Now that summer is here, out-of-doors sports and activities are at their peak.  Sports like baseball, golf, tennis, lacrosse, rugby (to name a few) have caused many amateur athletes to realize they are not “as young as they use to be…” The aches and pains that follow a weekend of activities seem to take longer and longer to heal. Simple injuries like muscle pulls have you on the sidelines for weeks where in the past you could just bounce back in a day or so.

What has gone wrong? You still feel full of life, nowhere near being over the hill, but your body just is not cooperating with your brain. Where did the youthful vitality go, and what can you do to get it all back? The answer may be more simple than you realize.

Everyone knows that warm-ups and stretching are important before any strenuous activity, but do you know why? The most abundant tissue in our bodies is connective tissue. As fascia, connective tissue forms a net that surrounds each of the fibers in our muscles, the muscles themselves, and the groups that they form that become our prime movers. The connective tissue then joins together to form tendons and muscle attachments.

So much for the anatomy – now the physiology. Connective tissue, also known as sinew, is extremely strong, elastic, flexible and, when hydrated, very slippery. As we exercise the heat from our muscles causes the fascia to soften. As the fascia softens it becomes more elastic allowing the muscles to exert their full force without causing tears in the fascia net. Warm-ups and stretches are important because they are allowing us to gain the full range of motion that our joints are capable of.

The other piece of the puzzle of being active without injury is maintaining proper hydration. Hydration is important for connective tissue in maintaining flexibility and lubricity, but is even more important as the vehicle that washes the toxins and byproducts of metabolism from our tissues. The muscle pain from lactic acid is almost imperceptible for a person who is well hydrated because of their ability to quickly flush the lactic acid back into the blood stream for processing by the liver. Hydration is key in maintaining proper function of your circularity system. As we become dehydrated, our body loses the ability to bring food and oxygen from the blood to the muscles adding to the fatigue.

Another element of having an injury free summer or, in case of an injury, speeding of the healing process, is to provide your body some routine maintenance. Deep tissue or myofascial  massage are well documented methods of improving recovery from sports injuries. Therapeutic massage will relieve the knots and muscle tension that builds up in our bodies. By relieving tension therapeutic massage improves circulation, reduces facial adhesions, improves range of motion and relieves pain.

May you enjoy an injury free summer, and remember –  massage works!