extended working age-keeping the legs healthy with Light Manual Muscle Relaxation (massage-lite)1

Copyright Michael Gillan Long Distance Recovery Specialistwww.aching-legs.org/increased_working_years_legs_maintenance.html

Keep your legs healthy when working extra years

With the global economic downturn, many countries with pension schemes are examining ways inwhich they can save money before having to pay pensions to their working people-my country(Australia) is no exception, and with this in mind, they have just increased the retirement age to 67

http://www.mercer.com/summary.htm?siteLanguage=100&idContent=1289355 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4726300.stm http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/dawning-of -a-new-retirement-age/2007/10/09/1191695906507.html?page=fullpage

Many people already work past the present retirement age voluntarily either because their financialoptions are limited by the failure to invest enough money in their early working lives through lack of foresight or their personal circumstancesOthers do it simply because they love to work, enjoy it and are in an occupation or career where theyhave not had so many physical demands made on their body that they can continue working on withoutany signs of wear and tear that may come with more physically demanding jobWhatever the reason for the increase I retirement age, it becomes increasingly necessary to maintain ashigh a level of fitness and health as possible in the face of the bodies natural inclination to slow downand develop age related medical problemsFor those who are still working the extra years beyond what they expected to through governmentincreased retirement age, you are not going to find it easy, especially if you are in an occupation with ahigh rate of occupational risk of injury and wear and tear on the bodyBuilders, factory workers, nurses, service industries, laboratory technicians (add you own list) are inoccupations that put extra wear on the body because they are jobs that involve standing lifting andwalking for the whole working day-they may not be able to work for the required number of extra years

The Legs One of the Most Important Areas

In the majority of occupations, while there are problems connected with the upper body while working,they rely on the ability of the legs to both transport and stand on while working-if the legs are workingand can supply mobilityNow the legs have to supply mobility for a few more years than they did before, and you will need allthe assistance you can get to keep them working properly with reduced fatigue levels-without fatiguedit will reduce the increased chances of having workplace accidents through slower reaction timesbrought on through ageingLegs-the majority of people have them and for the majority of those, they are working well except forduring and after work fatigue caused by too much walking and standingwww.hazards.org/standing The legs have evolved for two main reasons-to give us transport to find food and to take us away fromdanger-we have now found other uses for them and we accept that they are part of us

extended working age-keeping the legs healthy with Light Manual Muscle Relaxation (massage-lite)2

Copyright Michael Gillan Long Distance Recovery Specialistwww.aching-legs.org/increased_working_years_legs_maintenance.html

Most of us like to keep healthy and to this extent try to do the right things for our bodies-we try to eatthe right food, sleep to rest them so they can recover, do some kind of activity and maintain an activelifestyle with the intensions of keeping mobile as long as we possibly canMobility is one of the most important parts of being who we are and if we lose the use of the legs,independence disappears and we become reliant on other people to help us with our needsLeg health is very important to most of us who are reliant on our legs for our living, and to work longeror simply to get around from place to place-without our legs we lose our independence, and if we donot look after them while we have them over the years we can get into deep troubleIt is not until we see our legs after years of abuse and notice things such as stiffness, varicose veins,arthritis, and leg abuse instigated restless legs caused by angry muscles that we realize that we haveneglected looking after themSimply type into Google type 2 diabetes or multiple sclerosis massage or myotonia congentia orrestless legs syndrome and see what comes up-it is interesting how many things are out there that mayaffect them from a medical, inherited or caused standpoint and can contribute to losing ourindependenceThere are many ways available to keep the rest of the body healthy when it is under stress and workingtoo hard and not feeling as well as it should, but there is not too much around about basic leg healththat can be done in only a few minutesWhen the legs are tired and fatigued after being on them, unless you have your own therapist to helpyou recover them, other than to lay with the legs elevated to allow depleted fluid to flow back to thebody there is not much left you can doThe reasoning behind this is that the veins which take used blood and fluids back to the body from theextremities for refreshing and recycling-the veins have one-way valves in them-the valves open to letused fluid flow through them and close to stop it flowing back down towards the feet again as it movesup the legsBeing upside down takes advantage of gravity by reversing its effects to let the weight of the fluid toopen the valves and flow through back to body-this is known as passive recovery

extended working age-keeping the legs healthy with Light Manual Muscle Relaxation (massage-lite)3

Copyright Michael Gillan Long Distance Recovery Specialistwww.aching-legs.org/increased_working_years_legs_maintenance.html

Passive Recovery

Passive recovery is a slow way of doing things and while generally accepted there are disadvantages todoing this

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It needs time to do

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How long it takes to be effective for any given session

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Someone doing this can get cold

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The muscles stiffen up

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Standing and walking can be difficult until the muscles warm up again

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On standing too quickly many people can be disoriented and experience dizzy sensations whichincreases the possibility of fallsThe body is supplied with a system which seems to be generally ignored but which can both cause leghealth degeneration and leg health recovery, and if used properly can maintain leg health until well intothe twilight years

The calf muscle pump

The muscle pump is a way the body provides for moving used blood back up the legs and feet againstgravity up to the body so it can be renourished and recycled again