Joint Ventures Physical Therapy and Fitness - Boston, Massachusetts Kenmore Square

October is National Physical Therapy Month (NPTM). This celebration began in 1981 as National Physical Therapy Week and then in 1992 became National Physical Therapy Month. NPTM, sponsored by the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), acknowledges October as a month to recognize physical therapists and physical therapist assistants for their hard work as well as educate the community about the PT profession. This year the theme is “Physical Therapy: It’s All About Movement.” Movement is a vital part of physical therapy. Your physical therapist is an expert of movement and is able to help you move forward. Whether it be movement toward your goals or simply moving safely and effectively around your house and/or community, movement is essential for everyone.

We have a had a busy few weeks here at Joint Ventures.  In addition to providing physical therapy, massage therapy and personal training in our clinics, we like to take the show on the road!  Most often, we go to local road races or charity walks.  Two weeks ago, Jaclyn, Dave, Heather and Jessica helped the thousands of walkers at the Arthritis walk by stretching and massaging them before and after the walk.  We met a lot of great people and now that we have volunteered at this event for three years, we saw some of our friends from previous walks.  

Saturday, Ryan, Jaclyn, Melissa and Jessica helped out at the Samaritan’s 5K, Run For Someone Else’s Life.  This is another event that we have taken part in for the last three years.  We have several friends and clients who run this race each year, so it is a lot of fun for us.  Jessica led a group stretch and warm-up before the race, while Jaclyn and Ryan helped the runners and walkers loosen up with massage  before and after the race.

So, if you are out at a local event, you may run into some of our staff!  If you are organizing an event, and would like to offer massage/stretching to your participants, please contact Jessica@jointventurespt.com. 

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) describes a type of muscle discomfort or pain, a general soreness or stiffness that is felt around 24-72 hours post exercise depending on which research you may read, particularly at the beginning of a new an exercise program. DOMS can also result after a change in sporting activities, or after a significant increase in the duration, frequency or intensity of exercise.

There is still some conjecture as to the exact cause of this phenomena, though the type of muscle contraction seems to be a key factor in the presence of DOMS. Exercises that involve many eccentric contractions (lengthening with gravity), such as downhill running, will generally result in more significant DOMS. Eccentric muscle activity has been shown to be the result of more muscle cell damage than is seen with typical concentric contractions, in which a muscle successfully shortens during contraction against a load.

Carlsson et al. (2004) claim that DOMS is not caused by pain from damaged muscle cells-but from the reinforcement process. The muscle responds to changes in load by strengthening itself up to and above its previous strength level by increasing the size of muscle fiber. This is called muscle hypertrophy. This strengthening process has the effect of causing the cells to swell slightly within the compartment they are in putting minimal pressure on nervous and arterial structures surrounding the muscles causing pain.

The continuation of exercise when DOMS is present can cause further swelling and irritation, which will potentially lead to an increased recovery duration post exercise. There is conjecture as to whether a period of exercise following the DOMS activity will reduce or sustain the DOMS cycle. Within strength training, the suggestion of continuos muscular soreness being beneficial is countered by reports of individuals reaching a plateau due to overtraining.

A rationale employed by many sports teams is for the athletes to participate in active rehabilitation. This is when athletes will participate in a sub-maximal activity that is designed to improve blood flow to general areas promoting the reduction of waste products within muscles.

Yu, J., Carlsson, L. & Thornell, L.E. (2004). Evidence for myofibril remodeling as opposed to myofibril damage in human muscles with DOMS: an ultrastructural and immunoelectron microscopic study. Histochemistry and Cell Biology, 121(3), p. 219-227.