Posted in Injury Prevention, News, Performance Enhancement.
How Previnex Helped Me Heal Faster
Tammy Chen, a prosthodontist at Central Park Dental Aesthetics, was in the midst of training for Ironman Lake Placid when she was diagnosed with a severe grade three fracture in her tibia this spring. Tammy shares her story of how the Previnex recovery program has helped her heal faster than expected.
I’ve been an athlete my whole life. Over the years, I’ve taken a lot of different supplements—usually because my coach told me to—despite always thinking it wasn’t doing much. Previnex was the first supplement that I really felt the difference: in my sleep patterns, in my recovery time and in the amount of soreness after intense workouts, and even in my digestion.
I especially noticed the difference in how I felt when I forgot my supplements on a weekend trip home to California. I felt more fatigued and was sore for 3 days after a relatively easy run. That experience made me a believer, and I haven’t forgotten them since!
Throughout 2014, I’ve been training for Ironman Lake Placid. I was putting in about 20-25 hours a week of training – biking five or more times a week (four week days plus two long weekend rides), swimming three times a week and three runs a week (one strength/hills, one tempo, one distance). It felt worth it to put in so many hours of training—and waking up between 4-5:15 a.m. on a daily basis—if it meant returning to Lake Placid after a healthy season.
That was all before I was diagnosed with a severe grade three fracture in my tibia this spring. All of a sudden, it felt like the hours of training (and all those early mornings) were a waste. You can imagine the frustration!
In reality, there wasn’t much I could do to avoid this fracture. My doctor traced it back to when I tore my achilles tendon at age 10. It healed then but with scar tissue that diminished the flexibility and strength in my leg/ankle. Of course, I had no idea! I spent most of my childhood pursuing water sports, so when I started running later in life, the scar tissue prevented my ankle bones from absorbing the shock properly. It also caused the soleus muscle to pull on my tibia in an incorrect fashion, which ultimately caused the stress fracture.
I was taking Previnex supplements prior to the fracture, but the way in which I feel like they’ve helped me recover after has been significant. I had to stop biking and running after the diagnosis to give the fracture time to heal – but after just three weeks on the Previnex recovery program, I was healing faster than expected and able to start training again. My doctor was shocked at how quickly I’ve been able to recover and return to activity, considering how bad the fracture was. He was so impressed that he started taking the multivitamin and joint supplement himself!
I’m a huge believer that all four Previnex supplements help my body stay healthy and strong. The multivitamin helps me feel strong, energetic and heal faster. Between training for an Ironman, playing water polo, running my own dental practice and trying to maintain a normal social life, I feel pretty tired. However, everybody who knows me says that I have more energy (they don’t know how I get it all done!), and I haven’t been sick all season (despite not having enough time to sleep and recover!). I’m able to get more restorative sleep in the few hours I get, and I toss and turn less.
My muscles recover faster, especially after a grueling workout. I feel less soreness after intense workouts, which is great because I can then turn around and train harder the next day while a lot of my teammates are on recovery days. The joint supplement helps me a lot with my shoulder. I’ve had three tears in my right shoulder from past water polo injuries, and I used to feel stiffness in my joint when playing polo and swimming. Now my shoulder is 100% pain free, and my swim is stronger and my shot is harder!
I strongly believe that Previnex has had a huge impact in helping me return to activity, and I’m even more confident that my leg will be stronger than before.
