Specialised Rehabilitation technique

Question 1

What effects of reversibility are there?

Answer 1

Loss of:

• Speed
• Power
• Strength
• muscle mass (atrophy)
• aerobic capacity (VO2 Max)`

Question 2

What is a hyperbaric chamber?
What does it do?
What athlete benefits from it?

Answer 2

• A high pressurised chamber that delivers 100% pure oxygen to the body (2.5 times more) and aims to reduce recovery time
• The athlete enters the room
• The increase in oxygen means that hemoglobin becomes fully saturated and any excess oxygen is absorbed into the plasma
• When the blooded is pumped around the body, the muscles receive more oxygen which reduces swelling and promotes body cells to repair at a faster rate
• An athlete with soft tissue, tendon or ligament damage would benefit from this (strain or sprain)

Question 3

What is an oxygen tent?
What does it do?
What athlete benefits from it?

Answer 3

• A tent that stimulate the effects of altitude training by providing a low oxygen environment which doesn’t reduce recovery time but it can preserve fitness levels (VO2 max)
• Because of the low oxygen, it causes the body to produce more hemoglobin and red blood cells. this increases the oxygen carrying capacity (keep high VO2) max) so when the athlete gets out the tent, they have aerobic capacity so they can pick up more oxygen (30%)
• endurance athletes or those who need to acclimatise prior to competition

Question 4

What are ice baths?
What does it do?
What athlete benefits from it?

Answer 4

• bath filled with ice 12-15 degrees that the athlete enters for 5-10 mins after training or competition which aids recovery
• When the athlete enters the bath, their blood vessels tighten (vasoconstriction - define!) which effectively drains the blood out of the legs. This helps remove the lactic acid. It also restricts blood flow to the area which reduces swelling. When the athlete leaves the bath, the blood vessels will vasodilate (explain) causing the fresh blood and oxygen to get rid of the lactic acid and invigorate the muscles with oxygen.
• Benefits athletes that cause a build up in lactic acid eg games players