Stretching each day is a really great habit to get into. Regular stretching helps lengthen your muscles and increases joint mobility, making daily activities easier. Everyone can learn to stretch and it doesn’t have to take up a huge amount of time!

Physiotherapist, Daniel Browne, recommends adding these stretches into your bag of tricks.

Do each stretch below twice,

holding for 30 seconds each time.

Try and complete this routine twice each day.

Calf stretch – decrease your risk of foot, ankle and knee pain by maintaining good length through your calf surrounding tissues.

Thoracic rotation ‘open book’ stretch – good thoracic mobility leads to better shoulder, neck and lumbar mobility

Scapula retraction – important prior to all weight lifting movements – create a rock solid foundation to lift from and you can’t go wrong

Hip flexor stretch – important for decreasing tightness through the front of the hip, groin and thigh as well as allowing smoother movement through the pelvis which will decrease the incidence of back pain particularly in professionals that have a high sedentary load.

For more information or to make an appointment you can BOOK ONLINE or contact your local clinic.

WHAT IS A HAMSTRING TEAR?

The hamstrings are a large group of muscles found at the back of the thigh.

The primary role of these muscles is to bend the knee and collectively, these muscles are some of the strongest in the body.

Despite their strength, the hamstrings are very prone to injury especially when overworked or undertrained. Hamstring strains and tears are quite common in sports that involving sprinting, jumping and sudden changes in speed. Football and soccer players are some of the athletes most commonly affected by hamstring tears.

Hamstring strains are categorized into three grades, these are:

• Grade 1 (mild) – A few muscle fibers are either damaged or ruptured; there may be pain a day after the injury but no loss of movement.
• Grade 2 (moderate) – Roughly half of the muscle fibers are torn; there may be acute pain and mild loss of function; walking may be affected. Grade 3 (severe) – More than half of the muscle fibers are ruptured and there is immense pain and swelling; definite muscle weakness and loss of function.
• Grade 3 (severe) – More than half of the muscle fibers are ruptured and there is immense pain and swelling; definite muscle weakness and loss of function.

What are the symptoms?

The symptoms of a hamstring tear depend on the severity of the injury. Common symptoms include pain at the back of the thigh – which could range from mild to severe, swelling, bruising, loss of knee motion, tenderness at the back of the thigh, reduced length and muscle weakness of the hamstring. In some cases, tingling, numbness and weakness of the structures below the knee are seen. However, these are rare.

What are the causes?

A single cause of hamstring tears can be difficult to determine however, it is thought that a lack of coordination between the hamstrings and quadriceps muscles during sudden changes of speed or when kicking can cause the hamstrings to contract excessively or become overstretched, causing a tear.

There are also recognised risk factors, that increase the possibility of hamstring tears including increased age, fatigue, strength imbalance, previous injury of the hamstrings, poor core stability, poor hamstrings flexibility and tight hip flexors.

How can they be prevented?

Understandably, trying to prevent hamstring tears is important business. Research has consistently shown that the most important factor in preventing hamstring tears is having high eccentric strength in the hamstrings. Eccentric muscle contractions occur when a muscle is contracting while also lengthening. For example, when you lower your straightened leg slowly to the ground, your quadriceps muscle will be working eccentrically.

Your physiotherapists is able to show you some exercises that can target eccentric muscle strength specifically as well as identifying any risk factors that may be contributing to you individual risk.

For more information you can BOOK ONLINE or contact your local clinic.

Sufferers of knee pain know that nothing can kill your optimism for a recovery faster than a diagnosis of Osteoarthritis (OA).

Osteoarthritis is often seen as a kind of death sentence for joints. Many people believe that if you have OA your pain will never improve and will only get worse until a joint replacement can be performed.

In fact, joint replacements for hip and knee OA are some of the most common and indeed successful operations performed by orthopedic surgeons.

At least this has been conventional wisdom for decades. Many of us see our bodies like cars, when a part ‘wears out’ it needs replacing with a new one. The truth is much more complicated, mainly due to our bodies’ incredible ability to adapt and change.

Physiotherapists have always known that the pain and disability that comes with arthritis can be improved with a closely targeted exercise program. In some cases, the pain that is attributed to OA is actually due to another, entirely treatable cause. In other cases, strengthening the musculature around the painful joint can have a significant effect by providing the joint with extra support.

The way we move is often affected negatively by pain and this in itself can create a downward spiral. This is not to say that in some cases, surgery is the best and most effective option to improve your quality of life. Rather that there is a strong case to see a physiotherapists to seek treatment for your knee pain first.

Physiotherapists are highly skilled at identifying exactly what is causing your pain and helping you reach the highest level of function. In fact, a recent study has shown that with targeted exercises, directed by physiotherapists – many patients who were scheduled to have surgery were able to improve their quality of life dramatically, avoiding surgery and getting back to their favourite activities.

While exercise is a very powerful treatment, it’s not that any exercise will take away any pain. To be effective, you will need to have a full assessment and have a personalised treatment program created by your physiotherapist. This can involve identifying weak muscles, limitations in flexibility, finding painful trigger points, restoring movement to stiff joints and providing biomechanical assessment to make a combination of changes that can make a large difference to your pain and activity levels.

Your physiotherapist can also identify any external factors that may be contributing to your pain. Such as unsupportive footwear, workplace set up etc.

For more information on how we can help you manage your osteoarthritis, you can BOOK ONLINE or contact your local clinic.