The calf muscle pump and Nurses aching legs

Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist

Aching Legs Recovery-Nurses are Accidental Athletes
Fatigued Leg recovery using an
environmentally friendly recovery system
“Oh My aching legs!” The nurses’ cry towards the end of a busy shift
“Oh my aching legs!” The long distance walkers’ cry towards the end of a twenty-hour
walking day
Both of these are two different breeds of people, yet the cries of both of them are similar-I
know this because I do a day job in a hospital, and at the weekends I work with long distance
athletes as a recovery specialist
Having worked on the legs of nurses and athletes, other than the cry of distress they have in
common, there are other areas where their interests merge-they are both long distance athletes
Nurses do not see themselves as this, and most of them would not even consider going in for a
fun run or marathon or half marathon, but on an average day would cover nearly this distance
on their feet anyway.
Not only do they do this, they do it without training or special supplements, without coaches or
without even a gold, silver or bronze medal to encourage them at the finish line at the end of
the day-just a pay check-not only do they do this, they may even go back a few hours later to
do it all over again!
These swollen ankles are mine after I was testing out a theory on long flights but it is a fair bet
that many nurses have them like this at the finish of their day
When you are on your feet all day the calf muscles start to fatigue, power stops being supplied
to the pump and the blood just pools around the ankles-the water (or lymph fluid) separates
from it and migrates into the tissues in and around the ankles

As it is not being pumped away fast enough from the lower legs, the ankles swell and if it
wasn’t for the ends of the toes it would all flow out of the body all over the ground
Recovery from swollen feet and ankles does not come just with just sitting down resting as
soon as the shift is finished-if it did, then when the nurse gets in the car for the drive home after
work, then as soon as they got into the driveway, they could leap out of the car and go for a
game of football or basket ball with the children.
But they can’t

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 The calf muscle pump and Nurses aching legs
Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist
Like these guys who have just run for 3 days they can barely move!

These are 2 people who have just been running for 3 days around a running track in all
weathers and they have aching legs
What usually happens is when the car is driven into the driveway and the engine is stopped it
can be hard to even move as the muscles have stiffened and tightened-it can take a few minutes
before normal walking can even start to happen.
To compare between a nurse ‘accidental athlete’ and an ultra marathoner
To show how fatigue can compound, we can visit a 24-hour relay event where the athlete runs
for ½ an hour, has 5 hours break and goes back for another ½ hour leg
In all they do 4 half hour periods on the track in the 24 hours.
Easy no problems, ½ an hour of running and five hours to recover should be ample, yet each
time the athlete goes back after having sat down, ate and slept for 5 hours, it gets more and
more difficult to go back out and start moving as the muscle set and stiffen up.
The nurse can work for 7 ½ hours or even 12 hours and have only a few hours extra than the
shift is long to recover, and be back in the hospital for another shift.
Over the long term, this compounding aching leg fatigue can interfere not only with the leg
health, but with general health too-(see www.hazards.org/standing) for some of these problems
that aching legs can contribute to
Being a nurse is a professional occupation, being an athlete can be a professional occupation
and yet the nurse is closer to being a professional athlete than they realize-they both have
similar problems in recovery, but the athlete is more aware of how to treat the body to prevent
occupational problems.

The nurse should become more aware

If you are like the ultra marathon runners and walkers and do not have time to wait for
passive recovery to work at relieving those aching legs the active option is better

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 The calf muscle pump and Nurses aching legs
Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist
Aching legs are easy to develop and unless they have a medical contribution to them (and there
are many medical reasons so they should be investigated by a medical professional) they can
be relatively easy to relieve
If they are put in a position where they constantly ache, they can actually be the cause of
medical problems (see www.hazards.org/standing)

The Calf Muscle Pump

The calf muscle pump is a major part of circulation in the lower legs
All the fluids in the body gravitate down towards the lowest part of the body; the feet-gravity
holds it there and prevents it from going back up to the body for recycling and recirculation as
fresh blood
The calf muscles are the motors for a pump called the calf muscle pump that forces used
blood against gravity through one-way valves in the veins back up the body, but to provide the
power for this they need to be moving-it they don’t, they can’t contribute to circulation-so used
blood stays in the ankles and feet
Because the muscle tissues are not being refreshed with supplies of fresh blood, the muscles
fatigue and they ache with the legs increasing in weight as the fluid builds up-they are heavy to
carry around
Aching Leg Relief
The relief of aching legs can be approached in different ways and the decision of which way to
go is dependent on a number of factors-the biggest one being what other commitments you
have in your life at that present time and the time you have to commit to it
There is the passive way for those with time to spare and the active way for those without

Passive Relief
The ‘passive’ option is the most recommended way to relieve aching legs

Find a quiet area and lie down with the legs elevated to let the fluid flow back
(Been there-done that-didn’t seem to work too well-I was stiff when I stood up
and went light headed)

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 The calf muscle pump and Nurses aching legs
Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist
Ultra athletes suffer from sore feet, sore legs, swollen ankles, stiffness, wasted muscles, muscle
cramps, tiredness, mental fatigue, restless legs, sore skin, night pains, muscle spasm, muscle
wastage, swollen ankles, hyperthermia, hypothermia, temper tantrums, vomiting, food
sensitivity, allergies, rashes, loss of judgement-and that is the good part
Aching legs fatigued muscles and recovery
Someone with aching legs and ultra marathoners both have the same thing in common-how to
recover from their aching legs and fatigued muscles quickly, and the quickest most effective
way of doing this is simply to work the calf muscle pump so that the output of used blood and
the input of fresh blood is increased
To stop the muscles fatiguing, fresh oxygen and nutrient filled blood has to keep being
supplied to the muscles-but when the muscles are fatigued they can’t work at facilitating or
supplying their own needs
There are 2 main ways of relieving them of soreness-passive and active

This is the passive way-waiting for the legs to recover themselves

Below is the pro-active result sheet from a 6 day event using Light Manual Muscle Relaxation
Using an environmentally friendly pro-active leg recovery system is easier than you think
when you learn how to use the muscles to work on them selves
But an especially good way to recover from aching legs is to simply work the calf muscle
pump by hand to break the cycle of inactivity caused through muscle fatigue and get rid of
some of the depleted fluid so that fresh blood can enter the muscle tissues
The secret to leg recovery
The calf muscle pump
The calf muscles act as the motor for a pump to take it from the feet back to the body against
gravity through the venous system where it is re-nourished and recirculated-but to be working
they have to move.

Look at the photo above-how many towels and bottles of oil do you see?

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 The calf muscle pump and Nurses aching legs
Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist
None because the latest in non-polluting, non-technical method of leg recovery techniques is
being used

The active way to help the legs recover is to learn how to work with the muscles
If you can use your hands you have the tools to do the job of recovery

Recovery from leg fatigue or ongoing leg maintenance

Light Manual Muscle Relaxation

Here I am giving a demonstration of leg recovery in Denmark using

Light Manual Muscle Relaxation
More details and references on ultra marathon can be found on my websites
Everyone needs recovery after a tough day-and the fact that to get it blood to the
muscles in the legs needs refreshing
But to get that old depleted blood in the lower legs needs pumping out of them so that new fresh blood
can be pumped in-simple really
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 The calf muscle pump and Nurses aching legs
Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist
Below is a chart from when I discovered working with the muscles rather than
on them shows how much things did improve for the runners and walkers
If these figures are translated into recovery speed for the person with aching legs they
would be very happy

Results from 1995 Coburg 6 day footrace

Name Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6

A Krouglikov 237.2 113.6 130 106 126 108 Kilometers
539 284 325 365 315 270 Laps

T Rusek 215.2 98.8 98 139.6 138.4 122.4 Kilometers

538 247 245 349 346 306 Laps

M T aylor 174.4 128.8 143.6 123.6 138.4 122.4 Kilometers

436 322 359 309 302 223 Laps

B Beauchamp 180.4 133.2 124 117.6 110 93.2 Kilometers

451 333 310 294 275 233 Laps

P Gray 150 134 105.2 94.8 111.6 106 Kilometers

375 335 263 237 279 265 Laps

D Parri s 138.4 108.4 106.8 116.4 106 107.2 Kilometers

346 271 267 274 265 268 Laps

I Davis 168 119.2 90 116.4 106 107.2 Kilometers

420 298 225 291 180 247 Laps

G Watts 132.2 96.4 99.2 104.4 92.8 133.6 Kilometers

328 241 248 261 232 334 Laps

C Young 142 91.2 90 97.6 88 92 Kilometers

355 228 225 244 220 230 Laps

D Kettle 138.2 86.8 90.8 95.2 94.4 84.4 Kilometers

332 217 227 238 236 212 Laps

R H ill 128 80.8 99.2 70 95.6 96.6 Kilometers

320 202 248 175 239 241 Laps

K Fisher 164 91.6 50 115.2 49.6 81.2 Kilometers

410 229 125 288 124 203 Laps

G Pollard 120 74.8 73.6 68.4 69.6 61.2 Kilometers

300 187 184 171 174 153 Laps
The above group came in for Light Manual Muscle Rel axation
The below group did not or had their own recovery people
T Rafferty 141.6 112.8 104.8 101.6 98 96.4 Kilometers
354 282 262 254 245 241 Laps

G McConnel 145.6 110.8 126.4 113.6 108.4 106 ki lometers

363 277 287 284 271 265 Laps

G Audley 152.8 110.8 126.4 113.6 114.8 95.2 ki lometers

S Scanlon 140.8 82 84 34 0 0 Kilometers

352 205 210 85 pulled out-bli sters Laps

J Timms 127.2 98.4 74.8 0 0 0 ki lometers

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 The calf muscle pump and Nurses aching legs
Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist
Quickly-easily and in an environmentally friendly way!
The World Run Recovery System is a simple system that is easy to use without
the need for equipment other than the hands

Resource Box

Michael Gillan is an Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist who has been a masseur around many
ultra long distance events both in Australia and internationally since he was a student in 1993

In 1995 while working at a 6 day run, he changed the approach to recovery of the athletes from
the conventional way of working on the muscles using the hands and fingers to increase muscle
blood circulation, to working with the muscles and making them work on themselves

The results from this changeover can be seen on the Coburg result sheet on page 5

In 1996 Michael went to the Nanango 1000 Mile 16 day event where it was tested and helped
the worlds 4-5 and 11th to achieve their distances

Other notable events the World Run Recovery System was tested on was World Run 1 with
Jesper Olsen www.worldrun.org and the World Run 2 training camp in Denmark in 2007

Aching legs should always be checked out by a medical professional before doing anything to
and with them because there are many medical reasons why they may be aching-see a
physician first

If you want more details go to my website at

http://aching-legs.org/the_nurse_aching_legs-recovery.html

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