Wellness Feature

OPTIMIZE YOUR LIFE –OPTIMIZE YOUR GAME

Marc Feldman, M.D.

Polo attracts a certain type of person: they love horses, they love adrenaline, and they love the challenge of a game that fuses the physical with the mental. Some Houston Polo Club players come to polo as young people—and many are introduced to the sport later in their lives, in their 40s and 50s. You can often spot family teams on our fields with two— or even three—generations of players. It is a game you can play for a lifetime—if you take care of yourself.

Lizabeth Riley, M.D.

Like any physical activity—whether you are a runner, cyclist, or a recreational football player—polo requires a holistic approach to physical and mental fitness that considers preventive wellness in order to prepare for, play, and recover from a game (or even a practice). We spoke to Dr. Marc Feldman and Dr. Lizabeth Riley of Baylor Medicine Stratos Integrated Health about how a holistic approach to physical and mental wellness can support not only your game, but everything you do off the field.

In addition to offering individual attention and planning with a primary care physician, Baylor Stratos has a dedicated wellness team designed to maintain and improve the health of their patients. “The wellness coaches work in nutrition, physiology, and behavior therapy. All have a set number of visits that come with the concierge service,” explains Dr. Riley. “They will give you a plan, you work on it, and then you come back for re-evaluation. For example, if you are working with our Exercise Physiologist, Joel Patlan, he will give you a plan that you can take to your trainer to implement.”

But integrating wellness goals like improving your diet and sticking to a workout regimen involves more than just information—it involves developing your current mindset and adapting your habits to align them with your goals on the field. That is where work with a behavioral therapist can help.

“A behavioral therapist will look at habits that are taking you down a path that is counter to your goals,” explains Dr. Riley. “They could be nutrition or poor sleep patterns. This is someone who works on how to modify those habits that will lead to improving your overall health.”

“It is difficult to separate someone’s health needs into physical and behavioral,” adds Dr. Feldman. “Think about someone with high blood pressure. There is more to managing that than just: ‘Take this pill, and we’ll check it in a week.’ Are you eating properly? Are you exercising regularly? How is your stress managed? More often than not, by addressing all of those issues, it’s amazing how blood pressure—or sugar and cholesterol levels—improve and even normalize.”

Polo is an incredible workout for your mind, body, and spirit. Everything you do off the field has a direct correlation to your performance on the field—and your ability to recover and get back out there. “Athletes are very health-conscious,” says Dr. Feldman. “Our role as physicians is to keep them out of harm’s way. We look at the big picture and consider: How can we maintain or improve your quality of life? How can we help you stay at the top of your game?”

INTEGRATING MIND, BODY, AND SPIRIT

Baylor Medicine Stratos Integrated Health’s wellness team offers strategies to optimize your performance—on and off the field.

Nutrition

Registered Dietitian for Baylor Stratos, Emily Monfiletto

It is essential to make sure that you are eating a balanced diet and staying hydrated well before a match.

• Diet: Make sure to include a balanced pre-match meal focusing on quality sources of carbohydrates such as fruits, whole grains, dairy, starchy vegetables for energy, as well as a lean source of protein to help with the repair of muscles after the match.

• Hydration: This is just as important as eating a balanced meal. Make sure you are adequately hydrated by monitoring your urine (clear to pale yellow is ideal) and increasing fluids as needed in order to achieve this. Continue to stay hydrated during a match by replacing fluid lost with water or even an electrolyte beverage, especially in hot/humid conditions. Lastly, for recovery, consider weighing yourself before and after a match. For every pound lost, replace it with 20 oz of fluid.

• Recovery nutrition: Focus on replacing fuel that was used during the competition. Try consuming a snack like a fruit and yogurt smoothie, low-fat chocolate milk, greek yogurt with fruit or meal such as grilled chicken, small baked potato and roasted broccoli within 1 hour of completing the competition, with a focus on carbohydrates (to replace energy stores) and protein (to aid in the repair of muscle tissue damage).

Physical Fitness

Clinical Exercise Physiologist for Baylor Stratos, Joel Patlan

Due to polo’s unique nature, the sport requires the coordination of motor skills and core strength, with special attention given to sufficient recovery efforts.

• Whole-body focus: Polo requires deep core, spine and hip strength, coupled with mobility in the upper body. This can be accomplished by tailoring whole-body strength and conditioning exercises specific to improving mobility and core and lower body strength.

• Limit overuse: Understanding the physical mechanics most utilized in polo can help players determine appropriate exercises to do in order to limit overuse along certain joint segments. This minimizes the risk of long-term injury via the wrist, lower back, and shoulders.

Psychological Well-Being

Licensed Clinical Psychologist for Baylor Stratos, Brittany O’Brien, Ph.D.

Psychological well-being and adequate, restful sleep are critical for optimal athletic performance. Yet, a high proportion of athletes report mental health difficulties, including anxiety and depression, as well as difficulties with sleep. Depression and anxiety are treatable conditions, and it is important to remember that seeking help for these issues is a sign of strength, not weakness. To promote and maintain quality sleep, follow these tips:

• Consistency is key. Choose a bedtime and waketime that allows for adequate sleep. Stick to these times as much as possible, even on weekends or on days when you may need to stay up later or could sleep in. If you have a bad night’s sleep, don’t compensate by taking a nap the next day, moving up your bedtime, or sleeping in.

• Create a relaxing bedtime routine. Plan out activities you want and need to do before bed, and consider adding some relaxing activities to the routine to help you unwind. This might include a bath or shower, aromatherapy, a mindfulness exercise, listening to music, or some light, pleasurable reading. Screen time (including watching TV, checking emails, playing games on one’s phone, or scrolling on social media) is discouraged.

• The bed is for sleep only! Do not do work in bed, watch TV in bed, respond to emails and texts in bed. Also, if you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back asleep, do not stay in bed tossing, turning, and thus not sleeping. Get out of bed and go to a chair or a different room, and read a magazine or book until you feel sleepy. Then return to bed.

Do this as many times as necessary throughout the night.

• Worry later. If falling asleep, or returning to sleep, is difficult because you find yourself worried about something, gently tell yourself it’s ok to be worried. Write down what you are worried about on a piece of paper you keep next to your bed and tell yourself you can and will worry about it later and during the day when you are better positioned to work on solving the problem you are worried about.

Make sure to return to that piece of paper the next day and work on the problem. And, if you can’t control the worry, consult a mental health professional.

BTA FAMILY WORKOUT

The Beal family comes from quite a polo pedigree: the BTA family polo team has been playing for 60 years! Carlton Beal was a Hall of Fame 6-goal player who served as a governor of the USPA, the Polo Training Foundation, and the Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame. Carlton won several titles in his career, including the U.S. Open Championship (1952) and the Inter-Circuit Cup (1956). The BTA family polo team is headed by Kelly and Chrys, with daughter KC and long-time pro and son-in-law Steve Krueger. Steve has been playing professionally in the United States since a storied run for Texas A&M brought three national titles and a PTF Player of the Year award. BTA has found a home at Houston Polo Club for the past 10 years, where KC is an integral part of the Houston Polo Club team as Polo Manager, organizing over 20 teams each season for games and tournaments at the club and at its 18 affiliate fields.

The family plays together—and they have set up a simple home gym to work out together too! Kelly, Chrys, KC, and Steve show us some fundamentals that keep their bodies strong and mobile for the field.

SHOULDER MOBILITY

STRETCH The main benefit of this particular stretch is shoulder mobility. We use and abuse our shoulders, and this stretch helps keep the shoulder muscles from “freezing.” The better range of motion that comes as a result carries over to a better polo swing. The twist and balance involved with the stretch also transfer over to the polo field, as a player must have the balance to ride the horse and twist to look over their shoulder during the game. THORACIC MOBILITY STRETCH This stretch keeps the lumbar spine and the shoulders working properly together. This particular stretch requires you to have stability in your hips while your upper body is rotating. On the polo field, a player needs balance in the lower half of the body while the upper half must rotate to swing and hit the ball.

BODYWEIGHT ROWS This exercise

strengthens biceps, core and back muscles. It helps with the player’s stability on the horse and conditions the muscles needed when swinging the mallet and stopping the horse.

PLANK WITH OPPOSITE ARM AND LEG CRUNCH I like the balance pose best at the end of a workout. It helps focus on balance when you’re tired, which can translate to a polo match when you need to control your breathing and heart rate to focus on penalty shots. The core gets stronger and stabilizes your balance, helping your riding and ability to be more comfortable on your horse.

MEDICINE BALL SLAMS This exercise

strengthens the core and adds cardio to the workout. It helps prep a player for polo season. Even though nothing can get you fit for polo, doing cardio before starting a season can help. I usually do 10–12 reps in a row. SKATERS The twist with one leg behind the other and the added weight helps with balance and builds strength in the arms, glutes, and back. Jumping from side to side while rowing helps with cardio also!