Recovery after games

[ChicagoLJ]

How do you guys do it??? I've never had a problem in the past but this week has been awful. After 7 games from Friday to Sunday I've just been hurting. Normally after Monday's I'm fine but I woke up in pain again today.

Luckily, I suppose, all the pain is located in just one of my legs (hey, I got two). Achillies, knee, and hamstring all killing me on the left leg.

What do you guys do to recover after games and get ready for the following week?

[umpirebob71]

Three words...Miller Genuine Draft.

Originally Posted by umpirebob71

Three words...Miller Genuine Draft.

Avoid the Steel Reserve...your recovery time will be longer.

[Texas Aggie]

I agree with Rut as well as everything Bossman says, but in reality, it isn't an after the game deal anymore. You have to have a 24/7/365 fitness program that keeps you body at a high level and able to take just about anything thrown at it.

If you want to do 7 games on a Friday, you have to put in the work the rest of the week. There's no magic remedy until someone invents a fountain of youth or full leg transplants.

Think about it this way: special forces operators have to keep themselves at a conditioning level similar to elite athletes. We just have to keep ourselves at the level of the mediocre ones!

[Welpe]

To be fair, he didn't say 7 games in one day, he said 7 games from Friday to Sunday. Don't get me wrong, that is still a good amount of games and Aggie, your point on fitness is dead on.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Welpe

To be fair, he didn't say 7 games in one day, he said 7 games from Friday to Sunday. Don't get me wrong, that is still a good amount of games and Aggie, your point on fitness is dead on.

Even if that is the case, either you work out to make your body prepared for that, or you stop working those amount of games so that you are not hurting. Unless the pain for a few days is bearable, stop working that much.

Peace

[kdf5]

Originally Posted by ChicagoLJ

How do you guys do it??? I've never had a problem in the past but this week has been awful. After 7 games from Friday to Sunday I've just been hurting. Normally after Monday's I'm fine but I woke up in pain again today.

Luckily, I suppose, all the pain is located in just one of my legs (hey, I got two). Achillies, knee, and hamstring all killing me on the left leg.

What do you guys do to recover after games and get ready for the following week?

Ibuprofen, lots of water, stretch, light exercise, in that order.

[Jim D.]

Cold Bud and hot tub!

[bossman72]

I posted this on another forum, so hopefully this will help:

1) Cold Tub - this is quite possibly the best thing you can do for sore legs. You don't even have to have an injury to do the cold tub. If your legs are very sore, do it! The "designed" cold tubs are the best because you can stand up in them, but you can make a home made one in your bath tub that is serviceable. Buy one of those extra large bags of ice at the store and dump it in your bath tub. Fill it up with cold water and jump in with a pair of underwear or compression shorts. Stay in for about 15 to 20 min. When doing the home made one, be sure to move around a bit since the parts of your legs and butt that are contacting the tub won't get as cold. For the first 5 minutes it SUCKS, but grit your teeth and stay in there. After you get numb it's tolerable.

I promise you your legs will feel like a million bucks if you do the cold tub properly.

2) Ibuprofen - Just pop 2 or 3 before your game to take the edge off. It won't cure it, but it will dull the pain a little.

3) Buy a foam roller. Here is the one I use : http://www.power-systems.com/p-2972-...am-roller.aspx (the big round one)

Roll out and do a stretch routine after every game and that will take a good bit of the soreness out of your legs and back. This is also a great tool for preventing soreness.

4) Stretch / warm up - If officiating a game is a highly physical activity for you (everyone is different) then it's important to warm up before so you don't pull anything. It's recommended to DYNAMICALLY stretch (lots of movement - ie- lying straight leg raises) rather than statically stretch (ie- touch your toes) before activity. It's just as important to STRETCH DOWN after the game as it is before. Stretching down prevents soreness. Static stretches are the best for stretching down. Stretch first, then foam roll.

5) General injuries - ALWAYS ICE before heat. Ice until the swelling disappears, then you can heat if you want.


Hope this helps!

[JRutledge]

I do not do 7 games on one day anymore.

Peace

[KWH]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I do not do 7 games on one day anymore.

Peace

Neither did ChicagoLJ!!!

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by ChicagoLJ

How do you guys do it??? I've never had a problem in the past but this week has been awful. After 7 games from Friday to Sunday I've just been hurting. Normally after Monday's I'm fine but I woke up in pain again today.

Luckily, I suppose, all the pain is located in just one of my legs (hey, I got two). Achillies, knee, and hamstring all killing me on the left leg.

What do you guys do to recover after games and get ready for the following week?

You did 7 games in 3 days... likely a 48-hour period? You should be hurting!

Rest is the only thing to physically prepare for this weekend.

[InsideTheStripe]

Originally Posted by JugglingReferee

You did 7 games in 3 days... likely a 48-hour period? You should be hurting!

Bah - I regularly do 12+ games from 17:00 Friday to 17:00 Sunday. You have to be in shape to do it - no doubt; however, it can be done. It takes time and effort in the off-season to build up your strength and endurance to handle that number of games.

[HossHumard]

For many of us in the +40 category, the issues are joint related, and usually knees are involved. After three or four decades of running, jumping, twisting, falling and ripping these joints the cartilage has decayed (or in my case, pretty much disappeared) and doesn’t provide the protection it used to from the smashing of the femour and the tibia.
Include a body frame that has packed on 20 or 30 pounds more than it used to and you’ve got the perfect recipe for inflammation in the knee joints causing stiffness and pain.

Ice is your friend my brothers. As soon as you get home, fill a zip lock bag with some ice cubes and go from knee to knee (ankle to ankle if you’re hurting there too) for a good hour and the next day you will feel a million times better than if you’d done nothing. I’ve got a couple of freezer packs that are about 12” x 18” and they’re perfect for wrapping around the joint for complete cool down therapy. You may also apply cold beer to your “interior muscles” as added therapy, but that’s another story entirely.
Ever see a photo of a baseball pitcher after he finishes a game? Their throwing arm is wrapped in ice from wrist to shoulder, even if the guy’s arm is fine. It’s now been proven that pro-active icing can reduce future injuries by taking the heat out of the joint that contributes to cartilage breakdown in later life.

Celebrex is a wonder too....but you got to talk to your doctor about that one.

I’m not a doctor, but after six trips to the surgeon, I know my way around the knee and given I'm based in Western Canada, lord knows I'm all up to snuff on this ice thing....

[ChicagoLJ]

Well like I said, I like to think I'm in the best shape I have been going into a season. I've done that many games before, I just didn't understand how this week it's been so bad. Normally my pain is gone Monday morning, like clockwork. This week though, I've just started to feel better now.


Maybe I'll just have to double up the whiskey regimine.