Osteoarthritis – The End Of The Road?

It is not unusual to see people who have been informed that they have changes in a joint related to osteoarthritis. Two cases I have come across recently were handled completely differently.

The first was informed that, yes there were signs of osteoarthritis but don’t worry you don’t need to stop running. The second was similarly told that there were signs of arthritis but that was about it. No other advice was given or suggestions made.

Not surprisingly their point of view about the pain they were suffering was a bit different Continue reading “Osteoarthritis – The End Of The Road?”

How to beat DOMS

DOMS – what is it?

DOMS or delayed onset muscle soreness is something that everyone has experienced regardless of training history. You don’t even have to have trained to experience it. You have just decorated the bedroom and you have sore shoulders, that soreness is DOMS. Often thought of as a sign of a good training session, nothing could be further from the truth.

In tech speak the pain is caused by an increase in the acute loading that is sufficiently above your chronic loading level that you aren’t ready for. You react to this in an adverse manner that is painful.  The unwanted pain of DOMS is a secondary reason why you should build up the volume and intensity over a period of weeks. The primary reason for the gradual build-up is to reduce the risk of injury. DOMS is painful but it isn’t an injury. A good rule of thumb is to use increases of no greater than 10% per week. Continue reading “How to beat DOMS”

The best recovery tool in the world.

All the posts and emails that I write are about trying to maintain a healthy, well functioning body, why it’s important to look after your body, and what to do when you’re sick of putting up with back pain, knee pain, shoulder pain, etc, etc… So you can do all the things you love…

When it comes to your health, there is one, very simple thing that you can do that will lead to the mythical instant results – and that is get more sleep. Continue reading “The best recovery tool in the world.”

When have I injured myself and when is it the brain being careful?

What aspect of pain comes from actual tissue damage and what comes from my brain being careful?

This was a question from one of our Facebook followers. It’s a pretty big topic to say the least. What we experience as pain is an output from our brain in relation to the input it receives from the tissues of the body and our experiences such as previous injury to ourselves or others we know, what we read about it or see on TV, what else is happening in our lives at the time. Interestingly the  International Association for the Study of Pain describes pain itself as an experience. Continue reading “When have I injured myself and when is it the brain being careful?”