I injured myself in mid November last year. Nothing serious just a mild grade 1 tear in vastus lateralis, one of your quads, when doing some heavy squats. I took it easy for a couple of weeks and gradually worked back into things. I then tore it again in the first week in January! To say I was not happy would be an understatement.
Continue reading “Practising what you preach – graded exposure and progressive overload in rehab”
It’s that time of year when flushed with the desire to get back to it after a bit of a break over the festive period can result in you getting injured. Avoiding injuries is paramount to any kind of sustainable progress, even more so as we get older. Given that you are always likely to pick one up at some point it rather than fire back into things after the holidays it’s a far better idea to ease yourself back into things.
I did this myself November and wasted about 3 weeks of training, though thankfully no injury. I say thankfully as I was coming back from a slight quad tear. It took me 3 weeks to realise that I needed to adjust things down. The rest period I had just had was on the back of having peaked as well as the quad tear. As a result, I had the general deconditioning that occurs after a rest period plus there was the normal drop in performance from the peak itself.
New year resolutions can be great things to have or they can be bad based on, IMO, if you have put a bit of thought into them and made realistic choices or not. I’m going to run a sub 20 min 5k when your current best is 25 min is a big ask. Similarly, I’m going to add 50kg to my squat as just asking for trouble. Both of these goals are do-able depending on your experience but they are at the far end of what you can possibly expect to achieve and really on everything going to plan, and nothing ever goes completely to plan.
Continue reading “New Year Resolutions – the goal is to keep the goal”
The treatment for soft tissue and other injuries has come on leaps and bounds in the last few years. Yet for all this many, well-meaning, therapists of all persuasions still seem set on perpetuating some outright garbage. What are some of the biggest and best of them told on a daily basis to those seeking help for their injuries. Continue reading “Lies, damn lies and what your physio, chiropractor or massage therapist has told you”
Foam rolling went through a phase a few years ago where it seemed to be essential in any warm up. It has now fallen out of favour and isn’t seen as essential to a warm-up anymore. Foam rolling was never essential to any warm-up but I still think there can be a use for it.
I find it useful when used at home if feeling stiff/sore and it makes it easier to ease into larger ranges of movement. My preference is still not to do any foam rolling in a warm-up. This is based primarily because there often isn’t a foam roller about or there isn’t the room.
Continue reading “Foam Rolling – how to get the most out of it.”
Lower back pain is very common with around 70% of the population suffering from it at some point in their life. Whilst lower back pain is common it is rarely serious. That is your lower back pain is unlikely to be something you need to go to a hospital about. Having said this I know from experience it can be seriously sore.
Continue reading “Lower Back Pain – common but is it serious”
Running is supposed to be an enjoyable hobby, yet running causes many people discomfort or problems. Few runners won’t have had some sort of ankle injury. From ankle sprains to achilles tendinopathies there are quite a number of tissues you can injure around the ankle. Therefore we aim to make our rehab programs in such a way that you aren’t simply out of pain but truly fit to run again. It is the goal of rehab to ensure that you can engage in thoughtless, fearless movement. To make sure that everything you do enjoyable and pain-free. Continue reading “Ankle injury rehab – walking with intent”
Training equals rehab, rehab equals training is a phrase that was coined by the American physio Charlie Weingroff. For me, the phrase means that rehab and training do not stand separately from one another. They are a continuum that blends seamlessly together. Parts of the rehab process sit at one end of the spectrum and parts of standard training are at the other the rest sits in the middle being neither one nor the other. Properly progressed rehab should resemble basic strength training and properly performed strength training has an injury preventative aspect. Continue reading “Training equals Rehab”
Are you missing ankle mobility? Having sufficient range of movement in your ankle is important. If you want to run fast or jump high having good ankle range of movement in dorsiflexion is essential.
This is not just in the sporting environment but simply to walk well we need good ankle mobility. The movement that important is the ability to pull your toes towards you. A lack of dorsiflexion is linked with increased injury risk with achilles tendinopathy and patella tendinopathy having been shown to be impacted by a lack of ankle mobility in dorsiflexion. Continue reading “Ankle mobility, are you missing some?”
Stress and injury are related and today’s blog is about why. Stress is part of life, it is something that is impossible to avoid. How we deal with stress is the same regardless of the type. The body reacts to both physical or psychological stressors in exactly the same way. By pushing our nervous system towards a sympathetic state or, more simply, a flight or fight response. In the sympathetic state, we are ready for action, to run away from the lion if you will. The opposite of this is the parasympathetic state where we recover from the time spent in the sympathetic state.
