It’s the second half of the season. Your opponents are now at their peak fitness and everyone is more determined for that win. Now is the time when those niggles that have been bothering you can start to cause issues and even lead to injury.
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If you do have pain or tension that is lasting longer than 2 days post-game, seek help. It may be in the form of a therapeutic massage if you are feeling general muscle tension. Or check in with a Physio if you are getting any swelling or painful and/or restricted movement. As the winter sports season gets underway, it is so important to ensure the powerhouse of your body is ready to fire! Our glutes are designed to be the strongest muscle group in our body. They allow us to push-off, land well, change direction and squat. All these movements are crucial to success in sport and play a really important role in injury prevention. Unfortunately, we do love to sit on our bums and therefore things in that region can become a little lazy and tight in the off-season. Taking the field or court without strong glutes can lead to injuries in the lower limb, hips and spine as your body compensates for the lack of stability in your pelvis. There are two important layers of glut muscles. The layer everyone is generally familiar with, the gluteus maximus, doesn’t work in isolation. It is our major push-off and squat muscle but without the help of the deeper, smaller glut muscles, it cannot control the position of the pelvis during these movements. Without that stability, you can hit the ground with your knee at the wrong angle, lower back twisted or an ankle with a mind of its own. Your speed and agility will not reach its peak and your opponent might get the better of you. If you think that grabbing a barbell and doing some heavy squats will be the answer to your seasons’ physical success, think again. Your buns of steel might look excellent in those skinny jeans (who doesn’t want that) but they alone will not give you the joie de vivre you need to thrive on the field or court. You need to strengthen that deeper glut layer in conjunction to allow you to outsmart the opposition. So, I release you from your dreaded dead lifts to try these multi-sport friendly exercises to wake your glutes up and give you the edge you need against your opponents! 1. Clam your way to success
2. Bridge curl
3. Knee lift with a lunge- In standing, use your abdominal muscles to lift one knee to your chest - Then swing your leg back behind you so that both feet are facing forward and transfer your weight in between the middle of your legs - Slowly lower down into a lunge, ensuring your front knee does not travel in front of your toes - Use your glutes to push yourself back up and swing the back leg through, bending it toward your chest * Go slowly and really focus on your balance and breathing. Try to do 10 on each leg Aim to do these exercises at least THREE times per week leading up to and for the first six weeks of your sports competition
This winter has been challenging. Our immune systems have been on sabbatical the last few years and they have certainly had a work-out this winter!! I am hearing from patients that as a result, the musculo-skeletal system has been missing the same work out. To remind us of the benefits: - Improved endurance for playing with the kids! - Reduced stress (lower cortisol levels in the body) - Endorphin release (happy hormones galore!) - Lower likelihood of injury - Management and prevention of health conditions ie Diabetes, heart disease and even some cancers - Improved heart health PLUS Lets face it, we just look and feel better with exercise!! Where to start? - Choose a low impact exercise that you ENJOY - Start gently, even 5-10 minutes per day. Don't go too hard to soon and scare yourself off! This also increases your risk of injury. Options: - Walking - Jog-walking ie walk for 2 minutes, jog for 2 minutes for 10 minutes. Increase to 3 minutes walk, 3 minutes jog the next week for a total of 12 minutes and so on - Cycling - Kicking a ball with your children - Throwing and catching with someone or against the wall - Pilates - Swimming - Join a summer league team (but remember to do some sport specific prep work) Remember that 10 minutes of SOMETHING is BETTER THAN NOTHING!!!!!
Happy Spring! We wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas!!
The Health Haven team would like to thank you all for your support this year. We wish you all a very happy and safe Christmas break. Lots of fresh air, family, friends and perspective as we kick 2021 to the curb! We looking forward to seeing you all in 2022!! As the legend goes, it was ancient Chinese warriors around 3000 years ago, fighting on the battle fields that first developed the idea of Acupuncture when they discovered various ailments and injuries improved when they were stabbed by arrows and swords in strange places.
The first acupuncture needles were actually SHARPENED STONES and SHARP LONG BONES!! And you were worried about those tiny, thin needles we use in clinic! DID YOU KNOW...that significant childhood trauma can cause a decrease or cease in growth of the pre-frontal cortex in the brain, reduced brain size and reduced neural connections!!
The picture on the left = a healthy 3 year old with an average head size. The picture on the right = a 3 year old who is suffering severe sensory deprivation neglect. The brain is significantly smaller than average and has abnormal development in the pre-frontal cortex. (Perry & Pollard, 1997) The pre-frontal cortex is important for the development of personality, attention, memory and differentiation between good/bad or same/different. * The good news is that with strong positive support system following the traumatic event, the outcomes of these patients are much better and they are much less likely to develop long term mental health conditions. So...if you know a child that has suffered a significant trauma, give them all the love and support that you can!!! HIT type training actually stimulates the Sympathetic nervous system & therefore activates our bodies stress response!!
For our body to be able to burn fat efficiently our Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and our Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) needs to be balanced! If we are in a constant state of stress it is likely that our SNS is dominant... Some ways to reduce SNS activity and increase PNS activity to better support your weight loss journey: - Reduce stimulants such as caffeine and sugar - Practice Diaphragmatic Breathing - Swap High Intensity Training (HIT), for breath focused restorative exercises and strength training such as Pilates (HIT actually stimulates the SNS!!) -Think about what causes your stress and if you can do anything to change this 'stressor'. If not, could you change the way you think about the stressor and therefore the way it physically impacts you? Good posture is so important to ensure that your core muscles are activating and supporting your spine, to offload your joints...plus it makes you look taller and more confident! Chelsie shows us an easy way to self assess your posture at home. Get the kids on board too - once we develop poor posture, it is much harder to unwind. Developing with good posture sets you up well for life. Rectus Abdominus Diastasis (RAD or Abdominal Separation) is MORE than just a cosmetic issue.
Yes, it's true that aesthetically having a separation can reduce the tension in your abdomen and make you self conscious (particularly when the abdominals are stretched post pregnancy). But RAD can affect you even when you are really fit. RAD can: - Reduce the ability to rotate your trunk - Reduce ability to crunch forward or perform a sit up - Reduce your overall exercise involvement - Increase fatigue - Be associated with poor respiratory patterns, over-activity of the anterior neck muscles and stiffness in the thoracic spine Melissa has just attended a training session, getting updated on the current research and management of RAD for our patients. The good news is, that the research still supports that guided Physiotherapy input can help to: - Improve muscle endurance and tension in the anterior abdominal wall - Over time, improve the aesthetics or 'look' of the abdomen - Guide you back to moderate or high level exercise Our Post Natal Check Up is a great way for us to assess you and give you the right rehabilitation for you. When you are pregnant, a hormone called 'relaxin' softens the ligaments in your body. Ligaments attach from one bone to another at a joint line to help the muscles maintain stability at your joints. This allows baby to grow and also your pelvis to stretch wide enough for the delivery of your baby.
As a result, your muscles have to work harder to support stability around your joints. Add this to the increasing daily weight of baby, placenta and fluid and the change in your body's centre of gravity, this makes you more at risk of muscle spasm and injury. There are a few things you can do to avoid issues: - Take plyometric training out of your regime. It's not functional and puts you at risk of injury - Stretch regularly to ease muscle spasm - Heat your muscles (combined with stretching after) to relieve tension ie warm bath (not too hot that you overheat) - Have a massage or acupuncture if you feel yourself getting 'tight' - Listen to your body, it tends to give you signs when it's time to taper off the intensity of your exercise - DO PILATES! This can really help to keep your core muscles strong, stretch out the problem areas and improve the position of baby all at the same time. |
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July 2023
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