Tag Archives: Injury prevention

Sports & Remedial Massage Therapy

Cramp

By | |
Leave a comment

What is it? Excruciating. That’s what. Out running last week and my left calf decided to cramp. I knew I needed to stop…not much choice really…and stretch out the muscles. But why it was happening is another thing, which I’ll come to later. Back to the what. Well, it is an intensely painful sensation caused by a sudden onset of involuntary muscle contractions or severe muscle shortening. What essentially is happening is an acute muscle spasm. This forces the blood out of the muscle: this is bad, it means oxygen and nutrients aren’t getting to where they should be. Lack … Continue reading →

ITBs (Illotibial Band Syndrome)

By | |
Leave a comment

ITB syndrome is relatively common among the runners and triathletes that I have treated. It’s described variously as a sharp pain on the lateral (outside) edge of the kneecap, so painful that its like someone is poking a hot pin in there and twisting it around. It can also be felt further up the Band, toward the hip, but for this article, Im going to concentrate on the knee problem. The distal (bottom) part of the ITB, and potential painful spot. As you would expect, this tends to have an effect upon running style, generally a pronounced limp, followed swiftly … Continue reading →

Healing muscle strains – Treatment

By | |
Leave a comment

As mentioned in a post earlier this month (Processes involved in healing a muscle strain) what treatment aims to do initially in a muscle strain is to reduce pain, swelling, bleeding and secondary tissue damage by utilising PRICE (protection, rest, ice, compression and elevation). At the acute stage treatment is, as mentioned, to follow the PRICE protocol. You should immediately stop the activity which caused or aggravated the injury. Protect the area, limit movement either with bandages or splints and keep it away from danger. From the perspective of a massage therapist you may think that there is little that … Continue reading →

Pain

By | |
Leave a comment

We all experience pain, be it emotional or physical, at some point in our lives. Some people are lucky and only experience pain when they are injured, like when they twist an ankle running in the fells or cut themselves accidentally while chopping vegetables. Other people seem blighted with pain, going from illness to illness, often (and frustratingly) without a specific cause. But pain is pain, whatever the cause or reason for it. And the level of pain we feel is on a continuum, and it is difficult to be precise about this as ones own pain tolerance is unique. … Continue reading →

Shin Splints

By | |
Leave a comment

Having seen some interesting theories on Shin Splints and what to do about them in recent days, I thought I might write a little about them. There are actually 3 different conditions which are known as shin splints, so its quite useful to be able to differentiate between them. I’ll start scary and get less so as we go through. The first and most scary is stress fracture of the tibia (main weight bearing bone in the leg below the knee). If this happens, get it looked at asap. Stop running. Let it heal. There really isnt much that massage … Continue reading →

Breathing Pattern Disorders

By | |
Leave a comment

So in view of the fact today is National Asthma Awareness day in the UK, I thought I’d write a little on Breathing Pattern Disorders (BPD) and how they affect people and the human organism. There are a few misconceptions about oxygen, carbon dioxide and their relationship with the human body. When we breathe, we expel CO2, and breathe in O2. However, this does not necessarily mean that CO2 is poisonous to humans. No, we cannot live from breathing in CO2, but yes, we can have big issues from not having enough of it in our system. When a person … Continue reading →