Ice, Ice, Baby!

[rainmaker]

In another thread, someone mentions taking care of ourselves, and I have a question about that. What should I (or any other ref, for that matter) be doing about cooling down properly after a game, or set of games? I'm wondering if part of my problem the next morning isn't so much from the activity itself, as from the driving home immediately afterward. At this point in my career, I'd be willing to insist on a private corner in which to do whatever is necessary, but I need to know what that is. Any advice?

[Jurassic Referee]

Try about 14 brownpops after the game. You'll still ache, but you really won't care about it as much.

Works for me.

[BktBallRef]

1 - I always try to shower and change clothes as quickly as possible, whenever possible.

2 - I try to get at least one bottle of water in me.

3 - A couple of (insert your favorite pain reliever here) just to help the soreness of those muscles that are going to be aching soon.

Some people stretch. It's never done anything for me.

[BktBallRef]

Originally posted by Jurassic Referee
Try about 14 brownpops after the game. You'll still ache, but you really won't care about it as much.

Ache? I don't think so.

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by BktBallRef

Ache? I don't think so.

14 of 'em before driving home, and I'll ache alright, but the sports fatigue will be the least of it!

[Hawks Coach]

I play during practice with my team, sometimes go for two hours if we are really short that day. Definitely feel it the next day, but I take steps to help.

Major hydration before. I have a 32 ounce water cup that I fill with ice at noon every day, refill with water all afternoon. Helps prevent a lot from even starting.

I do tend to get a chance to stand and stretch while talking to parents, players, assistant coaches. I do think it helps, but stretching is really a personal preference. I stretch more after than before - learned that at a coaching clinic, works for me.

I hit a sports drink right out of the gym - not sure if it matters, but it does in my mind anyway.

I usually need 1 - 2 hours to settle once I get home after intense activity, so I watch some tube or read - more chance to drink a couple more 16 oz glasses of water. I am an unabashed super hydration freak. It really helps me.

I also shower, not sure if it helps with any pain other than the pain my wife would inflict if I didn't rinse off before bed.

I am not a big pain killer fan, but that is just a personal thing. Never done the meds thing that much - I actually probably should on those nights where I can tell in advance my body will feel it the next day. Maybe I will think of it sometime!

[Dan_ref]

Originally posted by BktBallRef
1 - I always try to shower and change clothes as quickly as possible, whenever possible.

2 - I try to get at least one bottle of water in me.

3 - A couple of (insert your favorite pain reliever here) just to help the soreness of those muscles that are going to be aching soon.

Some people stretch. It's never done anything for me.

1. Huh. I usually take my time going into the shower. I prefer to cool down before going in.

2. Two aspirin before any game helps more than you can imagine.

3. Stretching before & after helps me.

I'll also add

4. Like the coach I drink lots of water. Before the game, during pregame, at the half, after. I don't care for the sports drinks myself, kinda too sweet for my taste.

5. Ice for any "spot" pain - knee, ankle, shin, whatever.

[CYO Butch]

Like the others have said, lots of water. Sports drinks (not fruit juice) is also pretty useful, particularly 1 hour before the game 1/2 hour after the game. You want to keep your blood volume up since the muscle aches are from chemicals produced by the muscles not being taken away as quickly as they are generated. The salts (they call them "electrolytes" on the bottles) in the sports drinks also help with keeping the blood volume up. Starting about an hour after the exercise, I believe that drinking another 8-12 ounces of water per 100lbs of body weight is also a good idea. There are two things you then want to accomplish. Get fully hydrated and flush the bad stuff from your muscles. What has really worked for me is to go through my regular warmup exercises. Nothing strenuous, just get the blood flowing again. This seems to help get the chemical buildup out of the muscles. I then try to drink some more water.

It also occurs to me that one of the reasons that asprin does seem to help is that it has three properties. First it's a pain reliever - Great! Second, it's an anit-inflamatory. Third, it's a blood thinner. I think all those things are probably good for fighting stiffness.

[TPS2859]

Try preseason training!
About mid July I'll start jogging 1 to 2 miles a day, then work up to running that 1 to 2 miles a day three weeks before the season starts. I always laugh when I seen younger refs "stretch out" before a game in a three man crew. If you are going to stretch out, do it before a jr. high game in a two man crew when you are going to run you butt off! At 45 the preseason training keeps me from having ANY problems the next morning.

[JugglingReferee]

Originally posted by Jurassic Referee
Try about 14 brownpops after the game. You'll still ache, but you really won't care about it as much.

Works for me.

Since when do you need an excuse like refereeing?

[Jimgolf]

You may be suffering from weekend warrior syndrome. If you are not active during the week, refereeing on the weekend can cause strain on under-utilized muscles.

The key to conditioning is to exercize every other day, with a rest day in between. You need time to rebuild muscle tissue, and you need a consistent exercize routine to convince the body to produce more muscle cells to supplement the injured muscles, as opposed to just repairing the injured muscles, which the body will do if there is enough time.

Repaired muscle tissue contains scar tissue, and it is the scar tissue tearing that causes the morning aches and pains. If you exercize regularly, the body supplies new muscle cells, which are less susceptible to tearing than scar tissue. This is why body builders work on lower body one day and upper body another.

Four days a week is usually the optimum exercize pattern. Of course, if you're already doing this, then in the words of Emily Litells, "Never mind".

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by Jimgolf
You may be suffering from weekend warrior syndrome. If you are not active during the week, refereeing on the weekend can cause strain on under-utilized muscles.

At the moment, I'm okay, but I was just asking about a general routine of cooling down. So often, it's just take a quick shower and hop in the car, drive 25 minutes. Or even skip the shower, if I'm in a hurry to get home. If the drive is more than about 10 minutes (and around here, most of them are) I can barely get out of the car and walk into the house. I'm thinking some sort of cooling down routine at the school would be useful.

[TravelinMan]

Originally posted by rainmaker

At the moment, I'm okay, but I was just asking about a general routine of cooling down. So often, it's just take a quick shower and hop in the car, drive 25 minutes. Or even skip the shower, if I'm in a hurry to get home. If the drive is more than about 10 minutes (and around here, most of them are) I can barely get out of the car and walk into the house. I'm thinking some sort of cooling down routine at the school would be useful.

Juulie, (1) don't skip the shower (2)do stretching exercises for your legs since it sounds like they tend to stiffen up if you have a longer ride home and (3)consider wearing knee brace - elastic with hole cut out at kneecap. You can buy them at any pharmacy. As the season moves along you won't need knee brace anymore. This is what I do and it really helps. That way I can go 100% even if I have a full schedule (5-6 nights a week).

__________________________________________________ _______
"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint."--Mark Twain

[Dan_ref]

Originally posted by TravelinMan

...and (3)consider wearing knee brace - elastic with hole cut out at kneecap. You can buy them at any pharmacy. As the season moves along you won't need knee brace anymore. This is what I do and it really helps. That way I can go 100% even if I have a full schedule (5-6 nights a week).

When I rehabbed my knee my dr told me the knee brace you buy at the pharmacy is useless.

[TravelinMan]

Originally posted by Dan_ref

When I rehabbed my knee my dr told me the knee brace you buy at the pharmacy is useless.

Dan, I found it gave me the support I needed and helped immensely. Maybe your doctor hasn't seen the new ones on the market. I tried several ones that were useless before hitting on this one. I'll look upname at home.

BTW I also went through arthroscopic surgery on my left knee. Braces are by no means a panacea, but the correct one can help immensely.