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Recovery of Nurses legs using anenvironmentally friendly recoverysystem

The Nurse Unintentional Athlete and massage

Using massage to relieve problems in aching legs

Most nurses like receiving massage because they are tactile people, and it is part of theirprofession-many nurses are also trained massage therapistsA problem with being a trained massage therapist is that they do not often have time to getmassages themselves so they have leg problems the same as everyone else doesThe main problem with doing leg care is that massage is very difficult to do when the legs areaching during a hectic shift, and it is at this time when fatigue caused by tired legs makes thenurses vulnerable to mistakes

Even the trained massage therapist/nurse skills can’t do

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Remedial or Medical massage

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Relaxation massage

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Sports massage

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Therapeutic massage

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LomiLomi massagePlus anyone of 101 different varieties of massage on the ward-they are just not practical

Swollen ankles

These swollen ankles are mine after I was testing out a theory on long flights but it is a fair betthat many nurses have them like this at the finish of

their

dayWhen you are on your feet all day the calf muscles start to fatigue, power stops being suppliedto the pump and the blood just pools around the ankles-the water (or lymph fluid) separatesfrom it and migrates into the tissues in and around the ankles-so they swellAs it is not being pumped away fast enough from the lower legs, the ankles swell or haveedemaTo deal with swollen ankles the system used should be designed for dealing with lower legcirculation-most other systems are designed for fixing specific problems and as they work

the muscles and need an advanced practitioner to be used without causing injury

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Like these guys who have just run for 3 days they stand up they can barely move!

These are 2 people who have just been running for 3 days around a running track in allweathers and they have aching legsThe people a above are

intentional athletes

, they train, they run, they do not smoke, drink,keep late nights, have wild parties and they are still exhausted and know they are not going torecover for the next week People who are intentional athletes

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They do a warm up and stretching before competition

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They do a cool down and stretch after competing

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They have a recovery strategy in placeNurses are

accidental athletes,

than their own, they drink alcohol and smoke, have wildparties and keep late nights-they feel at the end of a shift roster the same as the intentionalathlete but they still expect their bodies to recover and be ready for work the next dayNurses who are accidental athletes

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They don’t’ do any warm-ups or stretching before starting work

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They don’t do any cooling down or stretching after shifts

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They have no recovery strategies at all(to find out what can go wrong with the legs seewww.hazards.org/standing

)

If the nurse wishes to have as long a career they should make some changes totheir maintenance routine and class themselves as athletes and get amaintenance strategy

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There are 2 major groups of options to relieve aching legsThese are

passive

and

active

AchingLeg Relief

The relief of aching legs can be approached in different ways and the decision of which way togo is dependent on a number of factors-the biggest one being what other commitments youhave in your life at that present time and the time you have to commit to it

PassiveRelief

The

‘passive’

option is the most recommended way to relieve aching legsFind a quiet area and lie down with the legs elevated to let the fluid flow back

(Been there-done that-didn’t seem to work too well-I was stiff when I stood upand went light headed)

That like the ultra marathon runners and walkers nurses do not have time to wait forpassive recovery to work at relieving those aching legs-the active option is betterUltra Athletes

Ultra athletes cover a lot of ground, like nurses they are on their feet for many hours and theirlegs get fatigued-they suffer from sore feet, sore legs, swollen ankles, stiffness, wastedmuscles, muscle cramps, tiredness, mental fatigue, restless legs, sore skin, night pains, musclespasm, muscle wastage, swollen ankles, hyperthermia, hypothermia, temper tantrums,vomiting, food sensitivity, allergies, rashes, loss of judgement-and that is the good partThe runner in the red shirt had been going for 4 hours when fatigue hit him; he was discoveredat the side of the track lying down unable to move-here you see him 20 minutes later up andmoving againHow was he able to get going so quickly and obviously happy because he got on the track again and was able to finish the event?