An Athlete’s Guide to Inflammation: Understand, Reduce and Prevent
Pain is hard to ignore. Pain, heat and swelling are often present with acute inflammation. Inflammation is a normal physiological response to a physical activity. During the recovery period, the inflammatory process repairs any damage and also promotes training adaptations leading to strength and endurance gains
Research has now proven links between inflammation, diet, and gut bacteria. This is the main reason why many athletes are now looking towards personalizing their diets and adding in more anti-inflammatory foods and practices [e.g. Heart Rate Variability devices and monitoring]. A good quality diet and moderate, consistent aerobic exercise are some of the best ways to lower inflammation. Regular exercise has actually been shown to reduce inflammation by 20-60% and to reduce white blood cell count (a marker for inflammation) during and after exercise. Interestingly enough, inconsistent exercise can actually have the opposite effect on inflammation, increase your white blood cell levels, increase inflammation and weaken your immune system.
Chronic inflammation is a common theme with my clients in the clinic. A way to describe this is like a smoldering fire that keeps your immune system in a constant state of red alert. A low grade inflammatory fire ranges from mild niggles in your body to full blown conditions such as pre diabetes, cardio-vascular disease, auto-immune conditions and accelerated aging.
There are many signs and symptoms of chronic inflammation and unfortunately these are often ignored! Athletes who over-train or over-exert themselves can suppress their immune system leaving them in this constant state of red-alert, where joints and soft tissue become more susceptible to injuries, making it more difficult to recover properly.
Popping pills such as ibuprofen is the quick solution to treat pain. For the most part NSAIDs are tolerated relatively well if respected, but this little pill can do more harm than good, as it is widely known to impair the upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract which is thought to compromise immune function in the gut lining, resulting in an inflammatory response and also linked with ulcers. How ironic? Taking anti-inflammatory medications can actually cause inflammation in the GI tract of susceptible individuals.
Sleep is also important. Poor or insufficient sleep has been linked to higher levels of inflammation. In one study, levels of 3 inflammatory markers [fibrinogen, IL-6 and C-reactive protein] were measured. C-reactive protein (CRP) acts as a proxy for inflammation. Levels of CRP rise and fall in response to inflammation, and knowing your CRP measurement tells you a lot about what’s going on in your body. It was observed in the study that participants with poor sleep quality had significantly higher levels of these inflammatory markers than participants with good sleep quality.
Several studies have also shown an inverse relationship between HRV and CRP levels and to physical activity levels, where the most physically active people demonstrate the lowest CRP, and highest HRV. HRV is easy to monitor and more and more athletes are taking this on board.
What you eat also has a big effect on inflammation. To keep your levels in check, avoid eating processed foods or foods that are high in empty calories, sugar, and artificial additives. The most practical steps to support the immune system is to change your diet by adding in the right types of anti-inflammatory foods, spices and herbs. Easy to say, but for some it’s not so easy to implement.
My favorite anti-inflammatory foods
- Fats: Olive Oils, Avocados, Coconut Oil / Butter
- Proteins: Oily Wild Fish
- Stock or Bone Broths
- Greens
- Cruciferous vegetables
- Brightly coloured vegetables
- Berries
- Turmeric
- Ginger
- Green Tea
- Rosemary
More Natural Products / Supplements that reduce inflammation
- Vitamin D3
- Lipoic acid
- NAC
- Grape seed extract
- Propolis
- Zinc
- Co-enzyme Q-10
- Selenium
- Indole-3-carbinol (I3C)
- N-acetyl-L-cysteine
- Resveratrol
- GLA
- EPA
- Boswellia
References:-
1. Morris A et al Circulation. 2010; 122: A17806 2. AHA and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Maev is an active member of the American Institute of Functional Medicine, runs her own private practice and lectures in nutrition. You can view more on her website Maev Creaven Nutrition
About Metrifit
Metrifit is an athlete monitoring system that gathers subjective and objective information from both coaches and athletes in a simple but effective manner with intelligent visualization helping coaches and athletes to act on that data. Why not have a look at our Ready to Perform product and gain insight on the physical and mental state of your athletes through our daily wellbeing questionnaire? To find out more visit our Metrifit Product Overview page or get in touch for a free demo.
"The success of young athletes using Metrifit was an interesting challenge in the Elite Soccer space… After six months of learning, creating habit with teenagers the project is a huge success…. 90% completion rate has allowed us deal with all the key KPI’s that are needed in their development. In our space with developing athletes…Metrifit is a godsend and is the most important tool in this space."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-16T16:51:01+01:00
Niall O’Driscoll
Academy Directory, SJ.B (St. Joseph’s Bray ) Academy
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/niall-odriscoll-short/
"When COVID altered college athletics as we knew it, Metrifit came to the rescue. This intuitive athlete monitoring, health and well-being system provides the athlete, coach, and sports medicine staff a way to monitor and balance the physical, emotional, health and well-being of our athlete’s. Metrifit provided that calm in the middle of the perfect storm for our entire athletic department for the future. Thank you to the entire Metrifit family for assisting our department with a seamless process."
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Jennifer McIntosh
Head Athletic Trainer, Colorado School of Mines
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/jennifer-mcintosh/
"What’s more impressive is the ability to utilize the basics but at the same time have the capability to explore detailed and intricate correlative data points that helps us as coaches gain the most from our athletes. Metrifit has also served as an easy communications hub to ensure essential information is passed to the appropriate team. We are excited to what the future from Metrifit will bring."
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Michael Torres
CEO, Shift Performance, Miami
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/michael-torres-short/
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Brijesh Patel
Quinnipiac University, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/brijesh-patel/
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Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
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Dr. Dale Richardson
CEO Achieve Total Performance Pty Ltd
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/dale-richardson/
"Metrifit is an integral part of the set up within the senior and intermediate inter-county Camogie. The data collected daily on the individual players is critical to the decision making of the backroom team including, managers, trainers, selectors, physiotherapist and indeed myself. As a nutritionist it allows me to monitor the quality of the player’s diet, energy levels, sleep pattern and overall wellbeing."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
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Yvonne Treacy
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https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/yvonne-treacy-short/
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Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
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Dave Passmore
Head Coach, Irish Hockey
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/dave-passmore-short/
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Emma Hawke, PhD Exercise Physiology
Coach - Sweden Climbing, Olympic Offensive - Female Coach Swedish Olympic Committee, Senior Lecturer - Coach education programme (Sweden)
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/emma-hawke/
"Our coaches through Metrifit basically have an ‘X-ray’ vision into the habits and lifestyles and stressors their athletes have on a day to day basis, especially when they are not together. Thus the professional authentic relationships created through the casual conversations, reflection process and application provided is priceless."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
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Brian Clarke
Head Strength and Conditioning Co-ordinator,Noblesville High School
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/brian-clarke/
"While working with the Clare Senior Hurling team (2012-2014), Horse Sport Ireland (U25 European Eventing Champions) and currently with the Limerick Senior Hurling Team, Metrifit provides our team with critical information across a number of essential aspects of elite athletic performance. You don’t really know how your players are responding to training stimuli unless you have daily data and Metrifit provides and easy to use and highly effective means of finding this critical information."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
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Joe O’Connor
NISUS Fitness, S&C Coach Clare Senior Hurling, Horse Sport Ireland and Limerick Senior Hurling
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/joe-oconnor/
"Metrifit provides immediate insight and feedback on the physical and mental states of the student-athletes. It allows us to adjust practices and training sessions to accurately meet needs. We have been able to identify potential injury concerns, track current injury status and monitor return to play progress."
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Kari Thompson
Head Volley Ball Coach, Southern Illinois University
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/kari-thompson/
"The ability to acutely monitor stress and recovery and make the correct adjustments was critical to our health and performance throughout the NCAA tournament. Metrifit has a very strong educational component. With the information we get, I am able to clearly understand the habits and behaviors of our athletes, and how they may be impacting performance."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
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Erik Helland
Director of Strength & Conditioning and Head Strength Coach Men’s basketball, University of Wisconsin
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/erik-helland/
"As a school that cannot spend large amounts of money on athlete monitoring, Metrifit has provided us with a great tool for monitoring stress and athlete readiness at a great rate. Being athlete driven, we're able to get buy-in from the athlete, and drive individual or team wide conversations regarding lifestyle and performance education in the direction needed. Seeing acute and chronic stress on a real-time basis has greatly improved the way we schedule workouts and arrange travel during the season."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
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Derek Bol
Strength & Conditioning Coach, Valparaiso University
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/derek-bol/
"The holistic approach of medical, physical, emotional and even tech/tactical; bringing together what we need to monitor and evaluate our University players. “If you can’t measure it – it doesn’t exist.” I know we were the first Canadian University to use the program and I know many more will be asking for it in the future! I highly recommend Metrifit."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
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Tino Fusco, B.Sc. ChPC
Head Coach, Women's Soccer, Mount Royal University (Canada)
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/tino-fusco-b-sc-chpc/
"We have been using Metrifit for the past season at Cornish Pirates. It has been greatly beneficial for us to have our wellness and load management data on one easy to access system. We have found this invaluable over the past season whereby Coaches, Physios and Strength and conditioning coaches can monitor both the psychological and physiological load of our athletes on a daily basis."
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Paul Cremin
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https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/paul-cremin-short/
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https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/tommy-mooney-short/
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Graham Williams
Athletic Development Coach, MSc ASCC
Millfield School, UK
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/graham-williams-short/
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Edgar K. Tham
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https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/edgar-k-tham-2/
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Robert Walsh
Strength Coach
Nederlandse Ski Vereniging (Netherlands Ski/Snowboard Team)
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/robert-walsh-short-testimonial/
"Metrifit has been hugely beneficial in supporting our coaches and back room staff to track and monitor our players training loads, performance and readiness to train. Having a one-stop shop for collating all relevant information across a holistic picture of the player allows us to help prevent burnout, injury and provide timely feedback and communication to all."
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Eamonn Fitzmaurice
Kerry Senior Football, Manager
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/eamonn-fitzmaurice/
“I have been using Metrifit for the past number of years and I have found it to be an excellent piece of software. It is extremely easy to use and has proved very beneficial in preparing myself for competition. The ability to view my health and wellbeing stats everyday and see how this influences my performance in both practice and competition has been very helpful. I have been able to put more effort into key areas such as fluid intake, sleep and balanced golf practice and training. Having the ability to view my detailed stats helps me to understand exactly where I am and how I need to adjust my training or health choices. I have found using Metrifit this past year has been a crucial help for me to play well. As I now have turned 50 I am playing on The Champions tour in the USA and have played well during my first year. Metrifit has been as important as my golf equipment in achieving that success.”
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Robert Karlsson, Professional Golfer
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/robert-karlsson/
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Jason McGahan
Sports Scientist, Kildare Football, PhD Sports Science Researcher
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/jason-mcgahan/
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Ryan Osborn
Head Basketball Coach, Carmel High School
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/ryan-osborn/
"We have found metrifit to be a great tool to ensure we can monitor and adapt our athletes training loads regularly. This programme has ensured our coaches and staff can maximize all training and recovery to each individual needs on a day to day basis. It is user friendly and provides excellent visual data that can be viewed by both practitioners and athletes. With the help of Metrifit support team, we have personalized it to suit our specific sport and training needs. It's a excellent athlete monitoring tool and is essential for assisting the team to perform at their best"
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Lee Stutely
Team Manager and Athlete Support Services Coordinator at Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/lee-stutely/
"I wanted to reach out to thank Metrifit for an extremely successful season. Our Regis University women’s side won the ultra-competitive RMAC with a 11-0-1 record. Our student-athletes reported in post-season interviews the positive use of Metrifit that enabled their own reflection about their bodies and also found value providing information to coaches for our strategic planning purposes. On more than one occasion, we recognized deviations from norms and were able to step-in with a quick chat to help a player get back on track or refer her to the proper support personnel for further assistance. Fantastic! "
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J.B. Belzer
Head Coach, Women's Soccer at Regis University
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/jb-belzer/
"Metrifit has been a great asset in helping guide the numerous decisions we make on a daily basis, that have a direct impact on our athletes well-being and progress. The platform is extremely user friendly and the reports and analytics that reflect the data collected daily, can be catered to what you are most specifically curious to know about the athletes both individually and collectively"
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
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Aaron Mansfield
Head Coach, LMU Lions, Loyola Marymount University
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/aaron-mansfield/
“Metrifit has become a multifactorial platform that has helped up us provide deeper context to the decisions that we make on a daily basis in regards to the physical development of our student-athletes. We have intimately been utilizing both the subjective wellness questionnaire along with player training load data to drive professional conversation and actionable tasks to enhance the sporting results and quality of life for our student-athletes with unparalleled success.”
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-20T12:12:33+01:00
Kevin Schultz
Associate Director of Strength & Conditioning
Director of Olympic Strength & Conditioning
University of Wisconsin
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/kevin-schultz-full/
"Metrifit has been instrumental in helping our international Managers, Coaches and Medical teams to identify players who require modifications in training loads or who are struggling with some aspect of their preparation for, or recovery from, training and matches. One of the big strengths of this technology is that it allows our Managers and Medical teams to monitor players both during international competition and outside of these times."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
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Dan Horan
Head of Fitness for International Football/Fitness Coach Men's Senior Team
Football Association of Ireland
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/dan-horan-short/
"The cutting edge technology of Metrifit enables Managers, Coaches and Players to use this innovative technology to gain these crucial percentage points over their opponents in a technologically advanced yet easy to use web-based platform. The data collated on a daily basis greatly informs Management Teams while the educational aspect of the system really appeals to modern day athletes who are constantly looking for that extra edge."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
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Cian O’Neill
Kildare Senior Football Manager
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/cian-oneill-short/
“Metrifit has allowed us to gain better insight on our athletes and their individual stress response to training and outside factors. This has helped us to make daily adjustments when necessary, to further enhance their development which has led to higher performance levels, faster recovery, and a reduction in injuries. The new lifestyle profiling survey has been an invaluable insight into the lifestyle habits of my athletes and has helped focus on key areas that can be improved, benefiting athletes on their performance journey.“
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
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Dan Rickaby
Assistant S&C Coach, Tulane University
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/dan-rickaby/
"Metrifit has been used to gain a more in-depth insight into our student-athlete’s progressive athletic development and balance relative to their particular sporting and training activities, academic studies and total load. Metrifit doesn’t just help with optimising our Sports Scholarship students’ athletic performance. It assists us in helping them get the balance right between their sporting activities and academic studies."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
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Richard Deuchrass
Lincoln University Athletic Performance Manager
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/richard-deuchrass/
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