Post Event tips

After the race give yourself time to recover using active recovery.There are number of things to do to aid your recovery:

Soft tissue massage

1. Stretch:

You will need to stretch the muscles in your legs that you have just been working. Work your way through your leg muscles starting with both your calf muscles, taking the stretch with the knee straight and the knee bent. Then stretch the front of your thigh, your hipflexor, hamstrings, and bottom muscles. Stretches should be held for 30 seconds to be effective.

2. Compression:

You may wish to use compression garments to encourage blood flow from you legs back to your heart with the aim to reduce the build up of lactic acid in your muscles.

3. Replenish your fluids:

Even if it’s not a long race, it still required endurance and you will have been sweating therefore loosing water and salts.

4. Foam roller:

24-48 hours post race use a foam roller. This can be used to massage those tired muscles reducing tension, encouraging blood flow and aiming to ease any post race aches and pains over the next few days.

5. Gentle Aerobic Movement:

It’s tempting to rest completely after an event, but being inactive will encourage stiffness to set in. Just having a good walk for example the day after will help flush out the lactic acid & keep you loose.

6. Massage:

48-72 hours afterwards, use gentle soft tissue massage. This is another recovery tool that can be effective in reducing muscular ache and aiding your recovery.

If you have more than just an ache or you are worried at all about your muscles and bones, we can help. Let us know by following us and #askaphysio @BackinActionUK