Strength training is integral to any well thought out program for an athlete be they a runner, cyclist, footballer or rugby player. The reason for it’s inclusion is usually performance related, as in looking for it to aid improved performance through the ability to generate more force etc. There are other benefits to getting stronger and in this paper from the BJSM website it’s role as an intervention in sports injuries was examined. Continue reading “Strength training reduces sports injury rates”
Hamstring tears
Injury to soft tissues/muscles account for something like 10-30% of all injuries in sport and hamstring tears are the most common of these. The hamstring acts as both a knee flexor and a hip extensor as well as contributing, to a lesser extent, to external rotation of both the hip and knee. Most common injury to the hamstrings, approximately 70% of all injuries, occur to the biceps femoris, the lateral of the 3 hamstrings, and usually during high speed running where the muscle is required to lengthen and contract at the same time to slow down the leg. The tear is normally in the long head of biceps femoris around the tendinous junction where the muscle is at it weakest. Continue reading “Hamstring tears”
When is the best time to get a sports massage?
I was asked last week by young hockey player. “How often should they get a sports massage?” and it’s a question that comes up regularly. The answer really depends on what it is you are looking for in terms of what you think you’ll get out of it. Continue reading “When is the best time to get a sports massage?”
Why do I still hurt months after the injury?
Why do I still hurt months after the initial injury or why do I keep hurting my back aren’t uncommon questions that I hear at work. There is no simple answer to these questions though I shall attempt a simplified version of what happens when we injure ourselves. Continue reading “Why do I still hurt months after the injury?”
Sports injury prevention: What can you do?
How can I stop myself getting injured is a question that every therapist gets asked regularly. It is unfortunately a bit like asking how long is a piece of string and the question should really be how can I reduce my chances of injuring myself.
Continue reading “Sports injury prevention: What can you do?”
How do biomechanics relate to injury?
There’s often a lot of fuss made about biomechanics and injury prevention and how they relate to one another. In the clinic this tends to appear in the misconception that the better my running technique is, or other appropriate activity, the less likely I am to get injured. Yet whilst this is true to some extent there’s less of a direct relationship than you might think between biomechanics and injury. If we are looking at how likely we are to get injured how well the movement is performed is less important than how much load is placed on the tissues involved when performing it. So how much you do has a much bigger impact on whether an injury might occur or not rather than the actual way you’re doing it. Continue reading “How do biomechanics relate to injury?”
Why are you using rehab exercises in your training?
I often find when clients develop nonspecific aches and pains they start, almost randomly, introducing low load rehab work into their program in an attempt to solve the problem. This is usually done after a quick google search which makes various reasonable suggestions as to what might be wrong and the exercises to do to help the problem. This though really doesn’t tackle the problem well, if at all, given it misses out looking at why the aches and pains developed to begin with.
Continue reading “Why are you using rehab exercises in your training?”
What can you do about sciatica?
When the sciatic nerve becomes irritated it can create pain, pins and needles or numbness down the back of the leg.
Nerves can be compressed, trapped or irritated in a number of ways at the point where it leaves the spine but there is quite a bit of space around the nerve at this point so the chances of it getting pinched here are low. If it does happen the most common of way is where a disc herniates and pushes against the nerve. Whilst this is the most common way for the nerve to become “trapped” it is still only likely to affect 1 in 10 of those suffering from back pain. Continue reading “What can you do about sciatica?”
Deadlift workshop at Crossfit BG
Last weekend I had the pleasure, again, of doing a workshop at Crossfit BG with Bob Clark and the crew. I had done a couple last year and they had been a lot of fun and this one was no exception. The workshop covered all things deadlifting and we looked at warm up ideas, breathing, deadlift technique and why we want to maintain a neutral or fixed spinal position.
Revisiting the spinal flexion debate: prepare for doubt by Greg Lehman
This is great piece by Gregory Lehman and though a long one well worth reading it all. He looks at the pros and cons of maintaining a neutral spine and allowing spinal flexion to occur. Needless to say the case isn’t clear cut and it depends on your goals, tasks you require to do amongst other factors.
http://www.greglehman.ca/2016/01/31/revisiting-the-spinal-flexion-debate-prepare-for-doubt/