Rory Holliday Physiotherapy

Shin splints are always a tricky one to treat. I’ve seen a few cases recently caused by a popular dance craze which I won’t name but begins with the letter Z! Whether it is the multidirectional, high impact nature of the dance or the fact that some people do 6-7 classes a week, I’m not sure. A regular finding is that those darned glutes seem to be involved again. Typically a lack of hip rotation control causes a compensation whereby you start try to stabilise through the subtalar controlling muscles which reside in the shin and deep calf. Why the glutes (and deep hip rotators) get weak is varied. A element of over training with insufficient recovery is also common.
What do we do about that hip then? Watch this space and I’ll try and put something together on that!

I’m about to do a talk about injury prevention to a group of experienced and well read runners. My experience is that whenever I speak with the keen recreational athlete, they have already researched the topic or injury and tend to know more than you expect. With this in mind I resolved to update my knowledge with a trawl though the evidence base. As always this throws up a few surprises and myth busters that are worth relating.

• Static stretching pre-exercise reduces power output and could predispose to injury because of this.
• Warming up before exercise does improve sprint performance but does not have any evidence to support a reduction in injury prevalence.
• A high intensity and sport skill specific warm up does restore the reduction of power produced by static stretching however.

Of course, such evidence is derived from very specific sporting groups and is not directly transferable to all sports. New evidence is being published all the time so feel free to comment and update me on any developments you come across.

Update. Link to hamstring injury prevention http://blogs.bmj.com/injury-prevention/

Have a great day

Rory

I work closely with a local running club and I’m regularly treating minor and sometimes major calf strains. Although a lot of these can be put down to a lack of warm up or running beyond ones conditioning, occasionally I come across the type that have no real predisposition . On closer inspection a deficiency in gluteus maximus strength is found on the effected side. I guess propelling yourself forward without your glutes means something else has to up it’s game and this leads to failure. In the last case I had I used some kinesio tape to assist the early healing stages.

For those that don’t know, my work brings me into contact with lots of runners and lots of climbers. Some recreational, some competitive. These client groups are nothing if not obsessive about their sport’s, regardless of standard. This attribute is great for progressing one’s ability but can be an injury time bomb if not well managed.  If you are planning to increase your training for an event or if you are taking up that sport again that you haven’t had the time for recently, take your time. Build a REALISTIC plan that you can stick to and doesn’t take you beyond your ability.  If you want more info give me a call or leave a comment.  Happy training!

I have to say, if there is one common theme in treating upper limb injury and pain, is that the nerves, their mobility and the influence on surrounding structures (and visa versa) is totally underestimated.        So many of the ”tennis/golfers elbows” that I see are actually irritated nerve tissue close to the wrist extensor/flexor tendon insertions at the elbow. Solving these problems is usually quite easy. Simple movement exercises, a bit of local nerve and soft tissue release tends to get things moving in the right direction. We call these exercises ‘sliders’ and ‘tensioners’. Great exercises but you tend to look a bit of an odd ball doing them!