⭑ How every little strain accumulates to reduce our flexibility ✔ News to me All strength to Ukraine 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 Hello,I trust you're well and keeping active. Whoa, the world's getting even more complex! RF Kennedy Jr's selection to lead the US HHS, on the one hand, potentially brings a vaccine sceptic to unprecedented power over public health and, on the other, delivers a person who has vowed to take on Big Food and Big Pharma for the benefit of the public. I take every vaccine my doctor recommends, and he recommends most. I also think we'd be better off with more people taking on Big Food and Big Pharma. My head hurts thinking about all this... Back to practicalities. This week's "special edition" newsletter explains how accumulating seemingly innocuous muscle and tendon microtears can lead to painful injuries as we age and how to mitigate this outcome. This follows my diagnosis of a "significant" right hamstring tear and the ultrasound operator's observation that my left hamstring also has significant accumulated scar tissue. Up until now, I had not realised just how much scar tissue can accumulate over the journey of life and how accumulated scar tissue itself increases the likelihood of future tears - see item #1. Scar tissue decreases our flexibility, and diminished flexibility causes more micro-injuries and, hence, more scar tissue - see Item #2. What happens when these two above factors team up? They create a vicious cycle that significantly increases your risk of injuries — see Item #3. How can you treat your minor sprains to avoid scarring and loss of flexibility? Here's my list, it's a trade-off between affordability and effectiveness — see Item #1. // 01 The Hidden Impact of Lifelong Scar Tissue AccumulationScar tissue from minor muscle and tendon strains accumulates as we age. Often overlooked subtle injuries gradually reduce our flexibility and increase the risk of more significant strains. Similarly, minor sprains affecting our ligaments can compromise our joint stability, further heightening injury risks. ⇒ I am focusing today on strains, i.e. tears leading to scar tissue in our muscles and tendons. The tricky part is that these changes happen gradually, so you might not notice until something more significant goes wrong. What's worth knowing is where such scar tissue is most likely to accumulate:
And there are gender differences: typically, men engage in more physically demanding activities, leading to greater scar tissue accumulation in large muscle groups like the legs and back. Women are found to experience more scarring in areas related to repetitive motions, such as the wrists and shoulders. ⇒ This is useful to know as it helps you focus on which exercises and movements might be most beneficial for you in helping reduce the impact of accumulated scar tissue, e.g. lower back, shoulders, or hamstrings. What this means for you: Prevention is better than cure, so don’t brush off those small tears or sprains as just part of getting older. Seeking early treatment can help reduce the buildup of scar tissue, keeping your muscles and tendons more flexible and less prone to stiffness. Simple steps like gentle stretching, prompt rest, and consulting a physiotherapist can make a big difference in maintaining your mobility and preventing future issues. I tended not to do this, and that's why I have a notable accumulation of scar tissue on the top of my hamstring. Related: The Anti-Inflammatory Benefits of Exercise - Easier Than You Think // 02 Flexibility Decline: A Silent Contributor to Injury RiskAs we age, our ability to bend, stretch, and move freely takes a hit - our flexibility naturally declines. Scar tissue plays a big role in this process. As scar tissue builds up in our muscles and tendons, it makes them less elastic, which can silently and relentlessly increase our risk of injuries. This is because scar tissue isn’t as stretchy as healthy tissue. This rigidity can limit your range of motion, making everyday activities tougher and thus increasing the chances of overstretching or straining a muscle during routine movements. Flexibility matters in reducing the chance of pulling a muscle or straining a tendon because good flexibility allows for a better range of motion of joints. It enhances circulation, thus helping your muscles recover faster. All these factors combine to enhance your posture and reduce the risk of sudden jerks or muscle pulls. ⇒ For people who are not consistently doing strength training or kettlebell training, science recommends doing dynamic stretching to improve your flexibility - in contrast to static stretching:
What this means for you: Add dynamic stretches to your daily routine to fight off the decline in flexibility. Unlike static stretches, dynamic movements actively engage your muscles, making them more elastic and ready for action. Start your mornings with gentle leg swings or arm circles, and include these stretches before any workout to reduce injury risk and boost your overall mobility. ⇒ Activities like yoga, Pilates, and simple stretching routines can help keep your muscles and tendons supple. Related: Keep Your Tendons Healthy And Your Balance Will Look After Itself @Medium - Follow me on Medium ↗, covering ⭑food, ⭑brain, ⭑body, ⭑life // 03 Breaking the Vicious Cycle of Scar Tissue and Flexibility LossI've talked about how scar tissue accumulates and how flexibility declines, but what happens when these two factors team up? They create a vicious cycle that significantly increases your risk of injuries. Let’s break down how this cycle works and what you can do to stop it:
The outcome?
⇒ Addressing both scar tissue and flexibility is key. This means treating injuries early, maintaining a regular flexibility routine, and building strength to support your muscles and tendons. What this means for you: Your most powerful tool is this knowledge - accumulated untreated strains will ultimately increase your risk of more serious strains. ⇒ Here's what you can do: (1) treat minor injuries promptly to prevent scar tissue buildup, (2) consistently do flexibility training with both dynamic and static stretching, and (3) focus on eccentric exercises to build muscle and tendon resilience. Related: Even Very Active Runners Lose Leg Strength Without Resistance Training // 04 Your Treatment Options for Minor Sprains Our exercise of the week is the ... your options for treating a fresh sprain. Firstly, this is not medical advice. If your sprain is serious, see your health professional. ⇒ This is my view of how to treat minor sprains based on my perspective of my long-term health and finances, i.e. my personal trade-offs. What this means for you: In order of effectiveness, I look at treatment this way:
I focus on the vibration plate and the near-infrared therapies. They have one-off costs - which I can afford. Personally, I think that near-infrared therapy is underrated in the West. It is very highly rated in China. Near-infrared light penetrates about 2 to 3 cm, and it:
⇒ Choose the best you can afford, and you'll mitigate future problems caused by your minor sprains. Related: Keep Your Tendons Healthy And Your Balance Will Look After Itself Thanks for reading! P.S. If you are not yet subscribed to my free exercise app, try now ↓↓↓ Free forever. Opt-out any time. Opt-in by CLICKING HERE PLEASE SEND ME THE EXERCISES. NOTE: YOU ONLY NEED TO SUBSCRIBE ONE TIME. >> My Latest Blog Post: Energise Your Golden Years: Boosting Your Desire to Exercise with Gut-Healthy Foods About the newsletter: Do you think it can be improved? Have a story idea? Want to share about the time you met Chris Hemsworth, or your questions about how to live longer better? Send those thoughts and more to me at walter@bodyagebuster.com '4 Most Valuable' is a weekly newsletter from Walter Adamson. If you like it, please forward to a like-minded soul. Someone forward this to you? You can subscribe from this page. Each of these weekly emails has 4MV in the subject line to help you filter them and search for previous ones. |
"I empower mid-life men and women to make the choice to live as actively and as independently as they can, for as long as they can", Walter Adamson Get access to my weekly research that I don’t share elsewhere. “My wife and I both read your articles each week, and I have to say there is so much confusing data out there, but yours is a great source, well researched, scientific and always relevant.” — Steve Ridgway, subscriber.
⭑ Doing to much too soon will derail your exercise program ✔ Take a step back⭑ Skipping warm-up and cool-down stresses your joints ✔ Allow time⭑ Plateaus are natural, longer when you're older ✔ Learn to love them⭑ Good posture and controlled movements get you the best return on exercise ✔ All strength to Ukraine 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 Hello, I trust you're well and staying active. The newsletter is a different format today, just one item, with 10 hints to avoid mistakes that can reduce your gains...
⭑ Maintaining muscle health is one key to healthspan ✔ Three tips⭑ Inflammaging - what is it and how to tame it ✔ Gets worse as we age⭑ You can track your body's capacity to resolve stress ✔ I find it interesting⭑ Healthier back shoulders and biceps with the dumbbell row ✔ All strength to Ukraine 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 Hello, I trust you're well and keeping active. Summer's here down under. We’ve had some weird nights with the highest temperature for the day at 5 am! Perhaps that's why my...
⭑ These doctors will fact-check your medical queries ✔ For free⭑ How walnuts improve your brain health and your blood pressure ✔ Research⭑ Regular bad dreams? Talk to your doctor about it, here's why ✔⭑ The squat-calf raise combo is a fabulous muscle builder - not difficult ✔ All strength to Ukraine 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 Hello, I trust you're well and keeping active. Ouch! Running for the train last Wednesday I tore my nearly repaired hamstring again - set me back a few months. The irony was that...