How your car might be contributing to back pain

Even if you are not yet old enough to drive, cars are a big part of most people’s lives. This is fine; it’s just that car seats are not the most ergonomically designed. Our bodies are built to move, which is why being stuck in a seated position can literally be a pain in the neck and even if your car seat has some support, it’s still up to you to utilise those features so that your time spent curled up in that awful seated position is as pleasant for your body as possible!

Firstly – and most obviously – unless you live within a 5 kilometre radius to everything, discounting driving all together, for most people, is out of the question. There’s no reason why we couldn’t ditch our cars when they really aren’t necessary, so if it’s a nice day and you need to go up to the shops, you could walk it!

Though now let’s look at your car. Is your seat reclined like a lounge chair? This might sound comfy, but in order to reach your steering wheel, you need to curve your back like a “C” shape, hunching your shoulders forward. Seated positions like these – whether they are in the car, office or couch – are typical causes for clients of mine presenting with back aches, pains and restrictions. Straighten up that seat and you will be doing your back a massive favour J

Do you have one of those levers which adds more support to the lower back? If so, make sure your using it – encouraging a correct curve through the lower back is an important first step in helping your seated posture. If you don’t have this option, consider a small cushion you could leave in your car to have behind your lower back. This idea is also good for sitting at work or at home, on couches etc.

Now that you’re sitting up straight and can reach the wheel comfortably, you’ll hopefully find you can steer with a much more relaxed posture. This will mean that you can relax those shoulders! This can be a hard one to get on top of in general, as the shoulders are a common place for us to hold our tension when things get busy. Just try to become aware of times when you hunch them up, and whenever you think about it, just roll your shoulders back let them relax.

There are lots of things in our day-to-day lives that have slowly become harder to avoid, which aren’t ideal for our bodies. But we can still do our best to be conscious of them and give ourselves the best chance at maintaining good musculoskeletal health.

Learn to love your feet!

If feet are brought up in conversation for what-ever reason most people will cringe at the thought, and will try to explain how gross they think feet are. That’s not true though, feet are actually really awesome! The poor guys have it pretty tough – often treated very poorly, scrunched up in all sorts of weird shoes for many hours a day, and yet are still expected to perform their duties without a word of complaint.

Little troopers, they are

If you’re not convinced yet, here are a couple of interesting things about feet:

- The average person will walk around 128,000 kms in their life.

- A quarter of the body’s bones are in the feet.

- All of those joints relay vital information back to the brain regarding balance and awareness.

- When we run around 4x our body weight worth of force is put through our feet.

- Feet have “posture” too! Feet with bad “posture” or which are misaligned can have very painful effects on not only the feet themselves, but other areas such as the shins, knees, hips and back.

Now that we’re able to get a quick idea of how important feet are, we can think about the effects shoes can have. Shoving feet into tight shoes restricts the natural movement of the structures of the feet. Doing this from the day you take your first step can restrict development during those important years of growth.

Big, cushy, over-supportive shoes dampen the foot’s sensing capabilities, making them unable to feel, bend, flex and mould to various surfaces as they were designed to. Denying them this prevents them from strengthening and growing and instead, your foot’s muscles can become weak and shrink. “If you don’t use it, you lose it.”

Running shoes with big chunks of rubber under the heel encourage you to land on your heel when you run. There is little “give” in the heel, so can you imagine putting 4x your body’s weight worth of force through your heel? Over and over again? Run on your toes and use the foot like a spring as it was meant to be used!

Unfortunately we learn from very early on not to walk around without shoes, just in case we step on something and hurt ourselves! Then as we age, school, sport, work, social settings – none of these are too accepting of being bare-footed. Then of course there’s all that advertising about the newest shoes and their super amazing gel support, suggesting I will be able to run like an olympic champion if I wear the shoes they promote!

The human body is an amazing thing, and has been designed to function in ways which we are still only beginning to completely understand. Of course we have to wear shoes sometimes, and many of us require specialised support for certain conditions, but I encourage you to forget about shoes when you can – jump, run, stretch, tip-toe on some different surfaces and get some feeling and movement back into your feet. This way rather than thinking they are gross, you might begin realising how cool your feet really are

A quick update

2011 has been a massive year! And I just wanted to use this post to give a quick update on where things are heading for me at the moment, and a brief look at my plans for 2012.

The biggest thing to happen in my life was my wedding day! Last weekend my beautiful wife and I got married, surrounded by our amazing friends and family – we had a fantastic time!

I am also in the middle of finalising my application for University next year! Applied Science / Osteopathy is something I’ve wanted to do for a long while, so cross your fingers for me when offers come out in January

And last but not least, I will be moving from Contagious Enthusiasm in Hampton, to a fantastic Osteopathic Clinic in Nunawading in the new year! I have been seeing Sandra and Scott at their clinic for years and am really excited to have their support, and begin working from there.

Updates on the site as things progress will be coming, and more posts regarding musculoskeletal goodness on the way. I hope you are all enjoying the first few days of Summer!

Trust your healthcare professional, rather than the quick fix!

I had an interesting conversation the other weekend. I was at a BBQ enjoying the amazing weather! Hopefully you were enjoying the little preview into summer we have been having too.

Unfortunately the guy who I was chatting to had some bad experiences in the past with various health care practitioners and has been unable to get to the bottom of an injury. He seemed like a pretty active person and I can understand his frustration when this particular injury was not only preventing him from doing what he was passionate about, but was potentially the cause of the problem in the first place.

In all his enthusiasm in wanting what was best in his particular situation, he had jumped online and researched as much as he could. This is fantastic on one hand, in that you can really gain a great understanding and appreciation for things as there is a wealth of knowledge out there.

Unfortunately though, on the other hand, there is also a lot of information out there which is misleading, and even much which can be misinterpreted. In his attempts at learning all he could about his injury, he had begun disregarding any help from professionals and felt he knew the answers, and it was just a matter of finding someone who would give him what he thought he needed.

This is really scary! Sports physicians, Physiotherapist, Osteotherapists, etc, all spend years and years studying, learning and practicing their skills and understanding of the human body – not only initially, but continually through out their entire career. Yet disappointingly it only takes one article, or one advertisement, showing a supposed quicker, cheaper, easier “solution” and some jump straight on board.

I just want everyone to be carefull when they attempt to self-diagnose a problem they might be having. I understand seeing health care professionals can be costly and time-consuming, but if you can find someone who is passionate and amazing at what they do, then I can guarentee you will be amazed at how much better off you will be.

Melbourne’s City2Sea 2011 – A balanced training program

Participants of the City2Sea are getting prepared, with less than 2 weeks until the event which is being held for the first time, on November 13th. The City2Sea is the sister event of the City2Surf, and is working together with Movember in it’s goal to raise money for many important charities.

The City2Sea website (which can be found here) has some great information regarding training programs, for anyone from beginner to advanced, as well as nutritional information and motivation tips!

Unfortunately though, all this training combined with your other day-to-day commitments; such as work, sport, study, family, etc. can often leave your muscles feeling sore and tight. You don’t expect your muscles to work that hard and get nothing in return, do you?

Don’t worry – I have it covered

Warm Up

Before a training session, be sure to warm up your body so it’s ready to go. This isn’t the time for stretching though, this is when you take your body through some motions similar to those it is about to do. Eg: A run should be preceded by things like leg-swings (forwards, backwards and sideways), ankle rotations, trunk rotations, shoulder shrugs / rotations, arm ‘windmill’ type actions, a light jog, etc.

Be sure to run through these movements gently and with control.

Cool Down

This is a perfect time for a stretching session. Your muscles are warm, circulation is improved and now that you are finished your muscles won’t be expected to perform again until your next session. Hold your stretches for at least 1 minute each, keep your movements controlled and relaxed, remember to try incorporating some deep breathing whilst you increase your stretch, and focus on areas of known tightness.

maintenance

Last but certainly not least, what is your plan for keeping your muscles relaxed, balanced and tension-free? Is that niggling ankle injury giving you trouble? Or maybe your upper back tension is all you can think about as you hit the 10km mark?

Things like Yoga, Pilates, Massage Therapy, etc. are a vital part of any athletes training program, and for very good reason.

That sore ankle is going to change your running technique,which may in turn create an imbalance through your hips and put extra load through your hip-flexors. That lower back pain could be due to weak glute muscles, which when running are not doing their job correctly and making your hamstrings work harder than they need to, exposing you to the risk of a torn hamstring.

The City2Sea run will be an excellent day and I have my fingers crossed for good weather! Best of luck to everyone working toward the event, and don’t forget to take care of the muscles who are working hard at propelling you along your run.

How to benefit from stretching

Stretching a muscle can be done in various ways. We can use our own muscles; such as a big “yawn” stretch when we wake up, we can use gravity; like when we bend down to touch your toes, and we can also use external forces; when pulling your heel toward your backside, or having someone create the force for you.

There are 3 points I think are worth thinking about;

• Stretching is good when done correctly
• You should have a reason behind your stretching plans
• Strength and flexibility are very close friends!

When we stretch a muscle the first reaction by our nervous system is to tighten the muscle being stretched. We are moving outside of our comfortable range of motion into an area of movement which is considered unsafe by our brain.

Holding a stretch for a longer period of time, as well as using breathing techniques, allows the body to realise that this movement is controlled and safe, therefore allowing the muscle to relax and lengthen.

There are two main reasons for stretching;

• Maintain flexibility
• Increase flexibility

To maintain flexibility, stretching more often (each day, or every other day) and holding stretches for shorter periods of time (30 seconds or so) is sufficient. This will continually remind your brain that this range of motion is safe, and frequently visiting this movements prevents your brain from forgetting you can go there.

Increasing flexibility is quite different. Holding stretches for longer periods of time (2 minutes and more) and working with your breath to relax and muscle and increase the stretch creates very small ”micro-tears” to your muscles. In the same way that we should allow the body time between weights sessions, we should also give our muscles time between these stretching sessions. 1-3 times per week is your goal.

This shows us that stretching is good when done correctly. Now, something to be careful of!

As we now know, brief stretches cause our muscles to react by tightening. As you could imagine, if someone was to stretch their hamstrings quickly before a game of footy, this may in fact put them at a higher risk of injury! That doesn’t mean that stretching is bad; it just means that it should be a regular part of an active persons training / lifestyle to create the range of motion they need in order to perform their chosen activities. This is why you need a reason behind your stretching plans.

Why should flexibility always go hand-in-hand with strength?

imagine you were a dancer, and as such you needed to be able to lift your foot up above your head. That is going to take some serious flexibility training! But not only that; the strength needed to left your leg that high in a way which is controlled and safe is also needed.

Now imagine you are a body builder, and are working really hard to create size and definition in your muscles. What good would great big muscles be if they became so big and tight that you could no longer itch your back? Or have the rotational flexibility through your trunk to enjoy a round of golf?

Everyone needs varying ranges of mobility, from dancers, to footballers, to parents lifting and carrying their kids. Injuries often occur because our joints don’t have the range of motion needed to achieve the movement we are attempting! Are you in need of more range of motion through a particular movement? Or maybe you are working on your flexibility right now? Feel free to leave a comment with your experiences below.

Remedial massages increase sports health

Sports, and just generally being active, is a big part of our lives; especially now that the warmer weather is coming out! If you’re an active person I’m sure you have, at some stage or another, had a small injury. A netballer might have rolled their ankle, a football player may have strained a hamstring, or maybe you’ve suffered from a repetitive strain injury playing cricket?

All of these are among a list of common injuries which can seem quite minor; a sprained ankle may put you out of action for a couple of weeks, but soon enough your running again (with minimal pain) and are able to push through the discomfort and get back into what you love doing. The only problem with this is that the injury is now highly likely to recur because it wasn’t given the correct treatment.

Muscle fibers run in the same direction to create a strong, efficient tissue.

Sprains and Strains all involve some degree of fiber damage; whether it be a slight roll of the ankle, or a debilitating hamstring tear, damaged tissue is replaced by scar tissue during the healing process.

 

 

Unfortunately our bodies fix tears a bit haphazardly with scar tissue, and not only does this create a weak spot in the muscle which is prone to re-injury, it can adhere to neighbouring structures and inhibit range of motion.

 
Remedial massage therapy is extremely important during the healing process of an injury;

- Able to make sure scar tissue realign with the muscle tissue to create a strong, flexible healing site.

- Prevent  / remove any adhesion to other structures and ensure you maintain and improve  your range of motion through the area.

- Prevent other muscles from tightening up as you compensate for the imbalance this injury has put on your body.

One of the worst thing you can do with a minor injury is let it put you out of action completely while you wait for things to heal. Your best bet is to see a sports therapist to get the inflammation under control, create a treatment plan, and have you back in the game sooner. So if you have an old injury which keeps on coming back (or maybe you sprained your ankle just yesterday running for the train!), get a plan happening so that it doesn’t stop you getting out there and doing what you love.