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 Recovery exercises involving running or using foam rollers for an
intense muscle massage both cleared out much more of the lactic acid
that collects in the blood after a burst of exertion than just
resting, researchers found.
Excess lactic acid in the bloodstream can limit muscle performance
and hinder subsequent rescues, the study team writes in the American
Journal of Emergency Medicine.
“Drowning continues to be one of the leading causes of death
worldwide in the absence of disease,” said one of the authors,
Roberto Barcala-Furelos of the Universidad de Vigo in Santiago de
Compostela and the International Drowning Research Alliance in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil.
More than 360,000 people drown every year, according to the World
Health Organization.
“However, the prevalence of drowning deaths on supervised beaches is
very low relative to beaches that are not monitored,”
Barcala-Furelos told Reuters Health by email. “Lifeguards are a key
to avoid drowning, thanks to their prevention and rescues.”
To see what most helps lifeguards recover after a rescue, the
researchers set up an experiment with 12 surf lifeguards on a beach
near Marin, a coastal town in northwestern Spain. To recreate a
typical rescue, each lifeguard ran 10 meters (about 11 yards) to the
ocean, swam 100 meters with fins to an adult victim who was
pretending to be unconscious, towed the victim 100 meters back to
shore and pulled the victim onto dry sand.
All the lifeguards did this three times over three days, each time
following the mock rescue with one of the recovery approaches.
The lifeguards’ average age was 24 and they all wore wetsuits during
the mock rescues.
Immediately after each rescue, the lifeguards had their blood tested
to measure lactate levels and reported on their perceived
exhaustion. They then removed their wetsuits and began a 25-minute
recovery period doing one of three activities.
The running recovery included 16 minutes of running at a moderate
pace and five more minutes of walking. The foam rolling recovery
included five exercises over 20 minutes that involved using body
weight and foam rollers to deeply massage the muscles of each leg.
The third recovery activity was simply sitting and resting for 20
minutes.
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After every recovery exercise, the lifeguards’ blood was tested
again.
Over a total of 36 water rescues by the 12 lifeguards, average blood
lactate levels rose roughly three-fold immediately after the rescue.
But after either the running or foam roller recovery exercises, the
levels dropped by more than half. In contrast, just resting led to
about a one-third decrease in lactate levels.
“Everyone engaged in activities requiring repeated and exhaustive
physical effort could have interest in this,” said Damian Morgan of
Federation University in Churchill, Australia, who studies drowning
prevention but wasn’t involved in the current study.
One limitation of the study is its small sample size, the authors
note. In the future, the research team plans to test how the
recovery methods influence the day-to-day work of a lifeguard, what
happens with lactate levels when a second rescue is performed and
how other recovery methods can help rescue teams.
“The main question is . . . ‘Does it happen like this in the real
world?’,” Morgan said by email. “Lifesavers often work in teams.
They commonly use rescue boards or water craft. It’s unknown how
often they are ever subject to the conditions specified in this
study.”
“Of course, lifesavers in general benefit from recovering after a
rescue,” Pertti Suominen of Helsinki University Hospital in Finland
told Reuters Health by email. “In any location, we can help
lifeguards by bathing in areas where we can be seen - and rescued
promptly, if required. In drowning, every second counts.”
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