Running is a fantastic form of exercise, it helps to boost your cardiovascular fitness, improves your strength and maintain your weight.
There can be a worry that you’ll pick up injuries when you run, but if you plan your training carefully and have a balance between running and strength exercises you can progress well.
In recent years periods have become less of a taboo subject as media coverage has started to increase with top athletes talking about their periods and more research being done into the physical and mental effects on periods, hormones and exercise.
Having a bad back can be so debilitating. It can stop you getting a good night sleep and have the knock on effect of getting you down and irritated.
When it stops you doing your normal everything things you know it’s time to do something about it.
Shoulder pain can be a really big problem and very frustrating when it comes to exercise.
You might not realise it, but like many injuries when they happen you suddenly notice how much you use that area.
Do you ever suffer from lower back pain?
Your sacroiliac joint is a joint where your ilium and sacrum meet at the top of you pelvis and lower spine.
When dysfunction happens it is usually coupled with an element of pain in the lower back and hips.
Your feet are the start of the movement chain in your body. Any issues you are likely to have in your feet, especially your arches collapsing in (over pronating), will in turn lead to other problems elsewhere. For example knees dropping in (valgus position), or hip drops and rotations. If you link this to exercise it will give you problems when you squat.
The most frustrating and devastating day I had almost 15 years ago was being told I’d never play football again by a consultant.
I’d gone through the process of having an MRI done after having months of physio from my reoccurring back injury.
I thought I’d beaten the agonising pain in my back and legs, but as soon as I started playing and working again the same feelings cropped up again.
Being injured can often be a huge blow mentally and physically. Injuries can range immensely from strains to fractures and can have a huge range of affects from bruising, swelling, cuts and surgery.
This is why it is important to monitor your training appropriately to prevent long term injuries happening.
Now that races are starting to make a slow reappearance in the calendar, training is starting to feel like it has a purpose again, other than stress relief.
I’m going to go through what rotator cuff injuries are and how that can then lead to shoulder pain and shoulder problems.
You might think that shoulder work as a runner might be lower down on your priority. You might be thinking your legs need a bit more strength work putting into them, but your shoulders are just as important, particularly when it comes to obstacle races. It is a given that your shoulders and your upper body strength is going to be needed, particularly if you're thinking about pull-ups and monkey bars and any rig work that you might be doing, but link it back into your running form. You're going to be using the arm movement through your normal natural swing. So the positioning that you're going to be in is really important.
I'm going to go through what IT band syndrome is, you might know it as your iliotibial band, it can be shortened to IT band, ITB syndrome, ITBS. It’s a common over use injury that leads to a thickening of the connective tissue that runs from your hip to your knee. And as that thickens, that causes the tightness, tensions and inflammation within that area, which then leads to the pain in your knee. Your IT band helps to stabilize your knee joint, it stops that rotational movement happening. When it gets weakened, that's when it becomes painful.
We're going to look a little bit today about what is runner's knee. Commonly, this is when you're getting pain at the front of your knee when you're running.
Orthotics are inserts you put in your shoes and they’re designed to support your foot. They can change the way your foot performs, specifically looking at the degree of pronation. There are a variety of orthotics on the market ranging from custom made to the generic off the shelf type.
What is Runners Knee?
It can be your worst fear as a runner getting injured and not being able to train or race. Often getting knee, shin or foot pain you can it put to the back of your mind and hope that it’ll go away. But unfortunately that is never the case. In most circumstances if you ignore the problem it is only going to get worse.
Have you ever thought that you need to change your training and always put it off?
You either feel you haven’t got the time or you’re happy to keep going as you are?
I know the feeling, to keep going in the usual routine can feel comfortable and you know what is coming.
However sometimes something happens that forces you to have to make a change. Whether that’s the feeling of burning out with work or at home, or the little niggle that you’ve been putting off that you think will ‘go away’ on its own becomes a more persistent injury. This then forces you to re-evaluate what you need to do.
It has been a long process and many of you have been involved with the development of the studio, from the early ideas in a note book to the realisation during the summer that I could get my own premises in West Bridgford for a Personal Training Studio.
Now we've up up and running for over a month and the feedback I've had has been amazing.
This is a great question and one that loads of clients ask.
Its like the holy grail of training, everybody wants to know how long you can Plank for.
Lots of you know the my story of why I became a PT after seriously injuring my back and being told I would never play football again by a consultant.
Fortunately for me, my Physio at the time was amazing and helped me to see a silver lining to it all and we changed the way I trained and found different sports for me to do, gradually building up the strength in by back and whole body.
This is the approach I take with a lot of my clients.
As a runner it can be your worst nightmare about getting injured, especially if you have a race coming up or it's the only time to get to yourself away from day to day life, so in this blog we're going to chat about 'How to avoid injuries when you're running'.
Your greatest fear might be getting painful knees and pulling a muscle, this can happen as you start increasing your training and the distances that your running.
Its a question I often get asked when I say I'm a Sports Massage Therapist and it can sometimes be a factor which puts people off from having them if they perceive they are going to experience an element of pain.
With the weather finally getting nicer it's heading into busy race season. Clients are racing most weekends now, the weekend just gone saw Cheryl take on her first OCR of the year at Reaper. She's worked hard over the winter in our Blast Programme to make sure her shoulder has recovered and her injuries from last year are well and truly behind her.
The Effects of Sports Massage on Training and Recovery
12 people this weekend came to my SOLD OUT workshop, and left with exercises they could take into their training to get the fitter and stronger. Most of them had come of the back of being injured or were worried they were going to get injured as they increased their training over the next few months as they build up to the bigger distances.
Some of you may have heard about how I got into coaching, many think its because I love sport and competing, which yes that is a big reason.
What Are Shin Splints And How Can You Treat It?
Knee Pain From Running
Interestingly enough, most people who complain about knee injury caused by running are not runners themselves. They usually make it seem that knee injuries are inevitable for runners and that runners are literally running their knees to the ground with every step. However, knee injuries are not inevitable, though they are common and can be easily corrected. Knee pain should not cause you to automatically quit running.
How You Can Avoid Plantar Fasciitis
Plantar Fasciitis, also known as jogger's heel is a disorder that results in pain at the bottom of the foot and heel. It derives its names from the plantar fascia, which is the flat band of tissue (ligament) connecting your heel to your toes. When strained, this ligament becomes irritated, swollen and weak, resulting in sharp pain that is experienced in the onset of exercise, or movement after a prolonged rest period.
Here's How To Avoid Cramps When Running And Exercising
If you have seen a runner stop dead in their tracks, taken completely by surprise by a jolt of pain, chances are that the cause is a muscle cramp. A cramp occurs when a muscle suddenly contracts violently and remains balled up in a tight knot that is very painful. The contraction is so strong that you will most likely feel sore at that point the next day. It happens to runners, swimmers, and cyclists mostly and most endurance athletes have experienced a cramp at least once during training.
Do you get lower back pain when you exercise?
Lower back pain is a common condition among both professional athletes and amateurs. It has been said that about 80 percent of adults have experienced back pain at some point in their lives. Many of these injuries come from overtraining, poor posture, inadequate conditioning or a combination of these. Most back pains are quick to heal though persistent strain can lead to more long-term conditions.
Mobility Work: How Does It Help Performance?
If you are a runner, you have probably asked yourself what else you could possibly do to enhance your running. Also, if you are stuck in the house and you do not have access to a treadmill, you may be one very unhappy runner. Well, you should supplement running with strengthening and conditioning exercises. These have several benefits such as:
If you've caught my live videos over the last week on Facebook, many of you'll already know I had a frustrating week.