Athlete Fix

05/08/2024

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jay-glover59/episodes/PHYSIO-IN-3-MINUTES---HOW-TO-BUILD-STRENGTH--WHY-YOU-SHOULD-e2mr5hh

In this episode I explain in 3 minutes why strength is important for injury prevention and health and how you can best target it Lauersen et al (2014) The effectiveness of exercise interventions to prevent injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised control trials https://pubmed.nc...

08/05/2024

DOES YOUR LACK OF ANKLE MOBILITY INCREASE RISK OF INJURY ?

Ankle dorsiflexion deficits are pretty common at least in my exercise over the years I’ve seen it a lot. If you want a concrete example of how a lack of mobility below affects everything above just try doing an overhead squat and don’t allow your shins to move past vertical ‼️ Don’t fall over and sue me 😂

The ability of the shins to come forward in the squat is ankle dorsiflexion. That’s what allows you to descend while keeping a more upright torso angle. If you lose it you have to start leaning forwards to maintain your balance. It doesn’t matter how many times someone yells “chest up!” at you if your excessive forward lean is stemming from an ankle dorsiflexion restriction.

In this study we see how a lack of ankle mobility impacts landing mechanics and how a lack of motion below will result in increasing motion above as the body tries to navigate around your restrictions.

Your body will take out “a loan” for inadequate mobility and you pay a potential “injury interest” if you ignore it and continue to do movements without the prerequisite range of motion.

Han, S., Lee, H., Son, S. J., & Hopkins, J. T. (2023). Effect of varied dorsiflexion range of motion on landing biomechanics in chronic ankle instability. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports, 33(7), 1125-1134

07/05/2024

If you get pain around your kneecap running 🏃‍♂️ it may be the PFJ or patellofemoral joint aka kneecap joint

Fortunately sometimes some simple tweaks alone can start to settle symptoms and allow you to keep training

Slower step rate and over-striding (steps per minute) is associated with increased peak knee flexion, demand on the quads, peak hip adduction and ultimately stress on the knee cap joint

1. Test your cadence using an app like run cadence
2. Try a 10% increase in your steps per minute
3. Re-assess your symptoms

Remember this is ONE factor and doesn’t replace rehab but it’s a handy tool to have in your kit

05/05/2024

Pain around the kneecap? Maybe when running or squatting?

Here are are 3 simple tips to help you get on top of it

1️⃣ Focus on the quads

2️⃣ Train above and below

You may be in too much pain to touch the quads if acute and that’s ok, I got you covered ;) Studies have actually shown early resolution of symptoms when using hip exercise protocol for patellofemoral pain

Training below may consist of calf strength-endurance and ankle dorsiflexion mobility

3️⃣ Increase your cadence / step rate by 10%

You can use a run cadence app to test how many steps per minute you’re doing. Increasing this by 10% will reduce peak knee flexion (bend), reduce quads demand and reduce hip adduction (on the positions associated with not just this but also IT band syndrome)

So give that a go and drop me a ❤️ if you found it useful

16/04/2024

Shins splints or MTSS aka medial tibia stress syndrome can be tough injury to deal with BUT I have created a “menu of muscles” to target 🎯 on this post

1️⃣ Confirm diagnosis

I’ve also written a blog post about MTSS vs tibial stress fractures I would check out as that’s extremely important to differentiate to determine right management

2️⃣ Check your training

It’s tempting once you get pain to rush to finding “the best exercise” but the first question you want to ask yourself is “what may have caused this pain?” Because it’s not a coincidence these injuries pop up around marathon times. A spike in your training volume, distance, pace can set this off and the first step should be to get your ducks 🦆 in a row on that front first.

3️⃣ Exercises / Gait

There are simply some muscles that take on a lot of stress compared to others when we run such as the soleus (one of the calf muscles) which makes up about 52% of calf muscle bulk and takes on between 6-8 x BW when running.

Certain gait patterns are also associated with increased shin loading so I’ve put a tip about changing step rate to reduce that stress.

08/03/2024

Marathons coming up and with that I've had a few consultations regarding shin pain. Often we jump straight to the assumption that it's shin splints but that's not always the case. The blog post explains what shin splints actually are and what else shin pain can be.

https://athlete-fix.com/shin-splints-what-is-it-what-else-could-it-be/

19/01/2024

https://youtu.be/IOFepds_YsA

With a tailored online program and remote guidance Jenny was able to resolve her SIJ and lower back pain as well as hit her weight loss goal. Start your succ...

25/07/2022

Really thought provoking and enjoyable discussion with talking about meniscal injuries. We’re planning to do a knee series going through OA, PFPS, ACL. Comment below ⬇️ what you would like us to cover !