Science for practice
Restoring Weightlifters' Work Capacity
English summary of Tyazhelaya Atletika. Ezhegodnik 1986 (Moscow: Fizkultura i Sport, 1986), pp. 22–26: the text is paraphrased, not translated.
Recovery of athletic work capacity is attracting growing attention, with new means sought and the methods for traditional ones improving. The problem is worked on in two directions. One is rehabilitation, restorative treatment that returns health and physical capacity after illness, overstrain or overtraining. The other is preventive: restoring athletic work capacity, that is, stimulating recovery of functional state after fatigue from hard training and competition. Recovery should mean not only regaining former capacity but exceeding it. Means fall into pedagogical, medical and psychological groups; this article treats only the most accessible and effective medical ones, the physical factors.
Physical factors are either natural (sun, air, water, climate, therapeutic mud) or transformed natural forces (low- and high-voltage current, electric and magnetic fields, artificial light, mechanical vibration, artificial aeroionisation and others). Physiotherapeutic factors (electro-, light and hydrotherapy) treat injuries and illnesses, prevent them (physioprophylaxis) and speed the recovery of work capacity lowered by heavy loads. Recovery is an integral part of training, above all for highly qualified athletes. Some general principles come first: use means in combination, alternate them to avoid adaptation, vary the dose, and balance general and local action. The body's ability to recover can itself be trained, so too frequent use, especially of uniform means, will hold back its natural development.
Electrotherapy
Galvanisation uses low-voltage direct (galvanic) current, which increases blood and lymph flow in skin and other tissues, stimulates metabolic and trophic processes and relieves pain. Electrophoresis is one use of it: a drug is introduced through the skin or mucous membranes by the current, a very effective combination. Current is usually set at 0.05–0.1 mA per cm2 of the wet electrode pad, for 10–20 min. General galvanisation (S. B. Vermel's method) puts a 300 cm2 electrode between the shoulder blades on one pole and two 150 cm2 electrodes on the calves on the other; density up to 0.1 mA per cm2 (15–30 mA), 20 min. Local galvanisation treats the most heavily loaded muscles and joints.
Diadynamic (Bernard) currents are rectified sinusoidal currents of low, periodically changing frequency that relieve spasm and pain, dilate vessels and improve tissue metabolism. The procedure starts with 1 min of two-phase continuous current, then 1–2 min of the "short period" and 1–2 min of the "long period" current, 5–10 min in all depending on the number of areas. The current should give a marked but painless vibration.
Inductothermy is high-frequency electrotherapy, with DKV-2 or IKV-4 generators (13.56 million Hz, wavelength 23.13 m). The magnetic field around an inductor, a few turns of high-voltage cable, induces eddy currents that warm tissue evenly and relieve pain. The procedure causes deep hyperaemia, stimulates lymph and blood circulation and lowers muscle tone, improving tissue nutrition and function. Before switching on, make sure no metal objects are near the field, since they would heat and burn. A flat area is covered with a four-fold terry towel, leaving a 1–1.5 cm gap to the disc inductor. For limbs a cable inductor is handier: the limb is wrapped in the towel and wound with three turns of cable, or the cable lies along it in a long loop. The dose is set by a sensation of mild warmth: about 200 mA on the DKV-2, or 1–3 divisions on the IKV-4 power switch.
Ultra-high-frequency (UHF) electric fields cause active hyperaemia, increase blood and lymph flow and so tissue nutrition, are anti-inflammatory and analgesic, and strengthen immunity. Apparatus: UVCh-62, UVCh-66, Ekran-1. The area lies between two insulated capacitor plates 2–3 cm from the body; duration 10–15 min.
Light therapy
The spectrum splits into infrared, visible and ultraviolet radiation. Infrared (heat) radiation penetrates deepest, 3–5 cm, raising temperature, reflexly dilating vessels and intensifying metabolism, with a brief antispastic and analgesic effect. Visible light penetrates only a few millimetres and stimulates metabolism; red raises excitability, blue calms agitation. Ultraviolet is the most active. It reaches only about 0.5 mm and gives no warmth, but absorbed in the skin it causes marked chemical reactions: vitamin D forms, phosphorus-calcium metabolism improves, metabolism is stimulated and immunity rises. This holds only for moderate doses; excess worsens general condition and aggravates chronic inflammation. White skin is the most sensitive.
Infrared radiation comes from an infrared lamp (IKL) whose metal coil glows at no more than 500°; heat plus visible light comes from Minin lamps, Solux and other incandescent lamps. The room is at 20°C, the distance 60–80 cm, 20–30 min, at moderate warmth. The Solux emitter (500–1000 W bulb, filament up to 2800°) is used from 60–90 cm for 15–30 min; the Minin lamp (25–40 W bulb in a reflector, mostly infrared) from 5–15 cm for 10–20 min.
Ultraviolet comes from stationary, table or portable irradiators with mercury-quartz lamps, started 10 min after switching on, when intensity is steady. Treatment begins after the biodose is determined. For groups the Mayak lamp is used, with lifters in a circle 2–3 m away, turning to be irradiated from all sides. The first dose is 0.25–0.5 biodose; every 1–2 procedures it rises by 0.5 biodose, gradually reaching 3–5 biodoses. A course is 15–20 procedures.
Hydrotherapy
Showers and baths relieve fatigue, raise work capacity and harden the body; their effect depends mainly on duration, temperature and mechanical action. Water may also be combined with other factors (underwater shower-massage) or drugs (coniferous baths).
A shower acts through temperature and pressure; mechanical irritation is greatest with the Charcot shower (up to 3 atm). For recovery one can use rain, needle, circular and jet showers. The rain shower passes water through a watering-can sieve; the needle shower through a sieve with a thin metal tube in each hole, giving fine streams; in the circular shower the athlete stands amid streams from pipes surrounding him (warm 3–5 min, cold 2–3 min); the jet shower comes from a shower stand at set temperature and pressure. The Charcot shower is a large jet from a hose at 2–3 atm, with the lifter 3–3.5 m from the stand. It starts with a fan jet over the whole body, back then front. With his back turned, a compact jet is moved slowly up one leg to the lower back and then the other, 2–3 times, then along the spine and raised arms; each side is doused from below upward; finally, facing the stand, the legs get the compact jet 2–3 times and the abdomen and chest the fan jet. First-session water is at 32°C, dropping 2–3° each time to 20–15°C at the end of the course; pressure rises from 1.5–2 to 3 atm; duration 1–3 min. The Scotch shower is two jet showers: hot water (37–45°) from one hose for 30–40 s, then cold (10–20°) from another for 15–20 s, repeated 4–6 times, beginning with hot and ending with cold, for 2–4 min.
Indifferent baths (35–37°, no sensation of heat or cold) regulate the nervous and cardiovascular systems, improve tissue metabolism and lower muscle tone, relieving fatigue and hardening the body; the chemistry of the water also matters. Salt (sodium chloride) baths raise the functional state of the cerebral cortex, lower excitability, tone the neuromuscular apparatus, raise metabolism and benefit the cardiovascular system. They need 15–30 g/l, i.e. 3–6 kg of salt in 200 l of water, hung in a gauze bag under the hot tap; 36–38°, 10–15 min. In coniferous baths the aromatic substances of pine needles act reflexly on the central nervous system; 35–37°, 10–15 min, from 60 g of powdered or 100 ml of liquid extract in 200 l. Carbon dioxide baths dilate skin capillaries and shift blood from the internal organs to the periphery, improving tissue metabolism and myocardial blood supply, slowing the heart and strengthening its contractions; they work well in overstrain and functional disorders of the central nervous system. They need 500 cm3 of CO2 at 2 atm, 35–36°, 12 min. The pearl bath is fresh water at 34–36° bubbled by air from a compressor (0.5–1.5 atm) through a grid of small-holed tubes on the bottom; 10–15 min. Vibration baths combine a fresh or mineral bath at 36–38° with vibration from a special apparatus, improving circulation and metabolism and relieving muscle fatigue; no more than 10 min.
All these physical factors, for treatment and for restoring athletic work capacity, work only if the method is applied correctly.