Archive for July, 2009

This is one that I find affects a wide group of people, many of whom do not regularly engage in any particular sport or attend a gym. Recently, I have had conversations with individuals who have seen their GP and been prescribed anti-inflammtory tablets but there is much more you can do. This can be treated with a good deep tissue massage on the affected area along with work on the joints of the foot, ankle and into the calf muscles. You can help yourself with some simple home remedies: use a tennis ball, golf ball or even a rolling pin and sit comfortably with it under your foot and use it for self massage by rolling it across the underside of your foot as you press down on it.

Another option – and one that will help cool any inflammtion – is to fill a small plastic drinks bottle with water and put it in the freezer. When frozen, use this as a roller under your affected foot. This way you have the massage effects of the roller along with the soothing and cooling affect of the ice. I would still recommend seeing a manual therapist who will make sure of the diagnosis and work with you towards recovery.

Runners World magazine carried a very interesting article in the August publication about the susceptibility of people to certain types of injury; this was taken from research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. http://bjsm.bmj.com/They have listed the six injuries that runners suffer from and have suggested groups of people that may suffer from these more than others. http://www.runners.world.magazine.co.uk It is well worth reading and taking note of the possible causes and suggested prevention options. I would imagine that like me the most important thing to those of you who exercise is to do it pain free. There are many reasons why we all get injuries; more often than not overtraining is the biggest cause. The advice in this article along with regular massage maintenance is definitely the best way to avoid those injuries. It does not matter if you only train occasionally for recreation or more seriously top compete there are many things you should consider if you want to enjoy it every time.

Huge congratulations to Stephen Price who is now officially an Ironman following his successful debut at Ironman Switzerland http://ironman.com/events/ironman/switzerland. I have worked closely with Stephen over the last 6 months as he prepared for this event, managing his aches and pains from increased and more structured training with regular massages and other treatments. As the day drew closer and training intensified we added in additional sessions to let him continue to train at the level he wanted to. This is a fantastic result completing a triathlon of this distance in a little over 12 hours.