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The Backpacker Leg Fatigue Recovery-let your legs survive

In 2007 I spent 2 months backpacking around Europe and North America-I stayed in hostels all theway, and I had only one rough experience in the whole trip, that was in Dublin-I should say at thisstage I am not a young man, I am 63 years young-not your usual backpacker age groupFrom the younger backpackers point of view I know it is pitiful when most parents andgrandparents are home in bed exhausted by their life of sitting home doing whatever it is they do athome-I am out having fun and seeing other countries, but someone has to do itI did mainly city things because of time restraints, but other backpackers do more way out thingsthan I did such as trekking, sports, working part time jobs while they see the country they are in,using bus trips from country to country, seeing the insides of many airports, but mainly having fun

The reason for my trip

Before going any further I should explain what I was doing there-I was involved with a run aroundthe world with a Danish runner named Jesper Olsenwww.worldrun.orgwho has alreadycircumnavigated the globe-running-this was on world run 1-we had a training camp for world run 2in Denmark so I thought while I was away I would do some backpackingI am a long distance recovery specialist in the sport of ultra marathon where the competitors have torun or walk in events that are over marathon distance-the distance they do can be 6-24 hours,weeks, months or years as in Jesper’s caseI help them to recover quickly when they take a break so they can get straight back out and do it allagain! So I have a very specialized knowledge of how the muscles work, and how to use themagainst themselves so they can get over the use and abuse they receive by their ownersI spent many hours at airports, and walking towns, cities, museums, art galleries and other areasduring the day, and recovering for a while after getting back to the hostel before going out againraging in night clubs and pubs-and getting ripped off in a club in Copenhagen to the tune of AU$6000 on my Visa in one night (Was able to get that back through my bank though it didn’thappen till I got back to Australia-lucky eh?)I was lucky I had split my money up between 2 other cards so was able to continue on with my trip-I had Travelex cards with both $USD and Euros as well so it did not effect my trip financially toomuch-but one of the things that did affect me in other ways was (or would have been if I didn’tknow how to fix them) the wear on my legsI didn’t move enough and was lucky that I didn’t finish up in hospital or dead

http://www.aching-legs.org/backpacker_leg_survival_after_sightseeing.html 2The first problem I had was on the long flight from Australia to Europe-there is a little problemcalled DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS that is linked to long haul flights-sorry guys it just does not justaffect us older people-there is no age gap as far as this is concerned (these are my legs by the way-Iwas experimenting and copying the habits of most people around me on the flight)The second problem from walking and standing still while waiting to get into venues wasSwollen ankles

So how did I do all the walking and exploring, getting back to the hostel, recovering and back outagain and how can other backpacker benefit from what I do?

The first thing is to have a small understanding of the legs circulation system

Fresh legs-healthy calf circulation

To keep the lower leg circulation working and the calf muscles fresh, the muscles rely on having aconstant supply of fresh blood to the muscle tissues-it is sent to the lower legs under pressurethrough the arteries and ever decreasing in size vessels called arterioles and even smaller capillarieswhile at the same time the pressure taking it there also decreasesBy the time the blood reaches the feet, all the pressure has been used, and there is none left to returnthe blood back up the legs to the body against gravity again

Bloodpumped fromheart througharteriesunder

Reaches feetPressure runsout

Calf musclesact as pumpmotorsUsed bloodismoved up thelegs throughthe veinsOn return tobody bloodisrenourished

and reccled

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The Calf muscle Pump

The job of returning used blood back up the legs for re-nourishment and recycling is carried out bya pumping system formed by the muscles in the legs, but the main power for this is supplied by thecalf muscles as they move, putting pressure on and taking it off the vessels called the veinsThe veins have one-way valves in them which open as the blood passes through them, and closes tostop it going back down to the feet again-in this way, as used blood leaves the legs, and fresh bloodreplaces it-to maintain the balance between them, a similar volume of used blood should leave thelegs as enters them

Calf Muscle Fatigue

If the muscles are tight, or the legs are not moved, the pump does not work as well as it should-thisdisrupts the cycle and allows used blood to remain in the lower legs-as it its not being removed,water (lymph fluid) separates from it and fills the tissue spaces, as it is not being pumped awayquickly enough, the ankles swellThe calf muscles start to move even less, and the less they move, the less used blood and fluid isremoved from the lower legs, and the flow of fresh blood into them is reduced even more-so theyfatigueAs the legs start to fill up with fluid, they get heavy and wearing shoes that fit properly and providestability becomes harder to do, so many people resort to wearing thongs which provide no stabilityat all for the legs and feet, and makes the wearer develop a shuffling gait when they walk simply tokeep them on-which reduces the movement even more!The Backpacker can do without all this going on because they have people to see and places to go,and the last thing they need when away from home is problem legs

Calf MuscleFatiueTightcalf

muscles

PoorbloodreturnFreshbloodreduced