Print- Share
Email- A A A
PrintStability Walking Shoes Not Necessarily Good for Arthritic Knees
In a recent report of a study published in the journal Arthritis Care & Research, found flip-flops and sneakers with flexible soles are easier on the knees than clogs or even special (stability) walking shoes,
"Traditionally, footwear has been engineered to provide maximum support and comfort for the foot, with little attention paid to the biomechanical effects on the rest of the leg," said Dr. Najia Shakoor, a rheumatologist at Rush and the primary author of the study. "But the shoes we wear have a substantial impact on the load on the knee joints, particularly when we walk."
Source: Flickr Fuschia Foot
And this bio-mechanical chain sometimes make treatment or support choices difficult. Shakoor cautioned that knee loading is not the only consideration in any clinical recommendations based on her study. "For the elderly and infirm individuals, flip-flops could contribute to falls because of their loose-fitting design. Factors like these need to be taken into account," Shakoor said.
Journal Reference:
1. Najia Shakoor, Mondira Sengupta, Kharma C. Foucher, Markus A. Wimmer, Louis F. Fogg, Joel A. Block. The effects of common footwear on joint loading in osteoarthritis of the knee. Arthritis Care & Research, 2010; DOI: 10.1002/acr.20165
Stretches For New Runners
It is important to include some stretching exercises before your running routine. If done correctly, stretches can help to improve your flexibility and joint range of motion, and can decrease your risk of injury to joints, muscles, and tendons while running. In this article, we will show you top 5 stretches to do before a run.
Disclaimer: Note that stretching is not warming-up. It is a common misconception that warming-up equates to stretching. ‘Warming-up’ literally means raising your core body temperature. It is advised that before you begin on your stretches and run, a general warm-up such as brisk walking between five to ten minutes be performed to prevent injury to your ‘cold’ muscles. (see To stretch or not to stretch before an event?
Top 5 stretches:
Hamstrings Stretch
| |
|
Calf Stretch
Quadriceps Stretch
Iliotibial Band (ITB) Stretch
Glueteus (Buttock) Stretch
Why is my MCL strain not getting better? Because it is Pes Ancerinus Tendinitis.
When long-distance runners complain about knee pains, it is often complaints about pain in the front of their inner knee, below the knee cap. Pain comes about especially when climbing uphill or up stairs. Given the location, this pain is sometimes misdiagnosed as a MCL (medial collateral ligament) strain when it is actually Pes Anserinus Tendinitis.
What is Pes Anserinus Tendinitis?
It is essentially a inflammation of the tendons between your shinbone and muscles that form parts of your hamstring and thigh, .Three tendons (Semitendinosus, Sartorius1 and Gracilis) join up to form the pes anserinus tendon. Pes anserinus in latin means 'goose feet' roughly describing the webbed look of the three tendon coming together.The pes anserinus tendon joins to the shin bone where the pain is usually felt.
Is it often mis-diagnosed as MCL or medial-menicus strain because of the close location of the pes anserinus tendon to the MCL and medial menicus.
What strains the Pes Anserinus Tendon?
Things that strain the pes anserinus tendon are
- Severe pronation of the feet – this causes the tibia (one of the lower leg bones) to rotate inwards which strains the tendons
- Weak hamstring muscles – when combined with an intense running programme, the hamstrings may not be able to cope with the high workload. This is often an overlooked areas in a runner's strength training regime.
- Tight thigh muscles (quadriceps) – weakens the opposing hamstring muscle. Muscles tightness here is further encouraged if you have a deskbound job that requires you to sit at the your desk all day long.
- Sudden change on the volume and intensity of training
Diagnosing Pes Anserinus Tendinitis
Patients typically complain about pain climbing stairs, squatting, running and in severe cases, standing from a seated position.The pain would also appear gradually and for runners, following an increase in their training volume and intensity (uphill, or running faster).
However, even if your symptoms match those listed above, it is advisable to ensure that it is not other possible condition such as Patellar-Femoral Pain (PFP), MCL strain and medial-menicus strain
Treating Pes Anserinus
During the initial inflamed painful stage, your doctor may prescribe NSAIDs to help reduce the swelling and inflammation and recommend rest for the first 24-48 hours. Ice or cyrotherapy can help speed up the recovery by reducing the inflammation.
Once less painful, your therapist may suggest the following treatment depending on your cause of the tendinitis as list above.
- For severe foot pronation – orthotics can help correct over pronation of your foot
- To strengthen the weak hamstrings – see Hamstring Exercises for Long Distance Runners
- Release tight thigh muscles with sports massage and a stretching programme.
- A training programme that appropriately increases your training volume and intensity.
1 Ed note. The Sartorius is the longest muscle in the human body
Slipped disc – Do’s and don’ts
A slipped disc can be very painful and debilitating. However, in most cases, it should get better on its own, within six-eight weeks and there are certain things that you can do and avoid doing to aid and speed up your recovery.
What happens in a slipped disc?
Although people often mention about having a slipped disc, nothing in your spine has actually slipped out of place. Having a slipped disc means that one of the discs which sit between each of the bones in your spine has been damaged. When the disc is damaged, the soft gel-like inner pad of the disc squeezes out through a weak point in the torn outer layer, causing a bulge that often presses on nearby spinal nerves. This result in severe pain with symptoms that radiates down the leg/arm commonly referred to as sciatica. Slipped disc, also known as disc herniation, can occur in any disc in the spine but the two most common forms are lumbar disc and cervical disc herniation.
What can I do?
During the first 48 hours, a torn outer layer of the disc would result in the release of inflammatory chemical mediators which may directly cause severe pain, even in the absence of spinal nerve compression. This is the basis for the use of anti-inflammatory medication for pain associated with disc herniation. Thus, early treatment may include taking painkillers, anti-inflammatory medication and rest to give time for the body to reabsorb the herniated part of the disc. Before taking any medication, always see your doctor for a prescription.
Cold therapy should be applied immediately and after any activity that aggravates your symptoms as it helps to reduce pain and swelling. Use an ice pack or bag of frozen vegetables wrapped in a towel for no more than 10 minutes, every 2-3hrs. After 72hours or more Heat therapy, such as a wheat bag or warm soak can be used to promote muscle relaxation and pain relieve and may be used before performing stretching and strengthening exercises.
As the pain lessens, you will most likely to return to work and begin exercises to strengthen your back muscles and joints. Exercise is introduced to improve strength, flexibility and proper back mechanics as part of recovery. A physiotherapist will be able to give you an individually tailored exercise plan to help to strengthen any muscles that have become weak and also using techniques such as spinal manipulation to help improve the mobility of the spine. Physiotherapy would also help to correct one’s posture and use body mechanics to minimize stress and strain on any portion of your spine. This includes incorporating these exercises and posture principles into all your daily (e.g. sitting and lifting) and recreational activities.
What shall I avoid doing?
Don’t rest excessively and avoid activities. Studies have shown that it is important for one to remain active and keep up with your normal activities as much as possible.
However, it is paramount to discontinue with any activities that aggravate your symptoms such as bending over, heavy lifting and any quick twisting or jerking motions. Avoid standing or sitting (e.g. driving) for extended period of time as it would increase strain to your spine and aggravate disc pain. At home, keep away from overstuffed and low furniture, because it is difficult to stand back up after sitting in them. Don’t lie on stomach and prolonged bed rest especially during early stage post injury.
In the long run
Back pain from a slipped disc may return, whether or not you have had treatment and it is important to learn how to avoid damaging your back again.
The outcome for most people is that they will feel better within six-eight weeks; although for others it may take a while longer. With proper care through correct posture, core exercises and back ergonomics, it is possible for one to remain pain-free.
Lower Back Lumbar Segmental Instability
Someone with a lower spine that frequently moves through a larger-than-normal range of movement is more susceptible to low back pain. This tendency of moving beyond its normal range is known as lumbar segmental instability.
The normal range of the movement is defined as the neutral zone. A person with lumbar instability tends to move beyond the normal range of movement into the extreme end ranges.
What keeps the spine stable?
In order to understand what causes lumbar segmental instability, we first need to understand what keeps it stable in the first place. The human body holds the spine stable or steady through the help of three basic structures – the passive, active and neural structures.
- Passive structures in the lumbar spine are the vertebrae, the discs, then joints and ligaments. These are structures that do not move.
- Active structures are the global and local muscles. These contract or relax depending on the direction of the force required.
- And finally the neural structures; nerves that control and direct the muscles. This control is also known as motor control.
A stable lumbar spine segment coordinates global and local muscles using the motor control system to supply compressive forces along the spinal passive structures for stability. This coordination helps maintain the spine's normal curvature at a segmental level as we move about.
Active Structures
The global muscles include:
- Rectus abdominis,
- External oblique
- The thoracic part of lumbar illiocostalis (an erectae spinae muscle). ·
These three muscle groups are large torque producing muscles that provide general trunk stability and allow movement to occur.
The local muscles attach directly to the lumbar vertebrae. They are:
- Lumbar multifidus,
- Psoas major,
- Quadratus lumborum,
- Lumbar parts of lumbar illiocostalis and longissimus (more erectae spinae muscles),
- Transverse abdominus,
- The diaphragm and
- Posterior fibres of internal oblique.
- Interspinalis/ Intertransversii
The two lowest spinal segments, L4 and L5 vertebrae, are the most susceptible to segmental instability. This could be due to pathological/ degenerative changes to the passive structures that sometimes show up on x-rays. Instability can also occur if there is a loss of motor control and muscle strength/stamina within the neutral zone.
What does it feel like?
A person with lumbar segmental instability typically has a patient-history something along these lines.
- Back pain may have started after a direct injury to the area, or it may have just developed gradually.
- The pain tends to be recurrent and has more debilitating effects as time goes on.
- That person will try to do as little as possible in an episode of pain. According to a survey (O’Sullivan 1997), people most commonly describe the pain sensation as · catching, · locking, · giving way or · feeling of instability.
Classically, the most painful postures are sitting or standing for long periods of time, or being in bent over postures.
The most painful movements are
- bending forwards,
- moving unexpectedly quickly,
- standing up straight after being bent over, lifting or sneezing.
So basically….
The lumbar spine moves in an uncontrolled manner, causing pain. Because the big muscles and little muscles don’t work together properly and the body is unable to control each segment as the body moves.
How do I get rid of it!?
A physiotherapist will need to perform an assessment to find out what type of segmental instability is present (and the type of control that is lacking due to which structure – passive, active or neural). Based on the findings, an intervention will be planned.
In cases where the passive structures have degenerated, it is often possible to train the active and neural structures to compensate for the lower level of stability provided by the passive structures.
With this sort of condition, the exercises that are required are more ‘brain’ exercises than ‘muscle’ exercises. A new way of moving has to be re-learnt, and it requires a lot of concentration.
Chronic Low Back Pain – The Psychological Factors
If you are a regular reader of MCR, you know that the number of people suffering from low back pain is quite staggering. The national statistics is that one out of every 5 persons suffers from low back pain at any one time and that there is an 80% chance of a person having low back pain sometime in their lives. One of the key things in treating low back pain is the correct classification of it and understanding the contribution factors. Of these factors less often addressed by physiotherapists is the psychological factor.
With chronic low back pain (classified as those persisting 3 or more months from the onset of pain), the treatment approach needs to be multi-dimensional as there are many factors that perpetuate the pain. Some of these factors include
- Pathological changes in the structure of the spine - e.g. joint degeneration, disc herniation (slipped disc), fractures
- Mechanical loading of the spine- possibly due to the type of work that the back pain sufferer has to perform
- Poor control of the muscles around the spine
- Sensitivity of the nervous system- the brain and the nerves are over sensitised to pain, projecting pain greater than it really is
- Psychological factors- clients’ emotions e.g. fear, anxiety depression, their beliefs that if they do a certain activity that their backs will go, being wheelchair bound or something catastrophic, and often wrongly reinforced by a healthcare professional.
The relative contribution and dominance of the above factors to a client’s chronic pain will differ for each patient. It is important to understand which factors are dominant and whether the client has adapted to the disorder positively or negatively so we can address the disorder more specifically.
Flickr: mag3737
Muscles are not meant to constantly contract, it should contract when it needs to and relax when it doesn’t need to. These clients often never ever relaxes their muscles in fear that by doing so, their backs will give. Because of the constant contraction of the back muscles, the back muscle becomes overly strong and tight and can no longer switch off, leading to an excessive compression of the spine (the back muscles will approximate the vertebrae closer together, resulting in increase loading and compression). At this stage bending activities will hurt, not because of the original problem, but because the muscle now cannot relax to allow the vertebrae to move freely. These types of back pain sufferer will often be spotted NOT lounging into the chair, they will instead sit up tall without support and will have very defined back muscles. These clients have adapted negatively to their disorder, prolonging the pain.
The solution to these types of chronic pain is to change their belief, to assure the client that bending is fine, especially now that the pain is not caused by the original cause. To show them that in a relaxed stretched position that the pain actually reduces, rather than increase. This is usually done by releasing the offending muscles and testing the aggravating posture- bending or squatting. Specific exercises will be taught to facilitate the stretching and relaxation of the overactive tight muscles.
There are many other types of presentation of chronic pain, the above is only one. The concept of the treatment of chronic pain is simple- understand the underlying pain mechanism i.e. what is driving the pain and solve it as best as we possibly can. Those with a dominant psychological driver, often, a psychologist is needed to help change their beliefs.
© 2003-2012 Core Concepts Pte Ltd, All rights reserved | Terms and Conditions | Policy
<
-
-
-
-
-
