City Osteopathy

7 Hidden Causes of Plantar Fasciitis

February 22, 2016

Runners and non runners alike will likely have heard of this condition. Plantar fasciitis (PF) is a common affliction in runners between 35-55 years of age.

It presents as pain or burning in the foot and heel, and can be especially bad for those first few steps in the morning. It can be very limiting to the training program of beginner and experienced runners.

Most people are aware of the fact that the structure of the foot can cause foot pain and many have gait (manner of walking) analysis, foot assessment and orthotics made, but what about other causes that come from above the foot, higher up the chain?

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Post Marathon Recovery

January 18, 2016

640px-Hong_Kong_Marathon_2011_at_Lockhart_Road

Hong Kong Marathon 2011 at Lockhart Road by Ceeseven – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

If you too have been running the marathon on Sunday, this week is the crucial time to pay some attention to your body and work on those aching joints and muscles to assist a speedy recovery.

Do some gentle walking (or hobbling)
This may feel counterintuitive but it is important to keep the sore muscles warm and moving. It will help drive out the lactic acid build up and help with the overall recovery quicker. Try walking at least 15-20 minutes daily. Compression tights can also help.

Stretch
Hopefully, this should come naturally to many of you by now. A good gentle stretch will ensure the muscles lengthen from a prolonged state of contracture from the marathon. This may improve the microcirculation and allow the muscle fibres to repair at their optimum. And your joints can always do with a little more flexibility and room to breathe.

Massage
Who can say no? This should not need much introduction. Bring out the rollers.

Reconsider Glucosamine

December 19, 2015

knee-pain

Does your daily routine including taking a glucosamine supplement?

Recent studies suggest you might be wasting your money.

Glucosamine is an amino monosaccharide (sugar) made within the body and found in numerous tissues including the kidneys, liver and cartilage. It is a common diet supplement, widely used for osteoarthritis, joint pain and soft tissue injuries due to the belief it promotes cartilage repair. However, there are no reputable studies that explain how glucosamine works in the body. While advocates of glucosamine report a reduction in pain and swelling, quicker soft-tissue healing and prophylactic protection against damage to cartilage, we do not know exactly how glucosamine works these wonders.

In fact, recent studies are finding the popular supplement may in reality have no effect at all.

For example, a 2005 Canadian study found that when patients, who were taking glucosamine for knee osteoarthritis and reporting at least moderate relief of pain, had no difference in outcome when they were switched to a placebo.

Studies out of Belgium suggest that although glucosamine is easily absorbed by the body, recommended treatment doses (for example, 1,500 mg/day) barely reach the required therapeutic concentration in plasma and tissue.

The authoratative NICE – National Institute for Health and Care Excellence who provides guidelines for the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK has also taken glucosamine off the list of recommendations for the management of Osteoarthritis.

Another supplement which may be more beneficial, better researched and proven is fish oil, which has a natural anti-inflammatory effect.

Your money may be better spent on this instead.

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References:
Henrotin et al (2012). Is there any scientific evidence for the use of glucosamine in the management of human osteoarthritis? Arthritis Research & Therapy 2012, 14:201. http://arthritis-research.com/content/14/1/201

Juni et al (2010). Effects of glucosamine, chondroitin, or placebo in patients with osteoarthritis of hip or knee: network meta-analysis. BMJ 2010;341:c4675

Acute injury and Treatment from Massage Therapy

December 7, 2015

Injured yourself and can not get in to see your osteopath or phyiotherapist? Being assessed and treated by a qualified therapeutic massage therapist, when the injury is acute can aid in the healing and recovery.

RCEM Learning (Creative Commons license)

An acute injury (24-72 hours after the traumatic event), as a result of an impact or trauma such as a fall, strain, sprain or collision, can cause sudden and sharp pain.

Signs and Symptoms of an acute injury are:

Pain

Tenderness

Redness

Skin that is warm to the touch

Swelling

Inflammation

During the acute stage of an injury, swelling is the body’s natural response to inflammation and injury. As a result, the blood vessels at the injury site become overwhelmed and leak into surrounding tissues.

The lymphatic system is the body’s natural edema(swelling) removal system.

A qualified therapeutic massage therapist can assess and address the acute injury, as well as advise whether further medical attention is needed. By utilizing lymphatic drainage massage swelling can be kept to a minimum. This will help to lessen the pain felt during the injury. Reducing the swelling, will also decrease the chances of bruising, and scar tissue will have a less of a chance to form. The healing time for an acute injury can also be shortened.

Once the injury moves past the acute stage (greater than 72 hours after the traumatic event and absence of swelling and inflammation), a therapeutic massage can assist in restoring range of motion and function to the affected area, reduce scar tissue formation, improve tissue healing and ease muscle spasms that form as a result of the pain. Self-care will be provided to help with injury recovery and prevention.

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Pilates: The Perfect Exercise for Office-Based Workers

November 30, 2015

desk-posture

The life of the typical professional in the 21st century has become extremely sedentary. The average adult spends over 50% of their total waking hours sitting. We sit to eat, read, talk, socialize, work, drive and travel. The list is endless.

Prolonged periods of sitting promote physical changes in our bodies. Whilst sitting we are generally in a forward flexed posture to complete tasks such as typing, reading and writing. The head starts to protrude forward and the shoulders and upper back become rounded. Muscles in the hips, legs and chest become tight and others such as the abdominals and gluteals become weak. Office-based workers very often describe aching in the neck, shoulders, jaw and back.

Pilates is an exercise modality that can be used to combat these physical changes. By participating in a well-designed, regular Pilates regime many of the symptoms commonly described by office based professionals will begin to disappear. The impact of prolonged sitting can be reversed by learning functional movement patterns, breathing techniques, correct posture and minimizing muscle imbalances.

If asked to describe yourself would any of the following apply to you?

Out of shape
Stressed
Poor posture
Tight muscles
Inflexible
Slouched Posture

If so, you are likely to be the perfect candidate for a personalized Pilates program.

Pilates was developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates. It is a system of exercises designed to improve strength, flexibility, posture, coordination and body awareness.

A skilled Pilates practitioner can tailor a program for any individual. Pilates is performed one to one or in small groups which allows the instructor to focus individual attention on participants. The workout consists of a variety of exercise sequences that are taught to suit each person and modified to accommodate individual abilities. Therefore, it is an exercise modality that is suitable for all people regardless of age, physical fitness, illness or injuries.

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A Pilates programme for individuals experiencing body deconditioning attributed to a sedentary lifestyle is likely to incorporate exercises to improve core strength, spine mobility, pelvic stabilization, shoulder mobility and stability, hip mobility, strength in the muscles of the back and breathing efficiency.

For the individual this translates into feeling stronger, more flexible, lengthened, stretched, symmetrical and relaxed.

As with any exercise regime these benefits aren’t gained overnight. A commitment over 6-10 weeks of ideally 2 one hour sessions per week will enable the individual to learn technique, build foundations and experience improvements.

In addition to the obvious physical benefits, people who regularly engage in Pilates describe themselves as more focused, body aware, experiencing less injuries, more relaxed and motivated to increase incidental exercise in their lives.

A skilled Pilates practitioner will also encourage his/her clients to take Pilates practice out of the studio and incorporate the principles into the workplace and everyday life. The instructor should guide the individual’s awareness of alternating postures whilst at work; correct workplace set up; breathing techniques and stretches and movements that can be simply incorporated into the workday. Having strategies to combat fatigue, muscle tension and tightness when at work are essential for the office professional to maintain concentration and focus and therefore improve work efficiency and performance.

For the individual this means you can be improving your body’s functioning not only during your Pilates sessions but throughout your workday. We can describe this as “multi-tasking”- a favourite pass time for the busy professional!

An Alternative Approach to Running Training

November 23, 2015

Running is addictive, there’s nothing like the buzz that you get from putting one foot in front of the other for miles and miles, it feels great. But is this the best way to improve your running?

“Most runners aim to improve their running by running. They might vary their speed and distance and even do a bit of interval or high intensity training but does this cover all the bases?”

To be a good runner you need to have running specific mobility, running specific strength, and running specific endurance.

The biomechanics of running require your pelvis to twist in one direction and your trunk to twist in the other direction. It is not just a forward and backward movement of the legs, there is a lot of rotation going on. If you look at someone running from above you will see the huge amount of twist at the pelvis and the trunk. The motion at the pelvis is driven by the foot moving forwards so we need to consider how the hips and pelvis are functioning. Are they mobile and strong and do they have endurance?

The motion at the trunk is driven by the arms moving forwards so we need to consider how the thoracic spine is functioning. Is it mobile and strong and does it have endurance? And of course because the first thing to hit the floor each time you take a step is the foot, we need to consider how the foot and ankle are functioning. Are they mobile and strong and do they have endurance?

The mobility, strength, and endurance needed for running is different from the mobility, strength, and endurance needed for throwing, playing golf, or hitting a tennis ball therefore the training needs to be different.

If we want more endurance for running, we need more mobility and strength.

If you work to improve your mobility but you don’t have strength through the new range of movement, your body will take the mobility away again because you won’t have the control needed to maintain it.

The body interprets uncontrolled mobility as instability and instability is risky for the body. This is why stability and strength are so closely related, and why you can’t work on mobility without working on strength. And not just mobility and strength but also endurance. They all play into one another to make running sustainable for longer.

The biomechanics of running are universal although the degrees of movement in each direction vary depending on the structure of your unique body. This basically dictates how your body moves when you run.

Each body is different so some will have good thoracic and ankle mobility but poor hip mobility, therefore they would get the most improvement in their running by working on their hip mobility, strength, and endurance.

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://www.cityosteopathy.com.hk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/kath-copy-2.jpg
[/author_image] [author_info]With 11 years experience in Physiotherapy, Katherine uses a combination of Western Acupuncture and manual therapy techniques to treating patients. She is also a triathlete and hockey player with the HKFC. [/author_info] [/author]

The alternative approach to running training involves working on your weakest link. This way you will get the most out of your training.