Self Care at Home – Caring For Your Muscles

Muscle Care 

7 muscle care tips to take the best care of your body and prevent injuries.

Caring for your muscles Bowen sports therapy

 

1 Get Moving & Stretch Post Workout

We’ve all heard how beneficial exercise is to body, mind & soul, well in my experience it does bring a lot of joy and support health, but the key is finding something you enjoy, the gym isn’t for everyone! I tried to find an online link to stretches that I find supportive, but no one routine is right for everyone, so here are some of my favourite stretches.

I recommend tailoring your choice of stretches to what feels right for your body and to what feels comfortable, do not force the range of movement but relax into it. Hold each stretch for at least 20 seconds, don’t forget to breathe! I warm up before exercise with core strengthening, or cycling, then stretch after a full workout, I would love to know what works for you?

 

2 Epsom Salts – for soothing muscle care

Otherwise known as Soda Crystals are a naturally-occurring product filtered and refined through unique heat processing to maximise their benefits. First popularised by athletes and sportsmen, now more and more people are using them to relieve swollen joints and ease sprains, strains and aching muscles after exercise or physical exertion. Great in a bath to relieve aching muscles, or with a bandage to reduce joint swellings. Word of caution can be slippy when getting out of the bath, also it is suggested to not soak in a bath with Epsom salts, longer than 20-minutes. 

 

3 Saunas

I do love to feel warm and to be honest, I get super excited to go for a treat to the steam & sauna, especially when It’s cold, rainy and grey outside. My joints feel supported from going and I have felt less cold this winter, with fewer colds. Other benefits can include flushing toxins, cleansing the skin, helping to support the immune system and a good recovery post workout.

I also heard it can make your hair shinier by allowing the sebaceous glands on the scalp to secrete! Like I need any more reasons to go as it’s so nice to be warm yippeee!

 

4 Relaxing Mind & Body

Bright is an amazing support network to relax body and mind in an easeful way. This has supported me to find ultimate health, a balance that sees clearly that this physical body is ageing and ‘temporary’ yet the great care to maintain its use, to be of benefit, for as long as possible. How you choose to take of you, is for you to discern, as i said before, we do not need to all go to the gym to be fit, yes that can support, but it’s your choice!

 

5 Supportive Posture

We all do it, slouchy tired posture, stressed out tense posture, but it’s great for preventing injuries to be mindful of your posture in a relaxed way. Great to hang loose in whatever way works for you, we are not all supposed to be straight bolt upright, but it’s often small habits over time that may contribute to an injury.

 

6 Nutrition Support

Listen in to what your body is asking for, as our natural intelligence will tell us. We have all heard about drinking water and the importance of keeping hydrated, it does contribute towards supporting our muscular vehicles to function fully, although no need to force tons of H20 down.

The foods you eat before a workout can play an important role in pre-empting the tissue-rebuilding process once the workout is over. I’m my experience I find it best to eat something small pre-workout such as a green juice or berry smoothie, I then have a healthy protein meal with greens around 20 minutes after a workout.

Omega 3,6 & 9, either taken in a capsule or through omega-rich foods (walnuts, oily fish, soya beans, chia seeds, flaxseeds) according to this source can reduce muscle soreness and increase muscle recovery, whoo!

7 Supportive Treatments!

We all need an MOT, like our cars, at least once a year! To prevent and maintain good health there are so many amazing treatments to support you! I offer treatments in Bowen Technique, which is great for healing injuries new or old, it realigns fascia, which is an amazing sticky tissue surrounding all our joints, muscles, ligaments and nerves. I find after a Bowen treatment, I train better at the gym, as my posture is straighter, aligned and I have better movement of my muscles and joints. Aromatherapy and massage are great for supporting tense muscles too, using bespoke essential oils to match your health needs.

Thanks for reading, happy muscles!

  • For more information or to book a treatment please click here.

 

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