| |
Self Massage - Arms Massage of your own arms is fairly straightforward and best done one at a time. It is particularly beneficial if you have injured yourself, perhaps by falling onto your shoulder or hand. It is also important to maintain flexibility of your arms when running as they, along with flexible shoulders and back, dictate the suppleness of your body and therefore your gait. Stretches suitable for the arms are mainly the same as for shoulders, such as putting one arm up and one arm back and grasping the other hand behind your back. You can also windmill your arms around forward and back to loosen muscles as part of your warm up. The arm muscles The major muscles in the upper arm are the biceps and triceps for use in lifting and pulling, there are some minor muscles and also the attachments for all the shoulder muscles that extend down the arm. The lower arm has a collection of muscles (about 15!) for bending and stretching each of the fingers as well as a couple for turning the arm. The purpose The most obvious reason for wishing to massage your arms as a runner is that you have suffered an arm injury and you are massaging it to increase the speed of healing. However there are more subtle reasons for massaging arms - even though it may seem rather superfluous given that the sport only appears to use the legs. As with all muscles if they are carrying continuous tension they will contribute to the likelihood of injury. In this case if your arms and shoulders are very tense, your back and hips will have to rotate more to keep balance and risk overuse of the muscles in these areas or you may hurt yourself more seriously if you fall. Arm massage can also help to prevent numbness of the hands. For self massage You will be massaging one arm with the other hand and then swapping over. It can be beneficial to do them on separate occasions. | ||
| | |
| | |
CATHERINE HOLLAND Tel: 0701 7415310 Email: catherine@catherineholland.co.uk | |
| |