I wanted to put together an article about the varied expectations people have regarding treatments, as it’s something that crops up almost daily. In general, peoples expectations tend to be that issues or injuries will be cleared up in one session. Unfortunately, this is totally unrealistic. Yes, sometimes when you have just overworked yourself a little and are simply aching or sore, one session will be enough to calm things down, especially if you get it sorted early on. For problems that are causing pain or restriction of movement, clearing these issues is going to take longer. How long is… read more →
Lots of clients, especially those with low back pain or those that run, ask why the Glutes are so prone to switching off or going weak. They are one of the first things I test with most clients. We call this Glute Amnesia or Lazy Ass Syndrome! So lets look at a few reasons this muscle group causes so many issues. The Gluteus muscle group comprise of the Maximus, the Medius and Minimus. They make up what we would call the buttocks, posterior and lateral pelvic muscles. I always regard this group as the most important group of muscles apart… read more →
Following up on the recent post about an example of a running injury, I like to describe the injury mechanics like this… Think of it as a Brain Thing. When everything is going well, your Brain sends electrical current to all the muscles around the body. When you over use a muscle for whatever reason it shuts down as a protection mechanism. Another muscle or group of muscles then take over in order to perform movements. Your body works in movement patterns not with individual muscles so your brain doesn’t really care what muscles do what, just how to get… read more →
Here’s an example of a compensatory injury. I’ll use a running example as I do see a (hell of a) lot of runners but don’t get bogged down with the sport, just the mechanics of injury. You are getting out for a run 2-3 times per week at a nice, steady pace. Maybe each run is between 4-7 miles and over the weeks and months, you feel fitter and training is getting so much easier. You then decide to inject some harder training into your regime. You make some of your runs longer. Then some of those runs are done… read more →
Going to continue this little series about the main 2 types of injury as knowing about these will make things much clearer for you. As I explain to the majority of clients, there are two main causes/types of injury. The first is a direct impact or trauma – you drop something on your foot, something or someone hits you as in a tackle during sport or being hit by a car. When this happens, you generally know that where you were impacted or where the trauma occured, is the problem. The secone cause/type is a compensation injury. This is generally… read more →
The longer you leave an injury or niggle, the longer it is likely to take to resolve. Most of us are likely to give an issue some time to resolve on it’s own with rest or maybe some stretching, cold or heat treatment and the like, but if an issue lingers for more than 4 or 5 days, it is most likely that you will develop some sort of compensation. Why? Think about it. You develop some discomfort in your calf and over a few days, it becomes worse. You start to limp a little in order to protect it… read more →
Had a bit of a break since writing the mini series a few weeks back, so thought I better get back into writing. Every now and then, I’ll write something about the treatment sessions I’ve been doing lately so if you’re struggling with something, maybe they’ll resonate with you. It’s becoming more regular to see people with breathing/core issues. If you follow my page on Facebook, you’ll already know this crops up often but I thought I would go into this in a little more detail. I would say that more recently, at least half the clients I see each… read more →