Netballers Immediate Post Event Recovery

Netballers and ultra marathon runners and walkers have a major theme in common-they are bothsports that have very few professionals in them-for most players or runners and walkers it is a socialactivity based at local levelBeing a social activity, they are areas that unless there are specific injuries to be treated by doctor,physiotherapist, masseur etc. very few health professionals become involved in them as most of thework is voluntaryI did some time at a local netball club as a sports trainer for a short time, and was surprised at thelittle knowledge of injury prevention and treatment there was amongst the players-while enthusiasmand competition in the game was very intenseThis enthusiasm was responsible for players turning up week after week to play injured or not-thereason I stopped going was the women took no notice of what I said anyway and the first aid kitwas so poorly equipped I could not use any of it when there was direct contact and injurySometimes the after match area looked a little like an after ultra marathon eventAlthough I gave up on the prevention and repair side of things, I realise that there is an area wherethe players may take notice because it means that while not preventing injury directly, I can appealto netball players competitive need to turn up to play for their team every week and maintain the‘competitive edge’ which is reduced by muscle soreness and stiffness through the season

Recovery

Many netballers are women who have family obligations or jobs, or whatever their individualcircumstances other than their game-these limit the money they can spend on professional servicesto maintain their on court fitness and playabilityThis leaves many of the players without any chance of fully recovering in between and after play-if they could recover faster, their game would improve and they would be less prone to injury causedby not being flexible enough to absorb impact from other playersThis is an area where there is very little knowledge available to the social netballer that is both safe,simple and effective for them to use (the professional teams usually have their own support groupsto deal with their recovery problems)But the social player has to go home and nurse their own muscle soreness by themselves

Netballer Recovery using the World Run Recovery System2Copyright 2008 Michael Gillan ultra marathon recovery specialisthttp:// www.aching-legs-relief.com/netballer_recovery_after_match.html In the normal course of events there is very little injury other than small micro-tears in the over usedmuscle tissues-unless there has been a problem from an exterior sources such as impact or bio-mechanical causes (the playing surface, blisters) to increase muscle stressAt this stage, the muscles will just be sore and fatigued-not injured in the conventional sense-sothey do not need a specialized method of soft tissue care to fix them, they just need a

change

of approach to dealing with them that does

not

include giving them more stress than they have hadalreadyUsing conventional recovery systems may do more harm than good because it interferes with thebodies own recovery processes which have started as soon as the muscles stopped being stressedIn immediate post event recovery the need is to get rid of by-products and wastes that haveaccumulated in the tissues while the muscles are in the 'window of opportunity'-that is they are stillwarm and pliableRecovered muscles allow the netballer to get back to their playing without the inconvenience theywould normally associate with after-effects of intensive competition.The muscles being enlisted to assist in their own recoveryUsing conventional methods of recovery is not appropriate at this time and it may be ineffective asthese are being repaired by the body itself, any intrusive outside interference will slow this process.This was taken in the middle of a 6 day ultra event-the conditions are similar to many netballvenues-very primitive with few facilities for privacy and conventional recovery work Similarly, in the middle of a netball season is not when the repair process needs slowing down as itcan reduce the competitive edge of the player and increase muscle fatigue

*Some research has shown that conventional systems do not help with recovery if it is done within 2 hours of the end of the event-but all agree the athlete is still benefiting from the psychological effect more than the physical as it gives aftercompetition winds down.

The World Run Recovery System

The World Run Recovery System offers an alternative way of assisting recovery without interferingwith the healing processes that are already happening at the micro-cellular level of repair-and itdoes this without putting the muscles at risk of being injured by too much pressure generated by theends of the fingers working into the tissues.The system works by using the bodies own mechanics of bones, joints, and muscles to push usedblood and toxins from the lower legs-these can then be replaced by fresh blood-oxygen filled bloodwhich will enhance recovery time and speed the recovery of the sportsperson

Enhancing recovery quickly and easily using the principles of

•

Simplicity

•

Predictability

•

Consistency

Using these 3 principles it is possible to not only enhance recovery times, but to do it without theinconvenience of disrobing or using oils or equipment such as massage table towels or needing thehandskills or techniques of modern massage practises.This places easy recovery for anyone to use with very little training and without any equipment tobuy or maintainMy only equipment for 24 hour run consisted of a chair next to the bottles to maintain the legrecovery of 20 people when I looked after the Danish team at the world championships in 2007