Musculoskeletal Recovery

How to get back after it!

This weekend I hiked from the South Rim to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. When the dust had settle, the hike was a challenging 30 miles (a few extra miles we had not planned on), 14hrs and 6,000ft of ascent. Needless to say, I was sore, tight and generally disagreeable over the past few days. That said, 5 days have passed and so has my soreness and tightness.

Below is my recovery regimen. I have focused on soft tissue mobility rather that stretching. That is to say I have been using a foam roller, lacrosse ball, and compression boots to release my muscles rather than stretch them. I am a big fan of stretching and will resume my daily stretching routine this weekend, but having driven a lot of stress through my body over the weekend, I got better results focusing on releasing muscles rather than fighting my nervous system (tight muscles) with stretching.

With all of the releases, I search for the particularly sore points and then keep my pressure focused on them for up to 1 minute.

Glute/Piriformis Release

1-2 Minutes per glute.

Glute Medius Release

30 seconds to 1 minute per side.

Don’t neglect this small muscle! Here I use a Lacrosse ball on the floor. A tennis ball is a bit more gentle…..so is using a ball against a wall instead of the floor.

Quad Release

1-2 minutes per quad. If you find a sore spot, linger there while bending and straightening your knee.

Hamstring Release

2-3 Minutes per side. I am using a Lacrosse ball in the video, but a larger ball (softball) is ideal.

Adductor (Groin) Release

1 minute per side. I am using a larger ball in this video, but a Lacrosse ball works as well.

Psoas Release

1-2 Minutes per side. You need a larger ball for this one.

Calf Release

2 Minutes per calf. When you fined a spot that is good and sore, linger there and move your foot around.

Last but not least……

Lower Extremity Compression

I like a 20 minute cycle of this. This is a piece of specialized equipment, but if you can find PT clinic (like mine) that has one of these, they work magic!