The Calf Muscle Pump-Light Manual Muscle Relaxation as an aid to lower leg circulationCopyright 2009 Michael Gillan 1 ultra marathon recovery specialistwww.aching-legs.org/occupational_health__safety_aching_leg_relief.html

Aching Legs are a Health Hazard

Many people are in occupations in which they have to spend many hours on their feet or sitting down atworkstations-both groups of people get tired aching legs, and varicose veins, and in the case of sitting,at risk of developing deep vein thrombosis and whatever else they develop(seewww.hazards.org/standing

) for more problems that can affect health over the long termWhether standing, sitting or walking, a common thread between them all is the calf muscle inactivityfactor-the calf muscles are not doing their job of pumping used fluid from the lower legsHere is an image of a leg of a swollen lower leg and ankle-showing how lack of movement can affectlower leg circulation

Occupational health and safety issues with aching legs are a constant problem, and one that is difficultto deal with-usually the best advice that can be given is to wear a good pair of shoes and recover byhaving the legs elevated to allow the fluid that has built up in the lower legs to drain back to the bodyLying down with the legs in the air is the last thing with aching legs needs at the end of the day, it istoo passive and no one has the time to do this in today’s busy lifestyles

These runners who have just spent 3 days on the running track represent how many people feel after a heavy day-unfortunately, they do not have time for laying around like this when they get home, there are usually familycommitments to fulfil

The Calf Muscle Pump-Light Manual Muscle Relaxation as an aid to lower leg circulationCopyright 2009 Michael Gillan 2ultra marathon recovery specialistwww.aching-legs.org/occupational_health__safety_aching_leg_relief.html

Other than having aching legs why do they need to be relieved?

Aching legs can be detrimental to general health and can contribute to stress-for more on long termeffects of poor lower leg circulation on the lower legs, seewww.hazards.org/standing If the poor circulation is medically related there is not much to be done except get them dealt with bythe medical profession-but if the lack of circulation it is related to not moving enough then it may behelped by restarting the calf muscle pump using

Light Manual Muscle Relaxation-a self help massage-lite recovery system

The Calf Muscle Pump

The calf muscle pump forces used blood against gravity up the legs back to the body for recyclingThe muscle pump is made up of all the leg muscles-the main motors for the pumping system are thecalf muscles, the soleus which is used for standing and walking and the gastrocnemius used for runningand jumpingThey work together by alternately putting pressure on the veins which have one-way valves in themand releasing itAs the muscles squeeze, they open the valves, letting blood pass through them; when the tension isreleased they close again stopping it flowing back down towards the feetWhen standing for long periods the weight of fluid in the body puts pressure on the on one-way valvescausing the veins to widen and gaps in the valves to allow leakage of fluid back into the lower legsLack of movement reduces the veins ability to open and close by keeping constant tension on them, thisis called calf muscle pump inefficiency it also affects the Lymphatic System through a reduction of lymph fluid flow

Problems caused by calf muscle pump inefficiency include

•

Poor circulation

•

Lymph system inactivity

•

Venous return reduced

This can lead to long term leg health problems

(See www.hazards.org/standing)

gastrocnemius

soleus

The Calf Muscle Pump-Light Manual Muscle Relaxation as an aid to lower leg circulationCopyright 2009 Michael Gillan 3 ultra marathon recovery specialistwww.aching-legs.org/occupational_health__safety_aching_leg_relief.html

Muscle health is based on having a constant supply of oxygen and nutrients to them

To maintain the supply of fresh blood to the lower legs a balance between what goes into the musclesand what comes out of them is important-fresh blood can't enter the muscle tissues if nothing iscoming out of them

Many people see massage as a means of removing the used fluid from the legs

The term ‘massage’ covers many areas, and ways of using ‘constructive’ touch, most of them rely onthe skill of the therapist at manipulating the muscle tissues-the knowledge they use to do this requiresmuch training and practise-they have to pass examinations in order to work in this fieldUnless you know what you are doing most modern massage techniques are not only too technical-theycan be too rough on tissues, arteries, and veins in the legs from

uncontrolled finger force

and untrainedhands working

and

into

the muscles causing damageThe circulation is already challenged and the muscle tissues already struggling for fresh blood-working

the muscles entails using the hands and fingers to encourage circulation and this means usinguncontrolled finger force into the tissues

Why is working

with

the muscles more important than working

them?

Dealing with the muscles in an appropriate way is important if using manual therapies-to help increaselower leg circulation it is important to make a choice that is not going to make things worseUnskilled hands working

the muscles threaten the integrity of the venous and arterial systems bybreaking the fine capillaries and venules that run throughout the circulatory network of blood vesselsTo prevent this, fatigued legs need something simple that is easy to do without putting the system atrisk of damage

Light Manual Muscle Relaxation the Massage-Lite leg assistance

What makes Light Manual Muscle Relaxation so different from other recovery systems?

While the practical part of it is fully hands on work at many ultra marathon events both in Australia andinternationally (seewww.aching-legs.orgfor events and research undertaken) the theoretical part isbased on

‘Pumping caused by external Compression of the Lymphatics’

Guyton-Textbook of Medical Physiology eighth edition-1991 W.B. Saunders Company-ISBN 0-726-3994-0 (p. 182)

It is an alternative stripped down basic tool which uses the muscles to

work with

themselves

rather thanrelying on the

skills of someone who works

themThis model has many benefits for someone who has to take the place of a skilled therapist in a remotearea where there is a shortage of them or there is not the financial ability to afford the real thingYou can use aimless guesswork and prod and poke and just move the legs in an aimless fashion andhope what you are doing is working and to some extent any movement is better than noneOr you can use planned and structured movement that is based on medical physiology and been testedon many ultra marathon runs and walks around the world that takes into account the problems of theclient and makes the most of any movement restrictions placed on them