womens sports and aching legs recovery

The Flat Floor Syndrome and Beauticians Aching Legs

Why do beauticians get aching legs and suffer from flat floor syndrome?

This beautician is standing and bending over while servicing her client-she will suffer from flat floor syndrome-she needs to service her legs in between clients to avoid problems such as swollen ankles and varicose veins

Many beauticians suffer from this because they are in the clinic all their working life-this affects the ability of their legs to pump used blood and fluid from the lower legs back up to the body for refreshment and recycling

The Calf Muscle Pump

To keep the circulation in balance in the legs, the same volume of blood should come out of the legs as goes into them

The calf muscle pump is made up of all the muscles in the legs, but the prime movers, or motors that provide the power for the pump are the calf muscles-these are made up of 2 basic movers-they are Soleus which is primarily used for standing upright, and Gastrocnemius used for running and jumping

As the muscles move, they increase and decrease pressure on the vessel walls (the veins) which have one-way valves in them, open to let the blood pass through them, and close to prevent the blood flowing back towards the feet

They need all the muscles working properly to be efficient

When you are walking/working on a flat floor, only one of the muscles, the Soleus is working at the pumping-so the calf muscle pump has become inefficient at what it should be doing

By not moving the legs, and staying static as most beauticians do when they are working on a client, the pump does not work as well as it should-this disrupts the cycle and allows used blood to remain in the lower legs-as it its not being removed, water (lymph fluid) separates from it and fills the tissue spaces, as it is not being pumped away quickly enough, the ankles swell

Problems caused by calf muscle pump inefficiency include

• Poor circulation

• Lymph system inactivity

• Venous return reduced

What is flat floor syndrome?

Flat floor syndrome is caused by working and walking on floors which do not give the legs enough contrast to make the calf muscles which are the motors and power supply for a pump that moves used fluid up the legs back to the body

Fluid always finds its own level because of gravity

All fluids (when in a confined space) exert a pressure on the walls of the vessels it is confined in-because it is in a column, the pressure is greater at the bottom than at the top-the surface has very little pressure on it

Gravity and the weight of fluid in the body

Pressure varies with the height of the liquid column-in the veins of a person standing up-at the head, the pressure is almost non-existent, but at the feet the lowest part of the body the pressure is higher.
The term hydrostatic pressure refers to the force that a liquid exerts against the walls of its container (Hydro-water Static-standing still) and is measured in mm hg.

Head -10 mm hg

Feet +90 MM hg

The only thing preventing all the fluid running out of the feet is the ends of the toes!

Our standing beautician at the top of the page is exactly the same!

Fresh legs-healthy calf circulation

To kept the lower leg circulation working and the calf muscles fresh, the muscles rely on having a constant supply of fresh blood to the tissues

blood is sent to the lower legs under pressure through the arteries and ever decreasing in size vessels called arterioles and even smaller capillaries-as the vessel size reduces the pressure taking it there also decreases

By the time the blood reaches the feet, all the pressure has been used, and there is none left to return the blood back up the legs to the body against gravity again

To keep the circulation in balance in the legs and reduce muscle fatigue, the same volume of blood should come out of the legs as goes into them and if the beautician is just passively standing, this is just not happening

Calf muscle fatigue, tight muscles, and poor lower leg circulation can chase each other around in a cycle that is difficult to break out from-each is a self destructive part that props up the other parts of the cycle and it will take a circuit breaker to disrupt the cycle of fatigue

The beautician may feel like this at the end of their day!

Most people just need something simple and effective to maintain the health of their legs as there may not be much wrong with them except that they spend too much time on flat floors-so they do not need to use a sledgehammer to break an eggshell when a teaspoon will do the same job

Many people seem to find may be passive methods such as lying down with the legs elevated to let gravity drain the fluid out of the legs back to the body so that fresh blood can flow into the muscle tissues to help them recover

Most beauticians do not have the time for a passive approach to their aching legs

Servicing fatigued leg muscles

The faster the legs receive help during or after a long day, the faster they recover but it is important they get it as soon as possible before soreness and stiffness limits what can be done with them

The most advised way of helping the legs recover is to lie with the legs elevated higher than the body to let the used blood and fluid in the ankles flow back; it took the legs hours to get like this-how long is it going to take for gravity to drain it all back?

Elevation is too 'passive' and obviously not too efficient as there are so many lost days off work still through industrially caused diseases

This is time consuming as well as being difficult to do if you have a busy lifestyle

Active Servicing means taking a pro-active role in helping the calf muscles to work the pump at moving the fluid up the legs

This is applied through

The latest in non-technical, non-invasive 'cutting edge' solutions to fatigued aching legs relief-Light Manual Muscle Relaxation

The advantages of using this system

• Do It Yourself recovery

• No disrobing

• Works with the muscles not on them

• No oil used

• Non invasive

• User friendly

Light Manual Muscle Relaxation-A tested Trusted Alternative-for aching legs relief, anything else is a luxury or not necessary

What is Light Manual Muscle Relaxation? It is a leg servicing system

It is system developed for ultra marathon runners and walkers leg recovery and has been tested on long distance events worldwide (ultra marathon is any distance over marathon-42.19 kilometers/26.385 miles)


Ultra marathon is very long distance competition where they have to run or walk as far as possible in a given time; it can be over 6 hours-24 hours-48 hours-6 days-16 days or even around the world www.worldrun.org


Sometimes a long time spent on flat floors can make the legs feel as if they have done a marathon

It is basically making the calf muscle pump work again to take some of the pressure away from the lower legs and let fresh blood into the muscle tissues to help the legs recover

A group of athlete's to suffer most similar problems to the flat floorer are ultra marathon runners and walkers-the main similarity between them is that their muscles are always sore, stiff, and fatigued and the muscles are angry-this can interfere with their sleep because their muscles cannot cut off and stop moving

They have to get up and get back on the track or road on a constant basis whether they want to or not to achieve their objective-the person with aching legs also has to get up and move on a constant basis whether their legs have recovered or not www.hazards.org/standing

Servicing the legs manual $20 (in PDF)

Beauticians Flat Floor Syndrome

Some References

Michael's methods of massage and blister care helped me to stay mobile throughout the race and to recover quickly afterwards. His techniques are safe and gentle.

Unlike some treatments, which put the runners and walkers at risk of muscle tears or infection, Michael's techniques are gentle, safe, reassuring, and highly effective. They enhance comfort and flexibility, build confidence, and promote success.

This booklet will help others to learn and practice Michael's methods. It is recommended reading for everyone who walks and runs and who wants to go further, go faster, or just to enjoy life more!!'

SANDRA BROWN 1996 Ladies 1000 Mile World Record Holder

1999 Ladies 100 mile Race walking World Record Holder
"I know that your massage kept a number of competitor<>s in the event. The cold weather of Saturday afternoon and night certainly got to many of the walkers and your prompt action had them back in the race after a short stop.

In years past, that would have ended up as a non-finish. A number of walkers were able to keep going for the full 24 hours on the basis of your expert help."

Tim Ericson Secretary Australian Centurions Club

'I have known Michael Gillan for many years and have always got quick relief for my aches and pains from the stretching he performs'.
CLIFF YOUNG-75-80 24 Hour World Record Holder (150.07 kilometers)

A word from Jesper Olsen World Runner about Light Manual Muscle Relaxation

"If I hadn't had the qualified help from the excellent masseur Michael Gillan, taking several thousands of km out of my legs, I could spare myself the effort!"

"My crew for the current stages, Michael Gillan, has proven to have other talents than the quite taxing job of taking care of all the requirements of a really tired ultra runner!
He has since years back been working on a new approach to stretching and muscle-rebuilding for ultra runners. I have the last two days tried his careful stretch and massage, and a bit to my surprise the muscles are beginning to feel like before the start back in Greenwich, London!!

Usually I doesn't take massage as the legs of an ultra runner will often be quite sore during the long time events (and especially in an multi-year event like this...), and getting a massage can at times cause more injury and cramping up than good. For example my last massage was some 12 000km ago when I ran the 12-hour competition in Finland. And so far that has been the only one.

But Gillan came with best recommendations from my main contact in Australia, Phil Essam, who besides being vice president in the Australian Ultra runners Association has heaps of good knowledge to share. And this new kind of mild massage for ultra runners is definitely one of the good tips! There should be a fair chance that I actually get fresh enough to do some decent running at the 6 Day Race that I have coming up in Colac from the 21.November. I quite look forward to that, even though I can't expect to make a top class result :-)"

He won! 756.2 kilometers (Jesper holds the record for the longest run in history over 26000 kilometers and the first person to run around the world Taken from www.worldrun.org

*Many people diagnose themselves as having restless legs which is a sleep disorder and its origins may be medical; there are treatments for these so it recommended that a visit to a physician to get it identified would be the first course of action.

ANGRY muscles are giving a reaction to overuse by standing or walking on a consistent basis-they do not have chance to recover properly before repeating the same action over and over.

Calf Muscle Fatigue

There are many medical reasons for fatigued calf muscles, and to find out whether any of them are contributing to them, they should be checked out by a medical professional so that the cause can be addressed-do not take chances and self diagnose-you could be risking your life if they are ignored

Contact mgillan@hotmail.com