European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 1, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sore Muscles sorry no Quick cures amps Sharon Kllc Tav to your by Jane e. Brody the new York times perhaps you were persuaded by friends to take a Long Bike ride or hike Over Hill and Dale and though you re in Good shape your leg Muscles were so sore the next Day that you could hardly walk the stairs. Or maybe you took a Long swim and a painful cramp in one foot suddenly stopped you in mid stroke. Muscle soreness and cramps can afflict almost anyone. You Don t even have to be doing something athletic. Muscles can get sore from helping someone move digging up the Garden or polishing the car. You can be awakened from a deep sleep by an excruciating cramp in your calf. Or you can develop a stitch in your Side while hurrying to catch a Bun. Theories abound As to Why Muscles develop aches. Pains or cramps. And the playing Fields locker rooms and marketplace Are Rife with highly touted preventives and remedies including sports drinks bananas stretching liniment ice packs and heating pads. But Only a few have stood the test of scientific research. For example when Michael Chang then 17, upset Ivan Lendl at the French open two years ago he was plagued by painful cramps in his thighs throughout much of the match. To alleviate the agony he drank water stretched and massaged his legs and ate bananas a Rich source of potassium during each changeover. The water and Massage no doubt helped and the stretching May have too. But the  a not have been digested and absorb Chast enough to provide his Muscles with the potassium Chang thought they needed. Despite All the attention paid to athletic performance and exercise physiology the causes of muscle problems Are poorly understood. But there is no question that Muscles can get sore whenever they Are called upon to do something out of the Ordinary. Different activities involve different groups of Muscles and each time you work Muscles that Are not normally required to perform soreness can result. For example someone who regularly jogs or swims laps can be very sore after an occasional Bike ride softball game or Tennis match. You can also become sore from doing much More than is customary of a usual activity. For example someone used to jogging 3 Miles a Day May become sore after running a 10-Kilometer 6.2-mile race or people training for a Marathon mayt3ecome sore if they increase their distance or Speed too rapidly. The discomfort is nearly always delayed showing up a Day or. Two later. Thus it is almost certainly not caused by a buildup in lactic acid the metabolic waste produced when Muscles work hard. Lactic acid is washed out of muscle tissue within about 30 minutes alter exercise is stopped. The soreness More probably stems from microscopic tears in the muscle fibres resulting in swelling,.stiffness and pain. This theory gains support from the observation that actions that shorten muscle fibres do not seem to cause soreness but actions that lengthen them do. Thus your thigh Muscles Are Likely to become sore from walking Down not up a Mountain. You get sore from lying Back Down after a sit up or from lowering the Barbell after a Bench press. A muscle cramp or spasm is a very painful sustained involuntary contraction of a muscle. It can occur for example in the calf of a runner or Tennis player the thigh of a cyclist or the loot or calf of a swimmer. While most injuries Are More common in people who exert themselves when they Are out of shape muscle cramps Are More Likely in people with Well developed Muscles a cramp begins when a muscle contracts while already in its most shortened position. For example when a swimmer is doing the flutter kick with toes pointed the proper technique the calf Muscles Are shortened. An attempt to shorten them even More by stretching out the leg with toes extended can cause the muscle to go into spasm. Likewise leg cramps that occur during sleep usually result from a similar stretch or when the weight of bedclothes keeps the toes fully extended. Other less frequent causes of cramps include Low blood sugar dehydration an imbalance of electrolytes body salts like sodium potassium and Chloride caused by excessive sweating or the use of diuretics inadequate conditioning or overexertion muscle cramps can also result when strenuous work is performed in a very hot environment. Heat cramps May occur during the activity or As Long As 18 hours later. They Are most probably caused by an extreme loss of water and Salt through excessive sweating. The Only sure Way to prevent muscle soreness is to avoid too much of any activity to which you Are not accustomed instead work up slowly to the maximum desired level. Studies of stretching exercises before and after the activity suggest that a five minute stretch May help but lengthy stretching does not. Taking 400 milligrams of ibuprofen the Over the counter anti inflammatory drug a few hours before the activity and twice More at eight hour intervals afterwards can significantly decrease muscle soreness Aje cent study at Texas woman a University concluded. Once Muscles get sore it May be three Days to three weeks before they feel Normal again. As for muscle cramps there Are no guarantees. Be sure to drink plenty of water before and during any strenuous activity. The value of sports drinks that Are High in electrolytes is in dispute but their sugar and salts May help some people who sweat excessively or who engage in hours Long vigorous activity. Sports nutrition specialists suggest mixing such drinks in equal parts with water to dilute sugar too High a concentration can delay water absorption. Including potassium Rich foods like bananas oranges and cantaloupes in the diet can help. For immediate Relief from a cramp or. Robert p. Kirscht of the Virginia sports Medicine Institute in Arlington recommends a painful Pinch on the upper lip which May be a form of acupressure. Pressing on or massaging the cramped muscle can also relieve a spasm. The muscle should be stretched gently and treated with an ice pack to slow inflammation. People with recurrent night cramps might try sleeping on their sides. Doctors often prescribe quinine As a preventive the Only sore Way to prevent muscle soreness is to avoid too much activity to which you Are not accustomed. Page 14 a the stars and stripes tuesday medical myths we still believe the Rick Hampso the associated press stay warm to avoid a cold drink milk to ease an ulcer suck out the venom to treat a snakebite. And while you re at it Call in the leeches to take care of your extra Energy. Inherited medical Wisdom often is no Wisdom at All according to the october Issue of american health Magazine which lists 10_medical myths that persist despite scientific evidence. Colds repeated experiments in England indicate that people left shivering outdoors Are no More Likely to catch a cold than those who stay warm indoors. That a because colds Are caused by viruses and unless there s a virus out in the cold with you you re not going to get a cold. Ulcers milk May taste Bland but it is Rich in protein which stimulates acid production in the stomach and Only irritates an ulcer. Snakebites using your Mouth to suck venom out is the worst thing you can do for such a wound since the bacteria in your Mouth multiply the risk of infection. An equally misguided if popular snakebite treatment is the application of a Tourniquet which can kill tissue by cutting off the blood Supply. Why do such myths endure in an Era when surgery is no longer performed by Barbers Quot people need rules of thumb to order their lives Quot says Yale University s Jack Warner who teaches the history of Medicine. Quot these rules take on new meaning As they re passed from generation to generation Quot he said in a Telephone interview. Quot they gain authority because often it comes from someone who is known and trusted. And even if you Don t believe All of a Rule you might suspect there has to be something to  he noted that bloodletting was popular Early in the last Century because people believed that disease resulted from an excess of Energy in the. Body. Leeches accordingly were used to draw off Energy by drawing off blood. Later in the Century the prevailing myth held that disease was largely a problem of too Little Energy and doctors began revving up their patients with fortified wine. Today misinformation still runs rampant. Contrary to what your grandparents May have told you there is no evidence that chocolate causes pimples Mayonnaise is vastly overrated As a source of bacterial infection and fasting will not shrink your stomach any More than it will shrink your Mouth. Vision is an area particularly susceptible to popular misconception. Children who Cross their eyes will not become Cross eyed a those who have enough muscular control to deliberately Cross their eyes Are probably the least Likely to be Cross eyed. Similarly Reading in dim Light wont ruin your eyes although you might get a tension headache. Arid children s eyesight does not necessarily deteriorate after they Start wearing glasses provided the glasses Are properly prescribed. The moral of our Story feel free to sit out in the Yard this Winter. You can bring along several egg salad sandwiches and a Box of chocolates and read the latest Issue of american health Well past dusk. But watch out for rattlesnakes. J c locker room advice not always Best for nutrition  Colleen Pierre special to the Baltimore Sun what happens when Good health information goes bad sometimes bad health ensues i recently encountered two different Young men who fell into an increasingly familiar trap. They started running and working out with weights to improve their health and appearance and ended up disappearing As it were. This phenomenon occurs Over a one or two year period. During the first half of the process Young men decide to get in shape begin working out and Start eating right. Once flabby bodies firm up tummies trim Down and Muscles Start to bulk. All is going Well. Then at the gym the Guys get nutritional advice from local hulks. First they learn that if a Little is Good More is better a and they head Down the Road to More compulsive workouts and Mega doses of vitamins minerals and amino acids. In fact. In be met bodybuilders whose Quot supplement habit Quot costs them $80 or More a month. What they done to learn is that possible Side effects include diarrhoea or constipation skin rashes nerve damage from too much Vitamin b6, toxic buildup of fat soluble vitamins a and a and decreased blood clotting time from too much Vitamin c. In addition recent research indicates that amino acid products Are not utilized As Well As amino acids from food. Next they learn that if a Little is bad none is better. They begin to try to rid their bodies of every speck of fat by ridding their diets of every single Gram of fat containing food and by cutting daily calories to the Bone. What they Don t learn is that Quot calories Quot Are not evil. They Are simply a measure of the Energy value of food. And the human body requires Energy to function. Young men in the 18 to 25-year Range need to eat about 3,000 calories a Day to match their Energy output even if they Are Only moderately Active. Food restriction Means weight loss of course. In the beginning this is of because most of the loss is excess fat. But with increased activity and decreased food the body beef is to cannibalize its own lean body mass. Muscle begins to disappear. Athletes become Small weak tired and demoralized despite formidable discipline and commitment to a system that used to work. The solution although simple is not always easy. These Guys have to Start eating again. Most would do Well to Start eating a Little More food each Day gradually working Back to4he Normal 3,000 calories. A Tow fat Sample diet follows breakfast 2 cups dry Cereal 1 cup skim milk medium banana 8 ounces Orange juice. Lunch 2 sandwiches each made of 2 slices seven Grain bread 1 Tablespoon of Low fat Mayonnaise 2 ounces sliced Turkey 1 ounce Low fat cheese 1 thick slice of Tomato Romaine lettuce a pile of sprouts 8 ounces fruit juice Large Apple. Snack 1 Bagel 2 Tablespoons Peanut butter fresh Pear. Dinner 4 ounces Turkey meatballs 2 cups Spaghetti % cup Tomato sauce 2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese 1 slice bread with 1 Teaspoon Margarine and garlic powder 2-4 cups mixed Garden salad with nonfat dressing a Cantaloupe filled with 1 cup nonfat Vanilla Yogurt snack 8 ounces split pea soup 8 whole Grain crackers. Pierre a registered dietitian is the nutrition consultant to the Union memorial sports Medicine con or in Baltimore and notional spokeswoman Tor the american dietetic association ? a amps Sharon wolday 1, 1991 the stars and stripes Page