Category — Psychology

Over the last few articles we have talked about stress, quantifying stress, and Heart Rate Variability (HRV).  In the HRV article I hinted at massage and the potential effect is can have on HRV and helping the athlete/client get into a more parasympathetic state.  While science continues to exam what is happening under the skin when soft tissue therapy is being applied, one thing is for certain, people tend to feel better after getting some bodywork.  Athletes report less delayed onset of muscle soreness (DOMS) and tend to feel more relaxed and rested following massage therapy.

As I stated in previous articles, as coaches we have become very good at applying the stress.  We can take the athlete out and run them, make them lift heavy, throw medicine balls, do circuits, do intervals, etc., however, we often overlook the restorative aspect in our training programs.  No program is a good program if you cannot recover from it.  One of the ways that I have found soft tissue therapy to be of extreme value is its use in restoration and recovery.  It is one way in which we can help the athlete relax and calm down following intense bouts of work and stress (training, competition, etc).

Some athletes will require more recovery between intense periods of training/competition than others, making it important to understand your athletes and how they respond to these situations so that you can adjust training accordingly.  Using some form of soft tissue therapy/bodywork is one method that can be helpful in bringing the athlete back to a parasympathetic state.  A number of papers have looked at changes in HRV following a few different types of massage techniques – trigger point therapy, rolfing, joint manipulation, and thai massage.  In all instances, massage helped to increase HRV, indicating a move towards a parasympathetic state.

While the changes in HRV, enhanced parasypathetic state, and overall psychological well-being are impressive, many of these studies are not conducted in conjunction with exercise.  However, one study conducted by Arroyo-Morales et al, looked at the effects of 40min. of myofascial release work compared to placebo (sham ultrasound) following three 30-second Wingate tests (high intensity exercise).  Interestingly enough, those in the massage/myofascial release group actually had better recovery in HRV and blood pressure compared to the placebo group.  Those in the massage group recovered their HRV and blood pressure back to baseline/pre-exercise levels.

Practical Application

As noted above, knowing your athletes and when they need a “recovery day” is important for enhancing their development and avoiding overtraining.  One thing that I have noticed in athletes that are in a more sympathetic or under-recovered state is that their skin is a little more tight/taught when I try and move it, compress it, or roll it.  Additionally, there are other changes in the skin and muscle that may be interpreted as an increased sympathetic state:

• Goosebumps when skin rolling techniques or pressure is applied

 

• Inability to relax when pressure is applied (often times going into an upper chest breathing pattern or being very guarded)

 

• Some have suggested that being ticklish is a sign of an overly sympathetic state (especially if it happens on one side of the body and not the other)

 

• Extreme soreness or tenderness with light pressure

From a practical standpoint, when athletes are in this sort of sympathetic state, it is necessary to be patient with your soft tissue therapy and be aware of how the athlete is responding to the treatment.  Being to aggressive in times like this or trying to ”work deep” to quickly (not patiently waiting for their body to make the changes that allow you to work into deeper layers) may lead to a less than desirable result, as it is important to keep in mind that soft tissue therapy can also be thought of as a stress that ones needs to recover from.

Trying to get the athlete to relax and get comfortable is an important goal to have in these times, as these circumstances differ slightly from doing soft tissue therapy for a specific injury or painful movement pattern.  I often think of it as successful if I can get the athlete to nod-off a little bit on the table and get “sleepy”.  Because the parasympathetic nervous system is thought of as the “rest and digest” portion of our autonomic nervous system, eliciting a more rest-full/sleepy state is a good goal to have.  My colleague, physiotherapist Willem Kramer, has stated before that “a little bit of pain can be a gateway into the parasypathetic nervous system”.  What Willem means by this is a little bit of the good pain – you know, the “it hurts so good” stuff – can help to fatigue the athlete or make them a little bit tired (sort of like what happens when you sit in the sun all day and get sleepy).  Willem states that a goal is to try and get the athlete to fall asleep on your table, as he interprets this as helping push them into a parasypathetic state and increasing healing (Willem, is talking about more “treatment” based soft tissue/manual therapy here, where you are dealing with a specific injury).

Acknowledging the recovery aspect of your training program and being aware of your athlete’s physical and mental state is an important part of a well-rounded training program.  Massage therapy is one type of modality that can be used to help improve recovery and increase heart rate variability.

Patrick
patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com

Stress plays an important part in what we do as strength coaches/trainers, as well as in other areas such as physical therapy, chiropractic, and even massage therapy.

Basically, we apply a stressful stimulus to our athletes/clients - either in the form of a training intervention or in the form of a therapeutic modality (soft tissue therapy, manipulation, stretch, etc) and we ask their bodies to respond.  When stress resistance is low, the response is not favorable as the athlete cannot recover properly and their body will not respond the way it needs to.  When stress resistance is high, we can push the envelope a bit more and train at a higher level, knowing that the individual is able to sustain this level of stress, recover from it, and come back for more.

With a sound training and recovery program we can help to enhance stress resistance.  Obviously this is also dependant on what else the athlete has going on in their lives, as this too can play a factor in how they respond to the stresses of training and treatment. 

Unfortuntely, stress resistance is not infinite.  We can’t increase our resistance to stress forever.  Rather, stress resistance tends to modulate depending on what we have going on.

• Your girl friend breaks up with you and you may be feeling depressed, which brings you down and lowers your stress resistance.  Alternatively, perhaps breaking up with your girlfriend is a huge relief and a large amount of stress has now been lifted off your shoulders….stress resistance goes up!!

 

• You start working another shift at work and your stress resistance may decrease because you are now cutting into some of your recovery time and adding more hours in an environment that can be taxing (both physically and psychologically).

 

• You get sick for a few days and stress resistance is impaired.

As coaches and therapists it is important to understand stress and take into account all the factors of your athletes/clients lives.  If you push an athlete with low stress resistance to hard, you may run into a rather large set back in training.

A favorite book of mine was written by stress researcher and Standford professor, Dr. Robert Sapolsky.  Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers does an excellent job of explaining stress and its affects on the body in a rather easy (and often times humorus)  manner.  I can’t recommend this book enough.

Additionally, National Geographic did a great piece on stress featuring Dr. Sapolsky called Stress: Portrait of a Killer.  Below, posted in six parts (about an hour), is the entire episode. 

I hope you enjoy them!

Patrick
patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com

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One of the greatest things you can do to become better in your profession (whether it is strength and conditioning, sports coach, personal trainer, physical therapist, etc) is to seek out those whom have more knowledge than you and learn from them.

For as long as I have been working in the health industry, I have always tried to find people to “talk shop with”. I strive to get better every day and by communicating with those that have more experience than me and who are great at what they do is one way in which I have enhanced my knowledge in this field.

This past Saturday was one of those incredible opportunities. This Saturday was the Trevor Brown High School/AZTECH training group running clinic. It was a full day (7am-2pm) of workshops and exhibitions.

Coach Bill Strachan, the director of the AZTECH training group has been training runners for more years than I have been alive. He has worked with some of the best of the best in terms of athletes and coaches in the running and track and field industry. Obviously the man is a tremendous resource and I have had tremendous opportunities over the past 2 years working with him personally and the runners of the AZTECH team. I am truly grateful for these opportunities as they make me better at what I do.

This weekend was no different! I helped out with the event by doing some speaking and question and answer sessions for parents and coaches. However, the real treat for me was the 2 hours I spent outside on the track with Coach Bill videotaping runners and then critiquing their form and technique. We would have the individual run about 50 meters and video tape them from the front, the back and the side. As the person was running, Coach Bill was running the video and he and I would make comments about things we were seeing (or weren’t seeing). It was an amazing opportunity to learn from someone who has really perfected his skills in watching people run. I would comment on and pick up a lot of things, but Coach Bill was a juggernaut. Nothing would get by him and oftentimes he would see something, comment on it and then follow up the comment with “but why is that happening?” Then, he would look longer, have the person run the 50m again, look harder and all of a sudden he would say, “I got it.” Once the person was done getting video taped and we had made our comments, we would talk to the person about what we were seeing and why it was happening. After that, Coach Bill would make some recommendations on how to begin to fix the problem and then have them run the 50m again. It was awesome to see him make corrections and give his technical cues. I learned a ton.

If you are in the industry of strength and conditioning, personal training, physical therapy or sports coaching, I urge you to seek out people like Coach Bill. People who can help make you better at what you do.

I think one of the reasons I love the Olympics so much isn’t just because of the incredible athleticism, but because of the incredible coaching behind the athleticism. Unlike American sports (baseball, basketball, football), where the coach is fired after a season or two if the team doesn’t do well or were strength coaches may take a more short sighted view of sports preparation (IE, we have 12-16 weeks to get ready for this season). Olympic coaches are there for 4 years with the athlete. The are there for the long haul and they understand what the long term goal is. To be able to take an athlete and visualize those 4 years of training leading up to the Olympic games is truly amazing and a real gift.

Patrick