Pregnancy: postural changes

It goes without saying that your body undergoes dramatic changes during pregnancy. One of those changes is your posture. But don’t go thinking it will happen overnight because it doesn’t, the changes are gradual and creep on you as you gain weight and your body adjusts to the various developments of pregnancy. Because of the weight you will gain your body experiences more aches and pains than it usually would. It’s a given, but what you do about it could help provide relief, I’ll return to that later. As your abdomen and breasts enlarge your centre of gravity changes and … Continue reading

Hope Wakes Fell Race

29 June 2011: Hope Wakes Fell Race – 7.30pm We are onsite for pre and post event massage at this popular fell race in the glorious Hope Valley. More information on the Hope Wakes Fell Race website at here. Here’s the route if you’re interested:

Pain under the foot? Plantar Fasciitis.

Ever got out of bed, put your foot on the ground and felt like you were standing on a pin? Then after ascertaining you AREN’T actually standing on a pin, trying it again, and having to go through an excrutiating few minutes as you wander around with this horrific shooting pain right underneath your heel? Welcome to the world of plantar fasciitis, or, policemans heel. I’ve been a victim of it, and have treated a good number of people for it, from footballers to people who haven’t been able to get fitted for ski boots because of the pain. What … Continue reading

May Queen fell race- Hayfield

Back over to Hayfield for the last of the May Queen trilogy – (some what spread out this year rather than being all over the same weekend), and back to the Scout hut for the actual May Queen run. I signed in and met up with a fair old gaggle of Glossopdale runners, good to see some friendly faces amongst the crowd. It was pretty damn parky out there, it has to be said, and I really wasn’t looking forward to standing around in a vest and shorts waiting for the start to happen. A lot of people were running … Continue reading

Cramp

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)

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