Stress is a fact of our modern life and can be triggered by a multitude of situations which can be encountered on a daily basis, resulting in the recognisable stress or ‘fight or flight’ response. In small doses, positive stress, termed ‘eustress’, can actually be a positive factor in life, providing a big incentive to rise to whatever the challenge is, motivating us to be productive and get the job done. When acute stress becomes recurring or intolerable this is when ‘distress’ occurs and we can start to experience the negative effects of stress.

So what happens to our bodies during the stress response? Adrenaline is released causing a sharp increase in our heart rate and blood pressure, helping to get blood and vital oxygen to our brain and muscles, enabling a quick escape from whatever is stressing us (our stress response is a well preserved physiological mechanism from the dawn of humanity , when we needed to escape from predators!). Cortisol, the ‘stress hormone’ is released into the blood, prompting a surge in blood glucose from the body’s energy stores (liver & muscles), giving us the energy to escape danger/deal with an uncooperative colleague/parking ticket!

So this is all good stuff right?? Yes, in the short term…but if acute stress becomes a consistent feature or longer term chronic stress develops; the effect of sustaining this over a longer period takes its toll on the body. Over the medium to long term, the sustained increase in heart rate and high blood pressure which occurs during the stress response can increase the risk of heart disease or stroke. Whilst a sustained increase in cortisol levels can compromise the ability of our immune systems to fight infection and impairing healing and repair. Likewise hormone production is disrupted affecting efficiency and balance of many biological processes (such as reproductive function and increased risk of digestive ulcers). Significantly, all of these physiological adaptations occur silently in the background, with perhaps only reduced immune function may be noticeable, via increased susceptibility to colds or taking longer to recover.

As humans, one of our greatest strengths is our ability to physically and mentally adapt to situations, our muscles become stronger when we exercise them for example. Hans Selye, who pioneered research into the physiology of stress, found that humans and animals have a great capacity to adapt to stress. However, if stress becomes chronic and long term, we are programmed to adapt to this, possibly unaware that we are actually feeling regularly stressed. Our minds and bodies can compensate so far, before “de-compensation” occurs and we feel the negative effects of stress.

And this is the point of this piece, whilst acknowledging that stress is a fact of daily life and we have varying capacities to absorb, deal with or deflect those daily or longer term stresses, self awareness is key.  Often it can be ‘the straw that breaks that camel’s back’ to make us realise that we are perhaps struggling to cope with too much and need to take some action.

As we have seen, on-going short or longer term stress can really wreak havoc on the body. A good regular self care routine, including good diet, regular exercise and enough sleep, is really effective at helping to prevent stress accumulating and having a negative impact on us. When we feel stressed, good habits can often fall by the wayside, making us reach for comfort food, high fat, salt and sugar snacks and that bottle of wine!

As a massage therapist, I recommend incorporating a regular restorative massage treatment into your self care routine. Massage therapy has been demonstrated to counteract the stress response and the negative effects associated with this, slowing breating and heart rates, promoting restoration and physical repair. Which is why incorporating regular massage treatment is beneficial for general wellbeing, along with many other benefits!

There are many other things which we can do to reduce the negative impacts of stress, including regular exercise, which is very effective at helping to lower stress levels, improve sleep quality and quantity (if affected) which in turns benefits our emotional resilience. Make time to do some activity or exercise you enjoy and the benefits will be clear. Yoga and mindfulness meditation are also very helpful. Unsurprisingly, also following a sensible, balanced diet and making sure you get enough good quality sleep are also important in helping to combat stress and promote physiological balance.

If you think that stress may be impacting you, it can be helpful to take some time to do an evaluation of what those contributing factors may be, and think about how you can implement a self care routine to help you help yourself!

References:

SK277, (2006), Stress, Life’s Challenges, The Open University, Milton Keynes

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Running is a whole body sport, with our muscles and joints acting as the shock absorbers for the transfer of the kinetic energy up through the body, which propels us forward. As you get into the big miles, cummulative stress on the body, especially in the feet, legs, hips and lower back, can start to (dependant on your biomechanics) manifest itself with the presentation of overuse injuries such as Ilio-tibial band (ITB) syndrome, commonly known as ‘runner’s knee’, patellofemoral pain aka knee pain, and muscle strains and discomfort.

At this time in your training, it is recommended to invest your most important piece of kit, yourself!

Sports massage should be considered as an important part of your training strategy, here’s why;

1. Efficient recovery – Depending on your training plan, you’re likely to be running about 4-5 days per week. Sports massage is an important tool in helping to promote efficient recovery in soft tissues (muscles, ligaments & tendons) helping to nourish tissue with oxygen and nutrients, helping to reduce fatigue and putting a spring in your step for your next run!
2. Injury prevention – You’ve come this far, you don’t want to have to take time out your training at this crucial stage to rest and rehab an injury (take it from me!) Sports massage helps to keep muscles in optimum condition, and importantly enables potential problem areas to be treated, minimising the likelihood of overuse injuries such as ITB syndrome developing.
3. Get more out of your training –  Maintenance of soft tissues will help promote flexibilty and optimal range of movement of associated joints, which in turn helps to maximise force generation and performance.
4. Promote rehabilitation after injury –  release of tight, tense tissue helps to improve circulation and lymphatic flow and helps to alleviate the problems which the build-up of scar tissue can cause (following injury muscles, tendons and fascia can become stuck and adhered due to the proliferation of collagen during the healing process, contributing a to restriction in range of movement)
5. Enhanced wellbeing - massage treatment is an effective treatment for helping to promote alleviation of stress, which in turn supports our bodies healing capabilities, which are limited when we are overloaded with work, training and generally hectic lives. This aspect of treatment is not to be understimated!

My top tip? Listen to your body! It will tell you what you need to do. If you do have a consistent niggle or pain, this is the time to seek treatment and advice, rather than running through it, hoping it will go away.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be following up with pieces on common running injuries and how to treat them.

Oh, here’s another top tip, ENJOY! Happy running! Maria

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Here’s some helpful tips on how to safely manage most acute sports injuries using the P.R.I.C.E. principle. If you have any doubts about your injury, heard any noises during injury, or have great difficulty weightbearing, walking or moving the affected joint/area, please seek professional medical assistance. Here is a link where you can locate your closest Accident & Emergency department.

1. PROTECTION: The purpose of protection is to avoid further injury to the area by protecting the injured structures. The type of protection used varies depending on the injured area but may include an elastic bandage, sling, protective tape, or over-the-counter brace. 
2. REST:  The purpose of resting is to allow the body’s own healing processes to naturally occur without being impeded by movement of the injured area. Any increase in movement of an injured tissue results in increased circulation to the area which in turn may result in further damage to the injured tissue and/or increased swelling.
3. ICE:  Apply an ice pack as soon as possible to the injured area, this is done to help limit and reduce inflammation and to reduce any internal bleeding/bruising at the injury site. To ice an injury, wrap ice (a bag of frozen peas works very well from personal experience) in a thin towel and place it on the affected area for 10 minutes at a time. Allow the skin temperature to return to normal before icing a second or third time. You can ice an acute injury several times a day for up to three days. Do not apply heat to an acute injury as heat will increase circulation and increase swelling.
4. COMPRESSION: When the ice pack is removed, a compression wrap should be applied to the injured area. The compression wrap serves as a mechanical barrier so that swelling is minimized in the injured area. The most commonly used is an elastic bandage, the size of the body part injured will determine the size of the bandage.
5. ELEVATION:  Elevation is important immediately post-injury to reduce the amount of blood flow to the injured area. For the lower extremities, elevate your leg by lying down and elevating the injured limb on pillows. The key is that you should have the injured area above your heart level.

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• Suitable for all – not just sportspeople!
• Effective treatment for muscular aches or pain
• Complement training to maximise sporting performance – via enhanced recovery
• Reduce risk of injury & improve recovery from injury
• Kinesio-taping and Dry Needling treatments also available

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