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dennibw New
Joined: 31 May 2004 Posts: 69
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 8:00 pm GMT +0000 Post subject: Lactate build-up |
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Hi Doc, I had my first professional foot & lower leg massage yesterday since my feet & lower legs have been killing me constantly for the last 8 days. While the girl was working on my calves she told me I had a lot of lactate build-up in my legs. I laughed & said I wasn't suprised since I cycle & being an ICU nurse, I'm on my feet 8-14 hours a day. I think it's most likely work related since I've been on lite exercise for the last 2 months. What can I do to help break this down? I drink water all day at work, watch my diet, & will soak in epsom salt baths. Is this just one of those things where I need to be patient & let nature do it's thing? |
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The Bike Doc 250+
Joined: 08 May 2003 Posts: 1398 Location: Corpus Christi and Warda, Texas
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2005 9:20 am GMT +0000 Post subject: |
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dennibw:
I suspect she was miss calling muscle knots (chronic local muscle spasms) as lactate build-up. Our muscles produce lactate with normal metabolism even with non-strenuous activity, however, it does not build up and is rapidly cleared. Lactate build up does occur during strenuous exercise/activity; the build up is due to the lactate not being cleared as rapidly as it produced. Go to http://www.velonews.com/train/articles/8217.0.html for a very nice write up by another "Bike Doc" on lactate build up.
As it is likely the massage therapist was feeling was chronic muscle knots or spasms, then the best therapy is muscle stretching exercises. Get the excellent book Stretching by Bob Anderson. I use to have chronic knots in my calves that developed when I went from high physical activity to lower physical activity. Even after I cranked my activity back up, the knots persisted. After I read Stretching I started a daily stretching routine, the knots resolved over a couple of weeks.
I hope this information helps.
Thanks, _________________ Paul K. Nolan, MD
AKA: The Bike Doc |
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