benefits. It just makes me feel REALLY good:)
Skip this part if you don't want a health rant:
I'm a big believer in the theory that inflammation COULD be at the core of most diseases or things that often go wrong in our bodies.
Therefore I foamroll, hehe. It is said to alleviate bursitis, which is inflammation in the soft tissue that surrounds organs, muscles etc. By applying body weight pressure on the muscles and tissue, it is believed to "squeeze out" toxins and tension and make the tissue relax. This sounds logical to me. At any time there is a cocktail of hormones that regulate our systems (body and mind). More so when exercising or stressed. Most of the byproducts are "cleansed" through the normal back to the heart vein-muscle pump, but residue might be clogged up for a host of different reason.
I'm sorry this is turning into a lecture...
Anyway, when people have very tense muscles, which we all have somewhere, like in the neck or back, it literally is muscles doing "continuous contraction". They are in other words, holding it 24/7 instead of relaxing like they should do. If too persistent, you might develop muscle knots or pressure points. Poking a finger into it, and it HURTS. These muscle knots are not good for your overall health.
Foamrolling can help soften those knots or overall stiff muscles.
Start VERY gently, and work your way up. It's NOT dangerous that it's painful. Just be careful to listen to your body and don't overdo it. A lot of the tense muscles are often what literally "hold you together". Sometimes loosening up those defenses, can lead to very unintended responses in your system.
Health rant over.
Youtube is my go-to. I often foamroll in front of TV, watching movies or documentaries on youtube. For a deeper more introspective foamroll, put on some relaxing music and tune into yourself:)
There are a ton of vids on youtube for foamrolling.
Dr. Peter Percuoco is one of my favs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBxjD4aSI18
Percuoco on tennisball and lacrosse ball self massage for lower back pain and too tight gluteus muscles (yes, that's tight arsed)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDRURiy7Zx0
I really like using the balls for working on upper back, shoulder, neck area too!
Dr. Mark Cheng also has a pretty good series about foamrolling:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UQMLGvgf-0
Ashely Borden full body roll
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khC5J1lkC7s
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I'm sorry if I sounded scolding in the above post about medicines. Glee, you do whatever you feel is best for you:)0
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Foamroller wrote: »These are all really helpful ideas! I am tempted to try the antihistamine but then again I already take a lot of antihistamines for my allergies so I'd like to avoid more. I will play with the hours when I exercise and the hours when I eat too, trial and error FTW.
I wouldn't use any medicine that is prescribed for another condition to alleviate something else, as a general rule. (Although the guys who did sildenafil before it was rebranded as Viagra, probably begged to differ when they were testing blood pressure and heart conditions).
On a darker note. Medicines are only clinically tested for which they were prescribed. Also, very often the body adapts to doses of medicine, thereby maybe reducing the effect it would have until you REALLY need it vs. allergies. A parallel would be the overusing of antibiotics that probably will make them inefficient as medicine in their present development in somewhere between 20-30 years time.
( http://www.bbc.com/news/health-21702647 )
Besides, most anti-inflammatory medicines, prednisol, antihistamines and NSAIDs (to a lesser extent) are said to be a last resort type of medicine. They reduce symptoms of inflammation, but you risk increasing inflammation episodes. So it CAN become a bad loop. Don't remember how this was explained medically, but I've read it many places. I had a really bad blood inflammation 4 years ago and I lost the ability to walk for some days, got hospitalized and was put on prednisol. It comes with very clear instructions it's NOT FOR PROLONGED USE.
I'm not trying to scare you. I grew up with a mom who had migraines, she used medicines heavily. I'm not opposed to use medicines or supplements to help. Just be conscious about the choices you do for your body and mind.
Edit: Sometimes I foamroll to relax muscles. It's very painful, so the body releases beta endorphins after.
No problem, I agree that it's better to avoid taking medication unless they are really necessary.0 -
Foamroller wrote: »
I'm a big believer in the theory that inflammation COULD be at the core of most diseases or things that often go wrong in our bodies.
Therefore I foamroll, hehe. It is said to alleviate bursitis, which is inflammation in the soft tissue that surrounds organs, muscles etc. By applying body weight pressure on the muscles and tissue, it is believed to "squeeze out" toxins and tension and make the tissue relax. This sounds logical to me. At any time there is a cocktail of hormones that regulate our systems (body and mind). More so when exercising or stressed. Most of the byproducts are "cleansed" through the normal back to the heart vein-muscle pump, but residue might be clogged up for a host of different reason.
I'm sorry this is turning into a lecture...
Anyway, when people have very tense muscles, which we all have somewhere, like in the neck or back, it literally is muscles doing "continuous contraction". They are in other words, holding it 24/7 instead of relaxing like they should do. If too persistent, you might develop muscle knots or pressure points. Poking a finger into it, and it HURTS. These muscle knots are not good for your overall health.
Whenever I used to get deep tissue massages when I was younger. The massage therapist always used to tell me to drink plenty of fluids after my massages because toxins and other nastiest were being released and you could feel sick if you don't. So it makes sense what you said.
I also used to work for a Chiropractor (where they adjust the spine to fix subluxations [pinching of the nerves in the spine]) It sounds like the formroller could do both; release subluxations and workout the toxins in the muscles.
It is very interesting and something I had never heard of, but I'm going to do more research. Thanks for mentioning it.0 -
Foamroller - thank you for the advice - I will go check them out and let you know what i think. I started a few weeks ago just laying lenthwise on foam roller for a few minutes and was amazed how tight my muscles were.0
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@foamroller I am going to check it out too. My shoulders are always so tight I can barely lift 2.5 lbs with them. Would love to find something that would soften them up.0
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@foamroller. Thanks for mentioning using a ball on shoulders. I use the roller happily on legs and hips but hadn't found a way to get into my shoulder/upper arm.
I sometimes struggle to sleep on fast day but always save 100cals for a late evening banana so I don't need to go to bed hungry. Hadn't thought of the hypnosis cd...certainly have one of those that used to put me to sleep straight away (without the desired weightloss!) Like many other people, however hungry I think I am in the evening, I can easily not eat next day till early afternoon.
@flum. Great story, that's an inspiring loss!0
