The Army Forced March Recovery using Light Manual Muscle RelaxationMichael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist1Copyright 2009 Michael Gillan http:// http://www.aching-legs-relief.com/the_army_forced_march_recovery.html

Army Forced March Recovery

Leg fatigue-the enemy you can't fight on your terms

While it is a true saying that the army marches on its stomach, it is even more practical that to get where it is going, the army marcheson its feet and legsNo matter how modern and well equipped with efficient transportation the army is; it invariably at some time has to march longdistances complete with its equipment, this then turns into an endurance marchWhile the march may be without its problems, as the body can keep going no matter how much pain it is in, these problems maymagnify when the march is stopped for a rest break, or the theater of operations is reached and there may be a momentary break before the soldier has to go into combatNo matter how fit and well trained the soldier, there is no fighting physiology as everyone whether they are army personnel or ultramarathon athlete has similar basic physiology and are subject to similar problems of leg fatigue and recovery from it

Ultra Marathon

Ultra Marathon running and walking is any distance over 26 miles, 385 yards (41.195 km)It is ultra endurance and can be done by 1 person such as Jesper Olsen running around the world www.worldrun.org or many over aset time or distance from 24 hours-48 hours-6 days or whatever the agreed time or distance seehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultramarathon

The Army Forced March Recovery using Light Manual Muscle RelaxationMichael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist2Copyright 2009 Michael Gillan http:// http://www.aching-legs-relief.com/the_army_forced_march_recovery.html

The ultra marathoner is doing it for fun-the soldier is doing it to go into combat

The ultra athlete is doing their thing for fun, and if they fail to reach their target distance, and recover after it, the worse that canhappen is that they have to cover more distance the next day-if the soldier does the same and they fail to recover after a forced march,then have to go into combat, then they could be wounded or dead because they can't react fast enoughFatigue can be a killer, especially if they have to go into action against a fresh enemy when they get where ever it is they aremarching to

Ultra marathon or army-the problems are similar and recovery is the same!

To demonstrate why recovery is similar I have drawn up the following graphicTo get to the stage where recovery is needed, the muscles go through the following stages0-Event starts1-Fresh legs2-Gets into stride3-Muscles tighten4-Muscle soreness5-Muscle fatigueran for 3 days then stopped-trying to recoverif he was in a combat situation his reaction time would be pretty poor

The Army Forced March Recovery using Light Manual Muscle RelaxationMichael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist3Copyright 2009 Michael Gillan http:// http://www.aching-legs-relief.com/the_army_forced_march_recovery.html

Stages of recovery after running/walking

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Muscle fatigue

Acute Immediate Post Event Recovery

The body is recovering at Micro Cellular level-any work done on the muscles may impact on and break into the bodies own recoveryprocesses leading to them having to start repair again

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Sub Acute

Post Event Recovery

Sub Acute-Micro Cellular repair is well under way, but can still be disrupted by working on the muscles-any work done to assist thebody's recovery at these stages should be light relaxing work that will not add further stress to the already 'at risk' muscle tissues

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Rehabilitation

Conventional working on the muscles can now be done which includes sorting out any injury and problems thathave developed on the run or walk For the conventional athlete, recovery systems such as massage are usually set in place and if it is a large event, they have recoveryteams complete with equipment-for massage they use tables, oil, towels and other paraphanalia

The soldier on a forced march does not have the same luxury-and the same time in hand

For the fresh recruit/trainee soldier or fully trained soldier, or ultra marathoner, conventional recovery systems after a forced march orrun are not an issue that can be addressed because they are too full on with their training or fighting to think about how fatigue isaffecting themThey do not have the time to get their gear off and have sports massage to get them to performance level-anyway most of the squadwould see it as a bit gay-'sorry sir can't set up the ambush yet I am just waiting for my massage'The same is true for the ultra marathoner who is trying to run or walk a 1000 miles or even around the world as Jesper Olsen is doing-conventional systems are inflexible because of their equipment requirements or too time and effort consuming to do in the field

For the soldier and ultra marathoner there are certain requirements a recovery system should meet to besuitable for use in the field

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It should be simple enough to do on their own or with assistance

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Easy to use

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Not need any equipment

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Not need disrobing

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Be tested

BE EFFECTIVE