somerandomkidmike
Member
This is basically a tutorial, but it's not directly related to cubing, so I've posted it in the off topic discussion. This thread might be completely useless to the majority of the forum, but if I can prevent a couple people from getting a Repetitive Stress Injury (or RSI), then I've done my part.
Going through school in massage therapy, I've been surprised how many people are completely clueless when it comes to their own pain and injuries. You might be thinking that you can't get injured from cubing, but that's far from the truth.
First, lets look at RSI's. While it may seem like cubing is something that is non-strenuous, it is a perfect example of an activity that can cause an RSI.
RSI's are usually caused from rapid and repeated movements, like the movements associated with fingertricks. They're also caused by forceful movements. Although forceful movements are not common with smaller lubricated cubes, larger cubes, such as v-cubes, the Dayan + MF8 4x4, and unlubricated dayan cubes can be quite stiff. They often need countless hours of breaking in before they're suitable for speedcubing. However, just because your cube is broken in and lubricated, that does not make it impossible for you to get an RSI. The repetitive stress injuries caused by these physical aspects of cubing is called "Rubik's Wrist".
The best thing a person can do for Rubik's wrist, and other RSI's is to take action to avoid getting it in the first place. Here's what you need to do to for prevention:
Warm Up and Cool Down: If you play an instrument, or you're in another sport, you could be tired of hearing this. Coaches and instructors are completely right when they tell you to warm up. It's the same thing with cubing. Don't just go straight into doing the sexy move as fast as you can. Warming up with solve or two slower than your maximum speed is probably good enough for a warm up. Doing excessive stretching is not great to do before cubing, because it can actually negatively affect your performance. Stretching after cubing is a great cool down though! The same thing goes for computer related activities.
Use a good cube: Beginners don't need beginner cubes. That doesn't mean they need the absolute best cubes for speedcubing, but if you struggle to turn a 3x3x3, you should probably get a different one. Yes, 4x4x4s and up can need breaking in, but you shouldn't speedsolve with them until you've broken them in.
Don't break in cubes all at once: If you're going to rush to break in a cube, then let other people mess with it too. Don't do it by yourself. Otherwise, just be patient. After 20 solves on an unlubricated, non-broken in v-cube 7, your wrists and hands could be hurting. This isn't a good thing. The "no pain, no gain" principle doesn't apply here.
Now, if you've already started to have pain, here's what you should do.
STOP: Stop cubing. Stop typing. Immediately. That won't help the pain, and it won't help your times.
PRICE:
P- Protection if necessary
R- Rest
I- Ice
C- Compression
E- Elevation
Go to the Doctor: If pain doesn't go down, or there is swelling, you should go to the doctor. The doctor might tell you to take anti-inflammatory drugs if there is acute inflammation. Probably nothing more than ibuprofen (Motrin or Advil?) will be needed. Getting a second opinion isn't always a bad thing either.
Seek Out Massage Therapy, Physiotherapy, or Other Therapies: Massage can work wonders for conditions like tendinitis, epicondylitis or bursitis. If you're really interested in the effects of massage therapy, you can ask me, or just look on google I'm not an expert yet, but I can directly ask my instructors. Physiotherapists can give specific exercises and stretches that can help prevent the RSI from happening again. You might think these therapies are too expensive. If that's the case, you should try to find a massage therapy school. They might offer massages for a lesser price than a registered massage therapist. My school offers 50 minute treatments for $25.
Some people might want to search for alternate medicine and acupuncture. These can work wonders for some people if you have a good doctor or acupuncturist.
Finally, I just thought I'd say that RSI's are not fun. I had acute tendinitis symptoms that were partly caused from cubing on a QJ 5x5. I wasn't able to do any cubing for a week, and couldn't massage at school. Even after I was done, my 3x3x3 times went up by 7 seconds, up to 21-22 seconds. Right now I'm finally getting back to my normal times
____
Okay, now lets look at posture. I would guess that at least 95% of people have poor posture at some point during the day. Sitting while cubing is pretty common, and it can cause a lot tension. I realize this probably isn't going to change. You could be slouching forward, and you could have your shoulders up. Why is this a problem? This overstretches some muscles in your back, it shortens muscles in your chest, and it tightens many muscles in the front and side of your neck and shoulders. This can cause headaches and conditions involving compression of blood vessels and nerves, such as Thoracic Outlet syndrome. Over a long period of time, this slouching posture can actually cause you to have a permanent hump back. The creation of the computer is something that contributes to people starting to get this hump at a younger age.
So if you find yourself sitting for a long time, and slouching, make sure you stretch! Stretch the muscles in your chest to prevent that muscular shortening, stretch the muscles in your neck to prevent headaches, and do this for every hour you sit. Also, make sure you get up and walk around every once in a while. You'll thank yourself later. If anybody in the forum finds this useful, but wants specific stretches, PM me. One more thing- Drink water. Water is good.
If you didn't go tl;dr, congrats. I hope this isn't useless to everybody. If it's not useful for cubing, apply it to other things you do, however, I hope it's useful for some people.
Edit: I've decided to add a second part related to posture. It's more like a mini-guide for stretching.
Guide to Stretching for Speedcubers
As I discussed earlier, speedcubing can have a major effect on your posture. You could easily slouch without noticing it, or have your head forward. One good way to prevent this from causing stress and pain in your body is to stretch. This guide doesn't have to be to be used exclusively for speedcubing. Anybody that works at a computer, types, or plays video games will have the same types of postural problems. So will students. Before I get into the specific stretches that would be beneficial, I'll just say a few things about what to do when you stretch.
Ease into it
If you stretch, and you go straight to your maximum stretch, you could actually cause your body to reflexively contract the muscles very quickly. Overall this shortens the muscles, making the stretch essentially useless. If a stretch takes 30 seconds, take 10-15 of those seconds easing into it.
Don't Bounce
This has a similar effect to the point above.
Hold the stretch for 30 seconds
It's not really effective otherwise. 'nuff said.
Stretch often
If you are going to sit for hours a day, get up every hour and stretch. You can do a different stretch each hour if you must. The user timeless actually just gave me an article on how it's bad to sit for a long time in general. http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/10_19/b4177071221162.htm I figure it deserves some attention. If you're already experiencing some postural issues, then stretching is even more important.
So here are the stretches speedcubers should do especially if they sit often.
Wrist stretches http://howtostretch.com/wriststretches.html
Pec/Chest stretches http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/ChestGeneral/Doorway.html
side neck stretch http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/TrapeziusUpper/Trap.html
front neck stretch http://www.recsports.ufl.edu/fitness/fitness-assessment-center/corrective-exercises/scm-stretch/
hip flexor stretches http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/flexibilityandstretching/qt/hip-flexor.htm
calf stretch http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_57gh5PY9g10/TT0TPkc1tkI/AAAAAAAABog/qgVfd6Pdjf4/s1600/calf-stretch.jpg
hamstring stretch http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3yWt9r0D0...F2eZI/s1600/Alternative hamstring stretch.jpg
I could add more, but this is good for basic stretches. You can also do a full body stretch (like what you'd do when you get out of bed). Hopefully this is enough for people that were interested.
Going through school in massage therapy, I've been surprised how many people are completely clueless when it comes to their own pain and injuries. You might be thinking that you can't get injured from cubing, but that's far from the truth.
First, lets look at RSI's. While it may seem like cubing is something that is non-strenuous, it is a perfect example of an activity that can cause an RSI.
RSI's are usually caused from rapid and repeated movements, like the movements associated with fingertricks. They're also caused by forceful movements. Although forceful movements are not common with smaller lubricated cubes, larger cubes, such as v-cubes, the Dayan + MF8 4x4, and unlubricated dayan cubes can be quite stiff. They often need countless hours of breaking in before they're suitable for speedcubing. However, just because your cube is broken in and lubricated, that does not make it impossible for you to get an RSI. The repetitive stress injuries caused by these physical aspects of cubing is called "Rubik's Wrist".
The best thing a person can do for Rubik's wrist, and other RSI's is to take action to avoid getting it in the first place. Here's what you need to do to for prevention:
Warm Up and Cool Down: If you play an instrument, or you're in another sport, you could be tired of hearing this. Coaches and instructors are completely right when they tell you to warm up. It's the same thing with cubing. Don't just go straight into doing the sexy move as fast as you can. Warming up with solve or two slower than your maximum speed is probably good enough for a warm up. Doing excessive stretching is not great to do before cubing, because it can actually negatively affect your performance. Stretching after cubing is a great cool down though! The same thing goes for computer related activities.
Use a good cube: Beginners don't need beginner cubes. That doesn't mean they need the absolute best cubes for speedcubing, but if you struggle to turn a 3x3x3, you should probably get a different one. Yes, 4x4x4s and up can need breaking in, but you shouldn't speedsolve with them until you've broken them in.
Don't break in cubes all at once: If you're going to rush to break in a cube, then let other people mess with it too. Don't do it by yourself. Otherwise, just be patient. After 20 solves on an unlubricated, non-broken in v-cube 7, your wrists and hands could be hurting. This isn't a good thing. The "no pain, no gain" principle doesn't apply here.
Now, if you've already started to have pain, here's what you should do.
STOP: Stop cubing. Stop typing. Immediately. That won't help the pain, and it won't help your times.
PRICE:
P- Protection if necessary
R- Rest
I- Ice
C- Compression
E- Elevation
Go to the Doctor: If pain doesn't go down, or there is swelling, you should go to the doctor. The doctor might tell you to take anti-inflammatory drugs if there is acute inflammation. Probably nothing more than ibuprofen (Motrin or Advil?) will be needed. Getting a second opinion isn't always a bad thing either.
Seek Out Massage Therapy, Physiotherapy, or Other Therapies: Massage can work wonders for conditions like tendinitis, epicondylitis or bursitis. If you're really interested in the effects of massage therapy, you can ask me, or just look on google I'm not an expert yet, but I can directly ask my instructors. Physiotherapists can give specific exercises and stretches that can help prevent the RSI from happening again. You might think these therapies are too expensive. If that's the case, you should try to find a massage therapy school. They might offer massages for a lesser price than a registered massage therapist. My school offers 50 minute treatments for $25.
Some people might want to search for alternate medicine and acupuncture. These can work wonders for some people if you have a good doctor or acupuncturist.
Finally, I just thought I'd say that RSI's are not fun. I had acute tendinitis symptoms that were partly caused from cubing on a QJ 5x5. I wasn't able to do any cubing for a week, and couldn't massage at school. Even after I was done, my 3x3x3 times went up by 7 seconds, up to 21-22 seconds. Right now I'm finally getting back to my normal times
____
Okay, now lets look at posture. I would guess that at least 95% of people have poor posture at some point during the day. Sitting while cubing is pretty common, and it can cause a lot tension. I realize this probably isn't going to change. You could be slouching forward, and you could have your shoulders up. Why is this a problem? This overstretches some muscles in your back, it shortens muscles in your chest, and it tightens many muscles in the front and side of your neck and shoulders. This can cause headaches and conditions involving compression of blood vessels and nerves, such as Thoracic Outlet syndrome. Over a long period of time, this slouching posture can actually cause you to have a permanent hump back. The creation of the computer is something that contributes to people starting to get this hump at a younger age.
So if you find yourself sitting for a long time, and slouching, make sure you stretch! Stretch the muscles in your chest to prevent that muscular shortening, stretch the muscles in your neck to prevent headaches, and do this for every hour you sit. Also, make sure you get up and walk around every once in a while. You'll thank yourself later. If anybody in the forum finds this useful, but wants specific stretches, PM me. One more thing- Drink water. Water is good.
If you didn't go tl;dr, congrats. I hope this isn't useless to everybody. If it's not useful for cubing, apply it to other things you do, however, I hope it's useful for some people.
Edit: I've decided to add a second part related to posture. It's more like a mini-guide for stretching.
Guide to Stretching for Speedcubers
As I discussed earlier, speedcubing can have a major effect on your posture. You could easily slouch without noticing it, or have your head forward. One good way to prevent this from causing stress and pain in your body is to stretch. This guide doesn't have to be to be used exclusively for speedcubing. Anybody that works at a computer, types, or plays video games will have the same types of postural problems. So will students. Before I get into the specific stretches that would be beneficial, I'll just say a few things about what to do when you stretch.
Ease into it
If you stretch, and you go straight to your maximum stretch, you could actually cause your body to reflexively contract the muscles very quickly. Overall this shortens the muscles, making the stretch essentially useless. If a stretch takes 30 seconds, take 10-15 of those seconds easing into it.
Don't Bounce
This has a similar effect to the point above.
Hold the stretch for 30 seconds
It's not really effective otherwise. 'nuff said.
Stretch often
If you are going to sit for hours a day, get up every hour and stretch. You can do a different stretch each hour if you must. The user timeless actually just gave me an article on how it's bad to sit for a long time in general. http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/10_19/b4177071221162.htm I figure it deserves some attention. If you're already experiencing some postural issues, then stretching is even more important.
So here are the stretches speedcubers should do especially if they sit often.
Wrist stretches http://howtostretch.com/wriststretches.html
Pec/Chest stretches http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/ChestGeneral/Doorway.html
side neck stretch http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/TrapeziusUpper/Trap.html
front neck stretch http://www.recsports.ufl.edu/fitness/fitness-assessment-center/corrective-exercises/scm-stretch/
hip flexor stretches http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/flexibilityandstretching/qt/hip-flexor.htm
calf stretch http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_57gh5PY9g10/TT0TPkc1tkI/AAAAAAAABog/qgVfd6Pdjf4/s1600/calf-stretch.jpg
hamstring stretch http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3yWt9r0D0...F2eZI/s1600/Alternative hamstring stretch.jpg
I could add more, but this is good for basic stretches. You can also do a full body stretch (like what you'd do when you get out of bed). Hopefully this is enough for people that were interested.
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