Anti-Inflammatory risks

I'm so old-school that my daily intake was Aspirin before they recommended a daily intake of aspirin for Cardio issues, and now they recommend against it again. I tried the generic Advil but it was tough on the stomach, more so than aspirin for me.  I see that Ibuprofen has cardio risks as well along with other concerns.   Is there no relatively safe way to handle inflammation and pain? 

Dealing with Injuries as you age - Coaches, Tennis Players, Athletes

I'm fairly well beaten up with many injuries though few are tennis related but instead I carried them onto the court. The tennis injuries were from overuse rather than traumatic ones such as falls, crashes, and other unplanned violence. If you are escorted into your 50s already having a laundry list of problems it just intensifies and at least you have the mindset to cope with it though I will say that arthritis is the most mentally taxing so far. Your best bet is to find ways to manage the pain as you go along. 

 As for recovery, I've found with experience that strength training is the best answer to all of these. If my legs were out of use I'd focus on upper body strength by doing pushups, pull-ups, and curls or weight training. I'm stronger now in that area than I have been in decades out of necessity as arthritis takes away leg strength and flexibility. 

Back injuries are debilitating and the only answer I've found is endless focus on core building. It's always about consistency in doing the needed work. As an athlete, you at least have that as a long developed skill set. Those that had fewer injuries of course are more mentally bothered by later debilitating problems. It's all about expectations. If you are just happy to be alive, breathing, and in not too much pain I'd say a little injury and recovery routine is just another speed bump.

Inflammation fighting foods

 Inflammation

Right amount of sleep good for heart health

 6-7 Hours

Surprise, Surprise.  Most of us know that too much or too little is bad for you in many ways.   One trick is to stop drinking coffee or tea in the evening to help you get better quality sleep.   

Health: Aspirin can fight Depression, CBD Snake Oil, Cannabis Mental Health Improvement Questioned, Protein, Foot Pain

Aspirin


CBD This generation's snake oil


Mental Health improvement from Cannabis - Studies show poor evidence


Narcissists Happier


What Protein Does for your Body - WebMD


Why your feet hurt - WebMD

Fasting Cure - Regaining and Protecting Your Health

The Fasting Cure is No Fad

Read the article and you'll find a compilation of what recent research has confirmed and that is that your body needs rest from eating too, and not just exercise. 

This is a high value approach to maintaining your overall health.

Health: Massage Therapy Benefits

Massage Therapy

Health: Degeneration Nation, Strokes - Eggs and Aspririn

GMO, Toxic Chemicals and Factory Farms: Degeneration Nation


Strokes:  Eggs Increase Risk and Aspirin Useless

Health: Smiling Depression, Nut Butter Benefits, Women Heart Attacks, Doctors Facing Burnout, Hip Pain, Running

Can you be depressed and seem happy

There seem to be some pro tennis players that might fit this bill and usually I think it's punctuated by anger outbursts.  For the rest of us just remember many people have struggles and choose not to burden others with them.  They call it putting up a good front. 


Health Benefit of Nut Butters


Heart Attacks on the Rise Among Young Women


12 Ways to Relieve Hip Pain - Slideshow


Doctors Facing Burnout - hurting them and their patients


How to Start Running  - Slideshow

Health: Listening, Iron in Longevity, Gardening Tips for Health, Healthy Habits

Listening is a key

It does ring true that a breakdown in communications is often the causes of war, divorce, family strife, and a multitude of failures in life.


Longevity Seekers Chelate Iron


Gardening Tips for Better Health

All of these are true for gardening and all but one apply to time on the tennis court in my opinion.  Answer, have and garden and play tennis too.


Healthy Habits

Excess Iron Health Risk

Iron

Health: Alzheimers gut link - yeast, Mitochondrial health, Genetic Deliverer of Disease - milk, urban life cancer link in animals

Alzheimers gut link

Mitochondrial health

Genetic Deliverer of Disease - milk

Urban life cancer link for animals

Diet: Low carb or low fat? Who knows!

Low carb or low fat

After all of these decades of so called expert advice it seems they, the experts, don't know.  For a while it was carb loading, then get rid of gluten, low fat diets, high protein diets, and a long list that now includes a paleo diet.  Who knows?  It appears the experts don't agree either.

It is clear that if you subsist on carbs mostly that it usually adds fat to the waistline.  Excessive carb intake has many negative effects and conversion to sugar in the system of one of them.

Excessive fat intake has its own worries.  This was part of the Atkins diet that was high in fat and protein.

Heavy protein intake also creates issues for many people.

With all of this in mind it seems that a balanced diet still makes sense.

Health: Bread can be good for you,

Bread - the scientific case in favor of it.

Stay away from white bread and focus on whole grains.  That seems to be the consensus and a result of this study as well.  If you intend to live on the mediterranean diet this is one food source that is a major part of that diet, but those with whole grains.

Tennis Elbow Cures Proven Ineffective

Tennis Elbow

I've gotten tennis elbow in my non-dominant arm when shoveling snow.  It goes away if you don't repeat the movement for a long while so it's usually gone by the next time it snows.  Tennis players with elbow pain have another problem which is that they want to continue playing tennis.  That unfortunately is the one thing they should avoid if it has become severe.

Here are some ideas.

First seek professional medical advice.  The ideas below are only augmentative to helping you to keep playing if your doctor agrees to it.


Tendonitis Elbow Brace

Armbands do help cut pain.  Look for one that places pressure on the muscle in one place rather than one that covers a whole area.  Here is an example.





Switch to a Two handed Backhand

If you are a one handed backhand player there is a good chance you caused the injury hitting backhands so it might be time to start working on a two handed backhand.  Technique is often the problem with a one handed backhand elbow injury but once injured even a change in form won't help until you've recovered.  A switch to a two hander can often eliminate any shock coming to your dominant arm where you have the injury

Slice Backhand 

If you have a one handed backhand and want to stay with it you might try working on a slice backhand since it tends to deliver less shock to the arm.

Flexible Racket

The best way to cut your pain aside from not playing is to find a flexible racket with a stiffness rating below 60 if possible.  There are plenty of them out there if you research it.  I'd look at one in the 56 range.   Here is one of my favorites.



Low Shock Stringing

Reduce your string tension to the minimum and stay away from poly.  If you can afford it use gut or at least a gut and synthetic gut hybrid with the mains strung in gut.  I'd limit tension to no more than 55 pounds depending of course on the type of frame you use.

Change your Serve

If you have a two handed backhand the chance is that your elbow problems may originate with your serve.  Many players cause a problem by using a slice serve with the wrong grip and trying to get excessive wrist snap.  Make sure you're using a continental grip or an eastern backhand grip versus an eastern forehand grip when serving with slice.  Also, allow your finish to complete on the opposite side of your body so that you aren't putting stress on your arm to stop the follow through.

Try Cold and Heat

I found ice packs and heat pads offer some relief.  Often I alternate.

Anti-Inflammatory

Of course this is what the standard suggestion is and the problem is that if you keep playing they won't help much plus they can be tough on your stomach.

Cream

I've found some pain reduction creams do help for joint pain.

My favorite is Aspercreme.  You can find it inexpensively at your local department store in the pharmacy section.





The best thing for protecting your arm from further elbow injury is to stop doing the thing that caused the injury.  Once you determine that you can change and avoid it and begin to heal.  What you never want to do is to get to the point of having to give up the game if possible.  It's better to learn a whole new way to play than to lose it due to a repetitive use injury like tennis elbow. 

Best of luck in your recovery. 

Health: Coffee Protects the Heart, Heatstroke, Coffee to repair the heart

Coffee


Heatstroke

This is no joke and even heat exhaustion is a big concern.  If you play tennis matches or teach outside  you always must consider your level of hydration and overheating.

Coffee - heart repair 

Health: Vitamins - Are you taking too many?, Sunscreen Safety, Coffee and Tea Benefits, Heavy Exercise Risk, Unhappy People

Vitamins 

The most obvious thing you can agree with in this article is that growing your own food has many benefits that include higher levels of nutrition versus store bought food.  There is no doubt that some vitamins and minerals help.  I can give you a specific example.  A potassium deficiency has all kinds of negative effects on the body including one I experienced and that is muscle spasms.  A doctor prescribed potassium pills and it went away immediately after having been a multi year problem. Now, it's been a decade and since I make sure to continue taking either potassium supplements or eating foods that contain it I haven't had the spasm problem again.

That is just one example.  Consider the benefits of natural intake first over vitamin supplements but aging also brings on the need for targeted supplementation for those of us that might have deficiencies or health issues that can benefit from them.

Sunscreen Safety

Consider wearing long sleeved shirts even when playing tennis.  Modern fabrics allow it without overheating in the sun and give you a SPF 15-30 protection depending on the color and type of fabric.  Putting Zinc Oxide based cream on your nose and top of your hands will give you some very targeted protection as well.


Coffee and Tea

Here are more excuses to enjoy your tea and coffee.

Exercise Risk

10 Troubling Habits of Unhappy People

Health: Knee Pain Help, Grip Strength Predicts Longevity, Implantable Health Monitors, What does your walk say about you?, An Egg a day lowers risk of heart disease

10 Solutions for Sore Knees

We all have our own preferences for dealing with knee pain.  I've found that I use about half of these regularly including just walking it off, stretching, ice packs, and one that I didn't notice was external creams.  I like Aspercreme.

Grip Strength Predicts Longevity

Implantable Health Monitors 

What does your walk say about you?

An Egg a day lowers risk of heart disease

This runs counter to old studies and even some recent ones so here we are again getting totally conflicting information.  Eggs do provide great protein and have to be better than red meat so I would follow the rule of moderation.  Eat them when you want to eat them but don't make them the staple of your diet.

Here is another article on Eggs with more information and it suggests you keep eggs in your diet.

Injuries Rule the World of Sports - Tennis Most of All

There are no substitutions in Tennis unless you think of some of the team formats.  Mostly, you are on your own and if you get injured during a doubles match your team is still finished unless you can park yourself out there while your partner plays the match while you step in to serve and receive when your turn comes.

Del Potro Regrets - wrist injury left him as an also ran though he felt he could have gone head to head with both Rafa and Fed.

Djokovic - dropped from the top

Injury taught him a lesson
Elbow not 100% going into Australian
Reassessing his injury after exit out of Australian

Shattered Dreams for Murray and Djokovic

Overuse Injuries plague Tennis Stars

When it comes to playing tennis think of the long term.  If you over practice and over play you will eventually wear down your body and find more injuries.

Also, avoid activities that can lead to off court injuries because these will still follow you onto the court.

How to help prevent injures from becoming disabling.

Stop and treat an injury when it starts and don't wait until it becomes chronic.  Use whatever tools are available such as protective braces, tapes, and elastic bands.  Change your equipment to help protect yourself.  For instance, some rackets are better for bad elbows than others.

Use anti-inflammatory medications when needed to help reduce overuse injuries that are beginning to show up.

Work on defending your body against injuries by maintaining strength and flexibility.

For Back Muscle Injuries




To help protect a tender wrist

Tennis Diet: Low Carb Snacks, Bringing Wheat Back into Your Diet

Tennis players often think they have an unlimited allowance for carb intake since they spend so many hours burning calories.  All you ever hear is pasta, pasta, pasta.

Though this is a great way to intake lots of calories it isn't necessarily the best way to limit inflammation and manage your overall health.  A few weeks of forced rest due to injury and you'll see some love handles and the beginning of a stomach bulge where fat is stored.

Here is a short slideshow of how to control your calorie intake while still satisfying your needs for carbs, protein, and fat.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/ss/slideshow-low-carb-snacks?ecd=wnl_dia_012117&ctr=wnl-dia-012117_nsl-promo-v_1&mb=TmBTaYiWmCKEqZu9Db5wHihonS%2fH3cwygOZAA1me11s%3d


Bringing Wheat Back Into Your Diet
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/01/joseph-mercola/reboot-digestion/

Some people may have taken the step of not eating wheat due to worries about gluten and excess carbs that might also risk inflammation have taken a source of protein and carbohydrate out of their diets.  One thing you might do it follow some of the advice of people who know more about methods of eating wheat.  The article above is very detailed on the subject.  It seems that the less it is modified and refined and the closer it is to its original state the more likely you'll get the benefits of it.  Stay with organic and whole grain foods that include wheat and you'll experience some of the benefits of a natural diet that include good digestion, moderate sugar intake, high nutrients, and great fiber balance.  What's not to like.