Helping your body cope with extra demands

Approximately 4 weeks ago, I had the pleasure of accompanying the WA State Indoor Cricket Masters teams, the Western Wolves, to Adelaide for the National Championships. It was a fantastic experience and the Over 35s and Over 50s took out the championships!

During the time that I was looking after the teams, the players were playing anywhere up to 3 games a day for 7 days straight and some for 8 days. This resulted in extra demands being placed on the body, such as less time to recover and increased intensity due to the nature of the competition.

When we are asking more of our bodies, warm-ups and cool downs are essential to help prevent injuries and keep us in good shape. For more information refer to a previous blog here.

It is important to ensure that our bodies are working correctly as this will help to assist us to deal with extra demands. Part of this is to ensure that the muscles and joints are working in the way that they were designed to work. One way that muscles do not work properly is through being unbalanced. This means that one muscle is tighter or stronger than the muscle/s that do the opposite action. This can lead to postural issues (refer here for more details), as well as an increase in injuries.

One way to avoid muscle imbalances is to stretch regularly, ensuring that muscles are at an optimal length to provide increased strength and to reduce the chance of injury

Health professionals such as chiropractors, osteopaths and physiotherapists can help you by assessing your posture and muscles for any imbalances. If you are worried about your posture or would like to see how your muscles are working, or have any other query, please contact us to make an appointment.