Transcription:
Listening to Your Body When Exercising

Melanie Cole (Host):  Do you listen to your body when you exercise? Do you know the difference between good pain and soreness and bad pains that you should watch out for? My guest today is Dr. Michael Ladewski. He is a board certified family medicine sports medicine physician at Northshore University Health System. Welcome to the show, Dr. Ladewski. Tell us about listening to your body when you exercise and what kinds of pains should signal a red flag that would tell us something is not right. 

Dr. Michael Ladewski (Guest):  Well, as far as listening to your body during exercise, you want to make sure that, first, before you start exercising, you’re well hydrated. So any signs that you may be dehydrated, just… sometimes people get headaches with that, or their performance is put off and they don’t do as well as they normally do. That could be a sign that perhaps you’re not hydrating very well. As far as aches and pains are concerned, any kind of pain that’s related to a certain bone is oftentimes very worrisome to us versus a muscle or a soft tissue, maybe less so. It’s oftentimes difficult to determine exactly the seriousness of an injury until someone is seen by a healthcare provider. 

Melanie:  Should you be sore after a workout? 

Dr. Ladewski:  Soreness is a normal presentation after a hard workout, and it represents the body’s adaptation to the stress that it’s been going through during exercise. Soreness is not abnormal. It’s not a concern. But any kind of pain, so a feeling of pain would be something that’s concerning that should be looked into further. 

Melanie:  Now, what about some things that we can do to prevent injury before or after our workout? Talk about stretching a little bit. People are always asking me, Dr. Ladewski, should I stretch before a workout or after a workout. If it’s cold out, what do you do? Speak about prevention a little bit. 

Dr. Ladewski:  Yeah, so stretching questions. Those are good ones, and what we think is the best thing to do is to stretch your muscles when they are warm. Either that would mean going for a quick jog or in some way warming up the muscles that you’re going to be exercising prior to then stretching them. There’s different types of stretches that can be done, too—static stretches, where someone stretches a muscle and holds that position for a certain amount of time. Those certainly are not good to do when the muscle is cold and when they’re not warmed up. Some people are able to do a little bit of a warmup, get some blood flow to those muscles and then do some stretching. Or in addition to static stretching, there’s some dynamic stretches, which are done at the same time of a warmup. Certainly, I think it’s good to do these stretches before your main exercise, but you want to do them after an initial warmup. Then, I think it’s also beneficial to do stretching after your exercise. Of course, your muscles will be plenty warm by then, and those are some of the things that you can do to try to maintain or even increase your flexibility, which we think leads to decreased injuries overall. 

Melanie:  It is so important to warm up before you do stretch that muscle, make sure you’ve got a good, warm muscle. You’re talking maybe treadmill for five minutes, ride a bike, take a walk, something to get your blood flowing before you start those stretches? 

Dr. Ladewski:  Exactly. Or even some jumping jacks, or depending on the level of fitness of the athlete, that can be tailored exactly to what their larger workout might entail. But the basic idea is that you want blood flowing to those muscle groups that you’re going to be exercising at a higher level, and then do some stretching after that. We feel like the benefits from stretching are best achieved when the muscle has been warmed up and there’s been some blood flow to that muscle. 

Melanie:  Dr. Ladewski, we’re learning more and more about chronic injuries and prevention of chronic injuries. If you’re somebody who is, for example, a runner and that’s all you do, to prevent some of the running injuries that might happen or chronic injuries, what do you think about cross-training to kind of get your body used to other things so that you don’t have a chronic overuse injury? 

Dr. Ladewski:  Yes, I think that’s a great idea and it’s pretty well thought of as a strategy to prevent overuse injuries, as you mentioned. Certainly, for some sports, people are engaged in repetitive activity in that sport, and that is what makes them better and most competitive. But throughout training, there’s different ways in which people can increase their fitness level. It might not be directly related to that exact motion that they’re going to be doing during a long endurance event per se. Running is a great idea or great example in that it’s basically the same motion over and over and over again. That can’t be gotten away from during the competition, but during training, the cardiovascular system can be challenged in different ways without that same motions, either on a bike or swimming, or different types of running drills, perhaps, that don’t have the same exact type of form that that person is going to be experiencing during the competition. In addition to cardiovascular training, weight training also we think is very important, too, when we speak specifically about maybe some more of these endurance sports. By strengthening the muscles and around joints, we think that that can also lead to decreased injuries from overuse over time, because those muscles then we think are able to better sustain some of that stress that’s involved with these overuse exercises. Bearing the types of exercises that the athlete incorporates during their training period, I think it’s very important. And including strength training, too, with pretty much any type of activity, has been found to be beneficial as far as keeping those overuse injuries from causing problems. 

Melanie:  Dr. Ladewski, you mentioned hydrating yourself before a workout, make sure, because that’s really so important. What about after? If you’ve done a good, hard workout, is water still the best rehydration fluid? Should they be drinking those electrolyte beverages? What do you think is the best? And then speak about some of the protein drinks that are out there, because people are thinking these are going to help our muscles maintain good energy while we’re working out. Speak about hydration and protein drinks. 

Dr. Ladewski:  Well, when we think about after a workout, there’s a bunch of factors involved—so the length of time that someone’s been exercising for and then exactly what that exercise entails. If it’s a shorter workout period, then water is probably fine to just get some of the hydration back. If it’s an activity that takes places over a longer period of time, then some of the stores of glucose have been drained, and so there’s a window after which those types of activities that they’ve perform, where the body is able to… by ingesting whatever it is the athlete takes, it’s able to build up those stores that have been depleted a bit during exercise. Protein drinks are very prevalent, I should say. Usually, Americans get as much protein as they need through diet every day, and the types of supplements or different drinks that are on the market don’t necessarily do much better than chocolate milk after a long exercise routine. Something as simple as that or a piece of fruit with some peanut butter, a little bit of protein with some carbohydrate combined after a significant exercise routine. Bodies are able to absorb those types of things together and replenish our stores in every way we need. It can be very simple. I can’t speak of any specific product out there in the market, but just chocolate milk is a great thing to take in after an exercise routine. 

Melanie:  Parents listening should take heart to note that after their children are done playing a good hard game of soccer, the kids love the chocolate milk and it is a great replacement beverage for after a good hard workout. In just the last few minutes, if you would, Dr. Ladewski, tell listeners why they should come to Northshore University Health System for their sports medicine care. 

Dr. Ladewski:  Well, we have a great group of primary care sports medicine physicians who are able to see patients, really, of any age. Everyone has experience in treating patients from the early ages up until they’re 70s, 80s, and 90s. Our goal is to get people back to their activity that they were doing perhaps before they were injured. And so, I think we have a great group that has the experience as well as tools for referral to physical therapy and other types of therapies, nonsurgical, that can help people be active. That’s our main goal is to get people back to doing what they like to do in their activity because, of course, we all know that that leads to greater, longer healthier lives for all of us. 

Melanie:  Thank you so much. Certainly does. You’re listening to Northshore Health and Wellness. For more information, you can go to northshore.org. That’s northshore.org. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening, and have a great day.