Body Fat Level and Health

Nutrition
21

[quote]sarah1 wrote:
Thanks. It did seem that the injuries do not get better with just time off. They just get stiff and worse. Passive stretching does not help - hurts if anything. Rolling has helped. How often? One time per day?

And icing is not a good idea? Just heat??

[/quote]

I wouldn’t bother with ice. Better off using heat - increased bloodflow and nutrients.

Cold reduces NEW inflammation as it begins from an acute injury. But if (in your case) anything’s inflamed, it’s not new. Get your wisdom teeth pulled and icing right away will help keep away a puffy mouth. But start icing two days in and it doesn’t do much, if anything.

I wouldn’t stretch either. Not when you have knots, dense and tense stuff in the area. (That rolling has helped is a great clue that this is the case)

How often? I would wake up 15 minute early every day to do some rolling on a ball or roller (wouldn’t go longer than 15, unless you are really into it. Can skip it here and there if you’re just not into it). If you find an area is too sore from the day before (say IT band), then focus on another area (glutes or other part of the quads, maybe calves, etc).

But I go by feel. Last night I was rolling my upper back - sort of rhomboids area and scapulae. I lie down on a hard ball - not hollow, but full and harder than a tennis ball, but not hard hard. I avoid the spine. I find areas that bug me and bring about pain - and then I hold the position to keep the pressure and pain there, and rotate my arms about, to try to move the muscles in the upper back to hit the same spot from slightly different angles. Works great.

Given the duration of your injury, I would be careful with a ball - may be too painful. Probably better off with a roller to start. If yuo have a yoga mat, you can roll it up and put a string or lace around it. Roll ti up tight, though. And start from there. If you don’t find yourself cringing, try a tennis ball. Pain is a good thing. But then, I know what I’m looking for.

It’s not magic. If anything, here is how to figure out the kind of pain you want.

  1. Not pinching the skin.
  2. Roll a ball lightly under your spine (tennis ball). This isn’t going to do any damage to you if you don’t overdo it, but you will feel a bad kind of discomfort.
    1&2 are two kinds of pain to avoid.
  3. Anything else should be fine.

epitome.

22

[quote]Airtruth wrote:
Extremely low bodyfat is not too unhealthy…[/quote]

I’m not a Dr., but I think this statement is very very incorrect.

For example:

“The Female Athlete Triad”
http://pdfdownload.04340.com/pdf2html.php?url=http%3A%2F%2F71.18.91.123%2Fdownloads%2FFAT2007.pdf&images=yes

Excerpt:

"HEALTH CONSEQUENCES
Sustained low energy availability, with or without
disordered eating, can impair health. Psychological prob-
lems associated with eating disorders include low self-
esteem, depression, and anxiety disorders (167). Medical
complications involve the cardiovascular, endocrine, repro-
ductive, skeletal, gastrointestinal, renal, and central nervous
systems (5,19,62,167). The prognosis for anorexia nervosa
is grave with a sixfold increase in standard mortality rates
compared to the general population (153).

In one study,
5.4% of athletes with eating disorders reported suicide
attempts (184). Although 83% of anorexia nervosa patients
partially recover, the rate of sustained recovery of weight,
menstrual function and eating behavior is only 33% (77).
Amenorrheic women are infertile, due to the absence of
ovarian follicular development, ovulation, and luteal
function.

While recovering, however, they may ovulate
before their menses are restored, resulting in an unexpected
pregnancy if a reliable form of birth control is not utilized.
Athletes with luteal deficiency may also be at risk for
infertility due to poor follicular development or failure of
implantation. Consequences of hypoestrogenism seen in
amenorrheic athletes include impaired endothelium-
dependent arterial vasodilation (78), which reduces the
perfusion of working muscle, impaired skeletal muscle
oxidative metabolism (75), elevated low-density lipoprotein
cholesterol levels (59,154), and vaginal dryness (73).

BMD declines as the number of missed menstrual cycles
accumulates (45,120), and the loss of BMD may not be fully
reversible (99,201). Stress fractures occur more commonly in
physically active women with menstrual irregularities and/or
low BMD (21­23,112,144,149,203,211) with a relative
risk for stress fracture two to four times greater in
amenorrheic than eumenorrheic athletes (21). Fractures also
occur in the setting of nutritional deficits and low BMD
(50,111,130,169,210). Any premenopausal fracture unrelated
to a motor vehicle accident is a strong predictor for
postmenopausal fractures (82,213).

Evidence Statements. Severe undernutrition impairs
reproductive and skeletal health. Evidence category A Menstrual irregularities and low BMD increase stress
fracture risk. Evidence category A."

Sarah, from you pics in your other thread I’d guess that your body fat is well below 10%, and in the “extremely low” range. I could be wrong.

I’ve assumed you have seen doctors about this, am I incorrect? You should get their opinion, not that of folks on the net (not even us T-Nation folks :wink: )