another journey....

I have always loved walking, especially hiking for day after day. I find that all my worries melt away with every mile, and whatever was dominating my thoughts and sapping my energy becomes insignificant, replaced by the simple rhythm of placing one foot in front of the other repeatedly, hour after hour. A diary entry from 1996 records how reassuring I find walking; a movement that I feel I can repeat endlessly.

Fast forward twelve years and I am struggling to walk more than ten miles before hip pain sets in. This is succeeded by a struggle with sciatica, then achilles tendinopathy. By 2014 I was still walking regularly but now keeping to a maximum of eight to ten miles, and I'd decided to take a year off running altogether. Then in January 2015 I took a high step up whilst walking in the snow along Birchen Edge and I felt a tremendous pain in my calf that twanged all the way up my hamstring. 'Rupture!' was my first thought, but cautious tests after a few moments reassured me that I still had full if painful range of movement so I sat with snow packed around my calf for 20 minutes. As I limped back to the car, I could feel improvement; 'ah, this will be right in no time!' I said to my partner Adam, and proceeded to follow protocol. 

A week later, I was walking normally but something didn't feel right; there was no sense of spring in the affected leg and I sensed that trying to run would be a bad idea. Of course I forgot this when I saw an opportunity to nip across the road; I pushed off hard with my leg, and instantly the same pain kicked up my calf and hamstring, only this time it did not abate. I was only a five minute walk from home but it took me twenty minutes and I was in tears by the time I got there. A week later I was exhausted by the physical effort of getting around when my leg was not able to function efficiently. I could feel the strain through my whole body. Three weeks later there was barely any improvement and I was at a local physiotherapy practice. 'You've overstretched the nerve, of course it hurt!' was the diagnosis, and some therapy to my back provided rapid relief; within a few days I was walking normally again. Even more useful was the postural assessment.

Eight years ago I hurt my knee and had to walk with a stick for a while. I was very busy at the time and after one trip to the physio to have it checked out, I never went back for any rehabilitation. Unbeknown to me crucial postural muscles became deactivated and I developed new, compensatory movement patterns on top of my existing thoracic stiffness that began to cause problems as I tried to walk longer distances.

This time in 2015 I decided to visit the physio regularly, where each time I was assessed and given exercises to do at home to remind my neuromuscular system of how it is supposed to be working! I began to feel the benefit, and after a few weeks went for a 5km run. I could really feel how my muscles were engaging differently, especially the gluteals; all felt strong and positive. Then I strained my back by lifting a heavy weight incorrectly. The next run, I could feel how the movement between legs, back, shoulders and arms was blocked; the gluteus maximus didn't seem to be firing, and very quickly I felt the old sciatic pain in my right hamstring and an ache in the Achilles tendon. I abandoned the run and headed back to the physio....

It's all been a learning experience. I have learnt a great deal about how the body works, and also just how exhausting it is when part of it doesn't; what an impact a problem in one part of your body can have on the rest as it seeks to compensate and complete a movement that is no longer efficient, if indeed possible at all. All so different to just reading about it in text books!

Holiday time!

I will be away from work from the 25th May to 2nd June 2015. I am looking forward to getting some running done after many months of injury (which I am going to write its own blog post about as I have learnt a great deal from my own misfortunes!) I will also be settling down to ready my new book, 'Stability, sport and performance movement; practical biomechanics and systematic training for movement efficacy and injury prevention' by Joanne Elphinston.

A new year and a special offer to welcome 2015 in!

To welcome in 2015 I am taking the price of a one hour massage treatment back to £30 for the whole of January; just remember to say 'Jan1515' when you come to pay to get your discount.

Wishing you all a happy, healthy and successful year to come!

A Journey Through Elite Sport

I recently attended an inspiring conference celebrating 25 years of the Institute of Sport and Remedial Massage. One of the speakers was Neil Black, Performance Director for UK Athletics. I was extremely impressed by the points he made during his talk entitled 'A journey through Elite Sport: Athlete, Physical Therapist, and now Performance Director for UK Athletics'. I have been telling my clients about it and most have been very interested so I thought I would put up a brief summary of his main points on my blog.

He was emphatic that high quality training and the right mental approach is fundamental to success, far more important than the physique you inherit. He is also in favour of children doing a wide range of sports and avoiding specialising too early as he thinks this can inhibit their success. He also made the point that it is never too late to achieve goals in sport; it just gets harder!

Internal drives:
These are in his opinion vital for success.

• an inner voice
• personal high standards
• internal motivation
• self respect

Domino effect:

'Stacking your dominoes' to ensure that you achieve your goal: the power of cumulative effect.

• decisiveness, focus, and not wasting energy on the unimportant.
• multi-tasking limits achievement so be very selective when using it!
• Discipline: build up powerful habits one at a time, giving each habit enough time to become established into your routine. This will release energy for the next goal.
• Don't spread your willpower too thin.
• Monitor your fuel gauge.
• Time your task.

Professionalism:

• respect but explore conventions; don't be inhibited by them.
• soak up the 10% of knowledge everyone can offer you.
• be clear: clarify your position and abide by it - for instance, whether you are leading or following in a situation.
• Prioritise and delegate: teamwork requires integration and communication as well as respect.
• Consistency, commitment, improvement and training.
• In order to facilitate change, gather the specific information required; develop your own tools to do this if needed to make more accurate.
• Have a plan!

Hope you find this summary of interest. Neil is an excellent speaker and accompanied the above with entertaining and relevant examples which I won't try to repeat.

ISRM conference

This Friday (7/11/14) I will be heading down to London to attend a conference. This means I will not be available for appointments, but I will be back at work by the Monday afternoon.

I'm very much looking forward to the conference; Mel Cash and co have organised some fantastic speakers and I will be attending these workshops:

• anatomy trains and movement assessment
• active fascial release
• clinical application of movement control.

I'm sure that I will return energised and inspired, having acquired new knowledge, understanding and skills!

Nine Edges

I hope everyone running or walking the Nine Edges today has a fantastic event! I decided to pull out on Thursday due to a minor injury, but I'll be supporting my brother as he runs the edges for the first time.

Useful advice for runners (and others) nursing injuries....

I rarely follow my own advice; this means that I often have first hand experience of what my injured clients are going through.... I've had achilles tendinopathy through changing my training too rapidly and then ignoring the warning signs (pain that continues after rest and on activities other than running); sciatica through failing to keep up my hip abductor and calf strength, and I'm currently nursing forefoot pain caused by failing to notice that my footwear had worn out. A lovely mix of extrinsic and intrinsic factors! Extrinsic factors - for instance when and where you run, your footwear, your training schedule - are often easier to fix than intrinsic ones that relate to your body itself; this is where seeing a health professional, remedial personal trainer or running coach can be of great help in identifying issues and offering advice and exercises. 

When I was 10 my mother took me to a podiatrist to discuss my pronounced ankle pronation that was breaking my shoes within a few months of wear. He recommended expensive shoe alterations to support my ankle; I asked if I could do that myself using the muscles and he agreed that I probably could. I figured out some exercises for myself and 32 years later I now wear out the soles of my shoes long before the heel keels over. Of course I had to take care in the initial years whilst building up my ankle strength, giving it suitable support during activities that put a lot of strain through it, and I was helped by starting young and having strong intrinsic foot muscles from wandering around barefoot. I do still have that over pronation, just in a milder form; I should therefore still be stretching the resulting tight muscles and continuing with my strength and balance training regime. Yes, indeed I should.....

As I've mentioned before, I find The Running Physio's site full of useful advice. He links to other helpful sites, and includes articles by other specialists. Here are two useful articles from his archive:

How to decide whether you should run:
http://www.running-physio.com/runornot/

Helpful tips to avoid injury:
http://www.running-physio.com/trainerror/

Many of these tips will apply to sports other than running!
Tom also points out that these are generic tips; if your problem continues, then do seek specific advice for you. 

I also found this site:
http://thewalledcitymarathon.com/injury-clinic/prevention-of-running-injuries
which has some useful information on running related injuries.