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”

Fascia:what it looks like

Here are a couple of videos of what the fascial structures of the body look like. These are taken from a video by Dr. Jean Claude Guimberteau, a plastic and hand surgeon, of live tissue, that is a from a real live person not a cadaver, and really show the interconnected nature of the body.

 

It’s January and time to get to the gym but…..

I came across this on Dan Hubbards blog and it’s a very timely piece of advice given that many are heading to the gym on the back of a new years resolution to get fit. If you’ve not been to the gym for a while or are going for the first time remember and take your time before you try and push things. You need to take the time to learn/re-learn the movements you’re doing before you start working them hard inorder to reduce the chance of injuring yourself. In the post Dan highlights a real example of what happened to one of his clients, training elsewhere, when this didn’t happen.

Minimise the fuzz

I’ve mentioned before that receiving bodywork is really only part of the process of keeping you moving freely and combating the aches and pains we develop through our jobs and recreational activities. Good bodywork will leave you feeling lighter and with greater range of movement in the areas that were worked and those relating to them but often you feel that it only lasts a few days before you’re back to square one. Why is this? Continue reading “Minimise the fuzz”

Effects of myofascial release after high-intensity exercise-a randomized clinical trial

I read about thisone over at Boddicker Performance where Carson is talking about the paper regarding a trial of myofascial release vs ultra sound in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 31(3), 217-22. Whilst it was not a big sample it does give some indicators of the possible benefits to getting bodywork done after a hard training session.

One thing you don’t necessarily have to do to get the benefits the study alludes to is book an appointment afetr every training session. The results of the study do lend some credence to the anecdotal evidence of the benefits of using a foam roller after training, something I do myself, and used wisely they are a useful substitute for hands on work.

Runners should do some weight training

I’ve always felt there was a place for weight training in an endurance athlete’s program. Here Carson Boddicker  discusses some of the benefits for runners of including weight training within their schedule. Essentially if you’re stronger you can produce the same force with less effort so in other words you can go faster or further for the same relative effort. Another plus is in helping with injury prevention. If you’re stronger you’ll be more resiliant to the stress you expose yourself to.