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Lead Stories: Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Exercise May Speed
Healing Time

Posted December 29th, 2007 at 4:21 PM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

Animal studies suggest that exercise may be even more important for older people than for younger ones. A report from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign shows that exercise significantly decreased wound size and increased healing rate in older mice. However, exercise had little effect on the rate of wound healing in young mice. (American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, November 14, 2007).

Mice ran on a treadmill at moderate intensity for 30 minutes a day for eight days. They then were given four full-thickness skin wounds and the rate of wound healing was checked daily for 10 days. Compared to age-matched non-exercising mice, the older exercisers healed faster.
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Healing How-To: Knee Injuries

Posted December 1st, 2007 at 9:13 PM by Shannon Clark

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

If you have recently suffered an injury to your leg, then knee rehab exercise is going to be extremely important for helping you to heal and enjoy physical activity again.

It’s a good idea to start by talking to your physiotherapist, if you have been seeing one, about any knee rehab exercises that you can do. The experts usually have quite a few recommendations that will be targeted towards your specific needs, and will build the muscles and ligaments around this joint.

One great knee rehab exercise that will strengthen the outer quad muscles . . .

Read the rest of this entry at our partner site: HerActiveLife.com

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ASK LARA:Plantar Fasciitis and 3 Ways to Cross Train

Posted September 3rd, 2007 at 6:00 PM by Lara Johnson

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Columns, Cross Training, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise, Ask Lara

Need advice? Injured? Confused? Overwhelmed? Bored? ASK LARA!
ASK LARA is a free advice column to help you with all of your running, fitness and nutrition inquiries. To ASK LARA — simply fill out the form at the conclusion of the column.

Q. I think I have plantar fasciitis and have a marathon coming up in 2 weeks. I’m not sure how much running I can do between now and then. Any advice on how I can keep my fitness level up? I already bike indoors once a week but I’m not sure if biking can take the place of running. Anything you can suggest is much appreciated.
~Darlene from Boise, Idaho

A. Plantar fasciitis is a pesky problem that affects numerous runners. With a marathon so close, you certainly don’t want to make matters worse, but you do want to maintain your fitness level. The good news is that you are only 2 weeks out from the marathon, and thus the work is done. As you have already accomplished your training over the past weeks, now is the time to begin a taper and thus decrease your training anyway. The severity of the problem should dictate how much you are able to run. If it’s painful to run, it’s not a good sign and you should focus mostly on other activities. Adding some good cross training to the mix can help you heal the problem while maintaining your fitness. First, let’s take a look at the injury.

Plantar fasci-what?
Plantar fasciitis is an inflammation of the band of tissue, the plantar fascia, that connects the heel bone (calcaneus) to the forefoot, supporting your arch. When this area is strained through overuse or weaknesses, it causes irritation and inflammation, often causing pain in the heel first thing in the morning and …
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Muscle recovery techniques to get you back up, running and in the gym

Posted August 7th, 2007 at 6:11 PM by Shannon Clark

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

One of the most critical aspects of your workout is your recovery. While you definitely do need to be putting in the effort at the gym to provide an overloading stimulus on the muscles to keep challenging them, if you aren’t giving your muscles enough time to recover and grow back stronger you will not see the progress you like.

Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to enhance your recovery ability so you spend less time out of the gym and more time enjoying your workouts (and reaping the desired results)…

Read the rest of this entry at our partner site: HesFit.com

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