Dictated by Bob Chen, Written by Wang Di
 
Journey of the “Hui-Hang Ancient Path”
 
The “Hui-Hang Ancient Path” is the third famous ancient road after the “Silk Road” and the “Tea Horse Road.”   It is a mysterious and stimulating corridor with spectacular natural scenery.  The Hui-Hang Ancient Path now has become one the ten best tourist hiking trails in China. 
 
This year, the elite talent of the Ping An Life Insurance Company was ready to explore this mysterious ancient trail, and I was invited to Hangzhou as a guest of sports health and physical rehabilitation to conduct a health seminar, based on the experience of walking through the “Hui-Hang Ancient Path” to people who came from eight different provinces in Northern China. 
 
Outdoors Sports Fever Sweeping through China
 
In recent years, outdoors sports have quietly become popular in this vast land of China.  The strenuous life and work pressures have made people love this adventurous, stimulating, nature-embracing and self-challenging sport.  Sports life mountain marathon, hiking, rock climbing and biking have benefited people greatly both physically and mentally while they enjoy the magnificent and spectacular views of nature.  But the injuries that accompany these sports are occurring proportionally.
 
The talk, which was entitled “Training and Injury Prevention in the Preparation Period for Hiking” started directly with the idea that “Life lies in movement,” and continued on to that of “whether exercise means good health.”   We analyzed the trail features of the Hui-Hang Ancient Path, including uphill, downhill, stone road, sandy road, bush road and weight-bearing hiking techniques, everyone felt that preparation work wasn’t as simple as they had first thought.  It requires eight to ten weeks of endurance training, strength training and weight-bearing training to be able to participate in this kind of hiking exercise, which is not only physically demanding, but also requires technique. 
 
Are you sentenced to “death” yet?
 
During the seminar, because people had experienced many personal problems, the various questions raised about sports injuries were very typical.  The most common questions are related to knee injuries of mountain climbers and hikers, and among them, going downhill was probably the greatest “disaster area.”  About knee pain connected with going downhill, in most cases, people could not find a good method for relieving pain.  I introduced several methods.  For example, change from going straight to zigzagging when going downhill, which disperses the forces from the front to the side so that different muscles bear the force, which reduces direct strain on the knees. 
 
However, most people do not have the opportunity to obtain knowledge about physical rehabilitation in sports, or how to prevent and recover from the injuries, so they often end up not being able to continue doing sports, having been “sentenced to death” by those doctors who do not understand sports medicine.  Through some simple activation exercises that target  knee joints, we relieved many people’s discomfort and pain in their knees on the spot, and allowed everyone to see the surprising charm of physical rehabilitation.  We had those people, who did not think they could continue exercising, enjoy the pleasure of sports and once again see their hope and goal.  A hiker, who has been engaged with this exercise for years, said: “I am a victim of sports injury.  I have been troubled by sports injury recovery, and could not find a way out.  You are a godsend to people like me.”  
 

Road to enterprise for outdoor sports
 
Nowadays, a growing number of organizations, including companies, enterprises, and institutions organize various sports events, such as marathons, mountain marathons, hiking, Gobi adventure, rock climbing, cycling and so on.  So too with the Ping An Life activity, which is not only beneficial to the health of the employees, but also to the consolidation of corporate cohesion.  By reading through the feedback of the seminar, we feel that the spreading of physical rehabilitation has a long way to go.  Everyone in our studio will make the greatest effort to pass on the scientific methods and means to our citizens, so that everyone who loves sports can enjoy the outdoor sports.
 
Dr. Chen’s STaR Studio is currently working with Outdoor China magazine to start a Dr. Chen column for popularizing physical rehabilitation for outdoor sports.  At the same time, we provide physical rehabilitation protection services for companies, enterprises and institutions.  Feel free to contact us!

Outdoor China Website：http://www.aihuwai.net/