I’ve been talking about the importance of good posture recently and figured discussing the tools that might be worth investing in in order to help maintain it. The maintenance of good posture comes down to having our skeletal structure correctly aligned. For this to happen our soft tissues must be balanced so that we aren’t getting any asymmetrical pulling from any one structure or number of different ones, think about the effects of sitting and how it affects the front and back of our bodies differently. Once we have balance in terms of the “pull” between opposing areas we need to have the strength to maintain this good position. So my list would include, though not be limited to: Continue reading “Maintenance tool kit”
Improving your posture Pt3
In this post we’ll be dealing with upper body issues as they relate to poor posture and as with the lower body there are again a couple of areas that can give us quick results., the thoracic spine and ribs and the big movers of the humerus the lat’s and pec’s. There are obviously other areas that need to be examined but these are a great starting point. Continue reading “Improving your posture Pt3”
Help the Heros: The long way down charity cycle
This week I have Lance Corporal Iain Moore and his fellow cyclists visiting the clinic to help them out on their charity cycle from John O’Groats to Lands End and then some as they decided that the 1200 or so km wasn’t enough and stuck in a few detours to take it up to 2000km. They are doing this for Help the Heros and The Royal British Legion charties which are the two biggest charities helping injured servicemen in the UK.
You can find their here if you would like to donate to their cause.
Improving your posture Pt2
In part one, we talked about the general idea of good or neutral posture, what may cause us to be unable to maintain this and what we can do to combat these issues. What we will look at this time is what is happening in the lower trunk and legs and what to do about it to help us maintain a more neutral posture. Continue reading “Improving your posture Pt2”
Improving your posture
We see a lot of talk about having good posture and what to do to achieve it but what is good posture? It’s probably easier to think of it as how you would stand if you didn’t sit at a desk for 8 hours a day or hadn’t picked up any injuries from playing your chosen sport. You’re spine has natural curves that get disrupted if you don’t pay attention to how you are sitting and the effects of long periods of doing so even with good posture and what happens to how you move when you get injured. Your hips, knees, ankles, shoulders are all affected by the sitting for long periods and obviously can all be injured playing sport. If your pelvis if not constantly pulled forward and down by overly tight tissues will sit relatively level, your shoulder girdle would sit comfortably back if it wasn’t being pulled forward by your tight pec’s etc (this is simplifying it but you get the point) . All the need for holding yourself in “good posture” would be gone because it would happen on it’s own and a what you may find difficult to do at the moment would be happening without any conscious thought on your part because the imbalances you are trying to counter wouldn’t be there. Continue reading “Improving your posture”
Injury proofing with better mobility
There are quite a few very good reasons for looking to maintain or improve your joint mobility one is having a good range of movement through all your joints will protect you from injury. Why so you may ask? Well, within reason, if you have joints that can operate through a full range of their normal un-injured or affected by years of neglect movement you can safely exert force through a much greater range of movement. This ability to exert force through a greater range of movement ultimately means you are less likely to injure yourself. The second is that that if you don’t use it you’ll lose it. Continue reading “Injury proofing with better mobility”
A week in exercise
I’ve said before that i think that one of the biggest contributing factors to the problems I see in many of my clients is a lack of strength, and I’m not talking about being a competitor in the World’s Strongest Man. If this is a lack of overall body strength rather than a specific area it is often combined a lack of general fitness and sometimes in both cases with poor ranges of movement in one or more joints. A lack of a reasonable degree of strength and general fitness makes it difficult to maintain good posture and carry out routine jobs, it will mean you tire more quickly and not just whilst doing physical tasks whilst poor range of movement in any joint will result in compensatory movement patterns that will then put strain on other areas. One of the primary goals of any athlete’s strength and conditioning program is injury prevention; a stronger, fitter athlete will be more injury resistant. This applies to everybody. One of the main reasons for getting fit is to make you more injury resistant and make routine tasks easier. I therefore thought it might be interesting to lay out what I do on a weekly basis. Continue reading “A week in exercise”
IT Band pain
IT band pain is a common complaint amongst runners and the causes of it often appear to be mysterious but are they really? The IT band runs down the side of the leg from the iliac crest to the lateral aspect of the tibial plateau on the tibial tubercle. It originates from the fibres of the Gluteal fascia, and the Tensor Fascia Lata and ending where it blends into the fascia of the lower leg around the peroneals and tibialis anterior. Continue reading “IT Band pain”
An interview with Willie Fourie @ the Fascia Resereach Congress 2007
This is a really interesting interview with Willie Fourie and his thoughts on the myofascial implications post surgery in someone suffering from breast cancer.
Continue reading “An interview with Willie Fourie @ the Fascia Resereach Congress 2007”