Compliance: Physiotherapy

As a physiotherapist I see my job as getting people who are injured back to fitness, getting those who are in pain, back to normality, or as close as possible. The main way in which we do this is through physical interventions. Or, in more common place language – exercise. It is no secret that when we as humans learn to do something, practice makes perfect. If you tried to learn the 6 times table by doing it once, you probably wouldn’t remember it. Equally, if you try to throw a javelin once, you probably wouldn’t be as good at … Continue reading

Coping with Injury

Perhaps this is a good time to talk about injuries and coping with them, and maybe, how not to re-injure yourself through coming back too quickly. The reason for this is because I recently had my first DNF in a fell race, through an impact injury with a rock. A few days later, my knee was still pretty swollen, I couldn’t bend it so well… In fact I could barely walk up stairs. It was going to be a good couple of weeks, if not more, before I could actually get out to run, cycle, or even get on the rowing machine. … Continue reading

Strength training for running – a waste of time?

Strength training for running is a bit of a funny subject amongst runners. Some people say that the best training for running is running – which, to a point is true, but there are some processes which will help you run further, faster and more efficiently which you cannot improve just by pounding long miles. The main “reason” for not doing weight training (if we, for a moment , forget about downright laziness) is the somewhat long in the tooth “But I don’t want to put on muscle! – it will increase my weight, and that will make me slower” … Continue reading

Global Therapies – taking part in research

Last week we were both over in Salford University, taking part in a bit of research about barefoot running. There is a piece of research being done about whether traditional running training or barefoot training has more of an effect on running economy. I thought it sounded pretty interesting. I don’t really have much of an opinion either way, which is good as that is what the research is meant to find out. There is a lot of information and disinformation out there about barefoot running and how good, or not, it might be for runners, both in terms of … Continue reading

Sports Massage in Switzerland

The time had come for the Global Therapies team to take a break. Since starting out nearly three years ago we’ve taken a few short breaks, had the obvious break down at the Olympics last year, but not had a full battery recharge on a trip abroad. When our running club, Glossopdale Harriers, announced the 2013 annual trip was to the Swiss Alps we booked our flights and started planning. Extending the club trip by another week meant we had the opportunity to travel around the alps a little, visiting Bettmeralp, Kandersteg, and Grindelwald. Along with running shoes, sun cream … Continue reading

R is for Rest

We have written about rest before (read previous articles on Rest Days and Overtraining), so why write about it again? Well, to be frank, the lack of rest is still a major factor in many issues we deal with – some people just do not rest enough. Here’s a few thoughts for you to ponder on when you are wanting to squeeze in that extra training session: Yes, it’s a gym environment/running track/*insert your sports arena. Yes you come here to train, to put yourself through a gruelling regime and come out the other side a hardened, forged athlete. This isn’t the … Continue reading