DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I wonder if muscle-building is good for someone who plays baseball. Some tell me that it will make me muscle-bound and stiff. Is that so?

If muscle-building is good, what kind of program should I follow? – F.H.

ANSWER: Becoming muscle-bound from weightlifting is information that should have stayed in the Dark Ages. Lifting weights won’t make you so bulky or tight that you cannot swing a bat or throw a ball.

There is an important aspect of weightlifting for a particular sport, and it is called specificity. It is hard to transfer the gains that come from lifting weights to the kind of muscle actions used in a particular sport. To do so, a person has to imitate the motions that occur in that sport.

For baseball, swinging a weighted bat or throwing a weighted ball can help. Neither should be too much heavier than regulation bats and balls. In addition, holding dumbbells and imitating the exact movements of a bat swing or a ball throw will develop the muscles needed for those acts. The dumbbell weight should be kept light, especially when starting out. If the workout hurts the shoulders, elbows or wrists, stop it. Either the weight is too heavy or you are exercising too much.

Don’t abandon general weightlifting exercises. If you do, you’ll end up with muscle imbalances and an out-of-proportion body.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: While playing soccer with my son, I twisted my ankle and ended up with a sprain. I had X-rays taken, and there are no broken bones.

For the first two days I iced the ankle, but I don’t know if that helped very much. The ankle blew up to quite a large size.

I am now soaking it in warm water. My neighbor tells me I would be better off using contrast baths. I think I understand what they are, but I would appreciate your directions. – K.N.

ANSWER: You did yourself a world of good by icing the ankle for the first two days. I can guarantee you that it would have blown up more than it did if you hadn’t used the ice.

You are now at a point where heat is the appropriate treatment. Heat dilates blood vessels, and that causes more blood to flow to the injured site. Healing is speeded up, and fluid that causes swelling (edema) gets back into the circulation.

Some sports medicine trainers extol contrast baths over ordinary heat treatment. To employ contrast baths, you need two buckets large enough for you to submerge your foot and ankle. Fill one bucket with hot water at a temperature of about 110 F (44 C). Fill the other with water at a temperature of 55 F (13 C).

First put the injured ankle in the bucket of hot water for three minutes. Then put it into the bucket of cold water for one minute. Repeat the procedure five to 10 times in a row, two or three times a day, for as many days as the swelling and pain last.

Contrast baths are said to create a milking effect that aids in reducing the amount of edema more quickly than traditional treatment does. The hot water dilates blood vessels, and the cold water constricts them.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I need an exercise that makes my throwing arm stronger. Have you any ideas? – K.J.

ANSWER: Lie on the floor with your upper arms at a 90 degree angle to your body. The backsides of the upper arms stay in contact with the floor. The forearms are raised straight up in the air, with the elbows bent 90 degrees.

Holding on to dumbbells, slowly lower them backward and downward until they touch the floor. Then raise them back up. That motion is one repetition. Perform five to 10 repetitions in a row, take a rest and then repeat the exercise five to 10 more times. Use light weights. Exercise both arms to keep them in proportion.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My wife and I take a walk every evening. I can walk only two blocks before I must stop because of pain in my right calf. Could this be a touch of arthritis? I am 77. – R.C.

ANSWER: The more likely problem is a blockage of blood flow in your right leg arteries. That’s called peripheral vascular disease, a common condition at older ages. “Periphery” in this instance refers to the legs, and “vascular” to arteries. It also goes by the popular name of “artery hardening.”

Peripheral vascular disease is analogous to coronary artery disease – clogged heart arteries. In both conditions, a mound of gunky material clings to the walls of arteries and obstructs the flow of blood through those arteries. The gunk is an amalgam of cholesterol, fat, blood platelets and proteins. Clogs in heart arteries bring on the chest pain of angina. Clogs in leg arteries bring on the kind of pain you describe.

Walking demands that more blood flows to leg muscles. Due to the obstruction, more blood cannot reach the exercising leg muscles, and they let you know it by screaming out in pain. When a person with peripheral vascular disease rests, the pain goes away.

This is a symptom that has to be heeded – not only to take care of the leg artery problem, but to investigate if other arteries are similarly involved. The arteries of greatest interest are heart and brain arteries. A person with peripheral vascular disease is at high risk of a heart attack or a stroke.

A doctor can determine obstruction of leg arteries by comparing blood pressure at the ankle with blood pressure in the arms. If ankle blood pressure is much lower than arm blood pressure, there’s an obstruction in a leg artery.

Treatment consists of doing the same things a person with heart disease must do: lose weight, lower blood cholesterol, keep blood pressure normal, stop smoking and exercise with the doctor’s input.

and perhaps take a daily aspirin.

This is a large topic that is more completely discussed in the pamphlet on PVD. Readers can order a copy by writing to: Dr. Donohue — No. 109, Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Enclose a check or money order (no cash) for $4.50 U.S./$6.50 Can. with the recipient’s printed name and address. Please allow four weeks for delivery.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475.

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