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PrintStretches, Trigger ball and Foam Roller exercises for runners
Muscle tightness and stiffness are the unwanted constant companions of runners, especially after a long, hard run. They can affect the recovery of muscles, which means despite training hard, if not managed regularly and appropriately, can give rise to potential injuries such as ITB syndrome, low Back Pain, and even affect the your running mechanics.
In this article, I will introduce you to 3 effective ways to reduce muscle stiffness and soreness, aiding in the recovery of your fatigue body.
Stretching out the kinks
Stretches for runners, would mainly be stretching out the back and leg muscles
Low back
Quadriceps
Hamstrings
ITB (Ilio-tibial band)
Calves
Gluteal muscles
Trigger point release with spikey ball
Trigger points are described as painful, tender spots in muscles that are can be felt as knots of bands of muscle fibres. These knots , when tightened after an exercise, can often lead to pain and loss of some mobility in the muscles. Common areas of trigger point tightness are found in the muscles of the low back, gluteals, ITB, hip flexors and between the shoulder blades in runners.
Low back
ITB
Gluteals
Between shoulder blades
Hip flexors
Muscle release with Foam Roller
Foam rollers, as the name implies, are large cylindrical rollers that are made up of foam (various densities) that are used widely to aid in stretching out tight muscles. Basically, the roller is placed under the muscle being released and rolled along the length of the muscles.
ITB
Quadriceps
Hamstrings
Calves
It is important to support your neck, and consider neck alignment as you complete such stretches to avoid causing other problems. If your unsure feel free to run by and check your techniques.
Recovery Strategies to improve Your Sports Performance (Part 4- Advance Strategies)
Are you searching for other options on Sports Recovery apart from Active Recovery and Massages mentioned in our previous series?
In this series, we will continue to share on other types of Advance Recovery Strategies that include Compression Garments, Hot/Cold Immersion Bath and Floatation Tank.
Compression Garments
It is common nowadays to see more and more athletes training in tight fitting, eye catching wear. They come in many forms i.e. long or short sleeves, knee length or full leg length and varied designs. Compression garments is quickly gaining popularity for its purported benefits in aiding sports recovery and a fashion statement as well. There have been a number of recent researches that demonstrated the effectiveness of compression garments in enhancing sports recovery after strenuous training by facilitating the removal of lactic acid and reducing the effects of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) in the days after a heavy workout. Research also highlighted several other benefits:
- Improving muscular strength and power (especially lower limbs)
- Improved proprioception
- Improving blood circulation to peripheral limbs
- Enhancing warm up
With such reported benefits and a space tech looking suit that is impressive to behold, it makes one difficult to resist laying hands on one.
Hot/Cold Immersion Bath (Contrast Bath)
The Romans might have been the first people since 60AD, to understand and make use of the healing properties of alternating hot and cold water immersion therapy. Archaeologists found cold bath situated within the roman temple which was built around a hot spring spa. Indeed, sports scientists in our era have found that by immersing your whole body or part of it (especially the legs) repeatedly in cold and hot baths, athletes recover faster from their physical and psychological fatigue. By alternating the immersion between hot water (38-40 deg Celsius) and cold water (10-15 deg Celsius), repeated about three to four times, each immersion lasting about two to three minutes, the blood vessels constrict and expand repeatedly, bringing about the following effects:
Hot Phase: blood vessels of the peripheral muscles expand, allowing in more oxygen rich blood from the heart to nourish the muscles.
Cold phase: blood vessels of the peripheral muscles constrict, draining away the lactic acid, and improve blood flow back to the heart at the same time.
The repetitive constriction and expansion of blood vessels thus act like a pump, improving blood flow around the body, thus facilitating the removal of waste material from the muscles and delivery of nutrients to them as well.
Floatation Tanks
Imagine yourself floating totally naked on water in a lightless, soundproof coffin like structure. It sounds like a scene right out of a horror movie. Yet, this is actually what sports psychologists get top athletes to do to help them relax and improve their focus! The floatation tank is such an equipment containing water which has salt added to increase its density, thus allowing the athlete to float unaided. It was developed in 1954 by John C. Lily, a medical practitioner and neuro-psychiatrist during his experiments on sensory deprivation. Since then, sports psychologists have adapted its use as it had been found to have the following benefits to athletes:
- Reduction of pain and stress
- Lowered blood pressure
- Improvement of sports performance through visualization and self hypnosis
It is used locally by our sports psychologists at Singapore Sports Institute to help our elite athletes recover from psychological fatigue and improve performance.
This concludes our series on strategies on sports recovery. We hope it had been useful for you, whether you are a recreational athlete or athlete aspiring to maximize your potential. You may not have access to all the strategies discussed, but if you are able to adhere closely to the strategies listed in the fundamental strategies and advanced strategies I, you will still be way ahead of others in optimizing your recovery, reducing injury and thus improving your sports performance!
Do you need a Knee Support?
The following assessment form will aid you in making a better decision. In the following few articles, I will also give some interesting information which will help you decide what kind of knee guards will help for the common knee pain or injury.
Recovery Strategies to improve Your Sports Performance (Part 3- Advance Strategies)
In this series of the Sports Recovery Strategies, we will talk about three types of Advance Strategies which will enhance your Sports Performance.
They are as follow.
- Active Recovery
- Self Massage
- Sports Massage
Active Recovery
Active recovery or sometimes known as active rest is to engage the athletes in light aerobic forms of exercises such as cycling, jogging, swimming or simple games after the training session. These exercises should be different from those normally performed during training. Pool work involving swimming or exercises such as running in water, is an excellent form of active recovery as the water provides a good buoyant medium to relax the muscles and joints. Research has shown that active recovery is very beneficial as it can help the athlete to recover efficiently from physical and mental fatigue.
Self Massage
It is important to loosen up the soft tissues such as muscles and fascia that get all tight and stiff after training. This is to ensure that adaptive shortening of the soft tissues do not occur, which may result in reduced range of motion, potentially affecting sports performance. Stretching is a simple and effective way of loosening up tight muscles and fascia but is unable to reach the deeper muscles or trigger point areas. In order to loosen up these deeper soft tissues, the athlete can go for a sports massage or alternatively, self massage with the use of trigger balls or foam rollers. The beauty about using trigger ball or foam roller (though not as effective as sports massage) is that you can do them daily in conjunction to stretches. To see how you can use them effectively, click on the link…
Sports Massage
During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps, the winner of 8 Olympic gold medals at the event, is reputed to have 2 massages a day to maintain his body in tip top condition. Many serious athletes also engage in sports massage regularly as a form of sports recovery. While there has been no conclusive evidence on the effectiveness of massage, there are many reported benefits. These benefits include:
- Improved blood flow and circulation leading to better delivery of nutrients and oxygen to the muscles and joints, as well as more effective removal of lactic acid
- Loosening up tight muscles, fascia and trigger points thus improving muscle flexibility and joint range of motion
- More relaxed mood state
Looking at such reported benefits, sports massage is a good way for athletes to recover quickly physically and physiologically. If you are training 3 to 4 times a week, it is recommended that you get a good sports massage at least once a week or 2 weeks.
Recovery Strategies to improve Your Sports Performance (Part 2- Fundamental Strategies)
In the previous article on "Recovery Strategies to improve Your Sports Performance (Part 1)", we have touched on the importance of recovery to enhance sports performance. Here, we will share with you the different Recovery Strategies.
Sports Recovery Strategies can be divided into fundamentals and advanced. Fundamental strategies would include passive rest, cool down and nutritional recovery. Advanced strategies comprise of self massage, active recovery, contrast bath, sports massage and the use of flotation tanks.
Fundamental strategies:
Passive Rest
Serious athletes love to train. On the other hand, little emphasis is placed on resting. Yet passive rest, particularly sleeping, is a key and vital component of recovery. An athlete must have sufficient sleep to allow the body to repair itself and adapt to the physiological and psychological demands placed on the body during training. Continuous training over the days without sufficient rest will put the body at risk of injury and illness. It is recommended that adults should have 7-9 hours of sleep and adolescents up to 10 hours if possible.
Cool down
Another underutilized, underperformed type of recovery is the cool down after a major game or intense training. It is a period of light exercises which involves mainly stretches and bringing the cardiovascular system back to at rest. It is common to see athletes hitting the shower or resting immediately after a major workout. Many do not recognize the value of a proper cool down session or simply give the excuse of lack of time or fatigue. If you are a serious athlete looking to maximize each session of workout, cooling down with stretches appropriately should be treated as important as the training itself. There are many-fold benefits of a good cool down session i.e. muscular relaxation, improved removal of lactate waste material, reduction of muscle soreness and importantly, allows your body to recover faster from the strenuous bout of training or competition.
Nutritional Recovery
Fuel and fluid replacement are the two most important components of nutrition recovery. The body needs adequate fuel (glycogen) and fluid (water and electrolytes comprising of sodium, potassium and chloride) to meet the high energy demands during the training session.
During Training:
Athletes should start off each training session with adequate fuel and replenish during the rest intervals. This can be in the form of sports drinks and other foods that can quickly deliver glycogen to our muscles. Examples of such supplements include the simple banana, chocolate milk or the more sophisticated supplements as the SIS energy drink or bar. It is also essential to continually replenish the body fluid during training to prevent the body from being excessively dehydrated, which can be potentially dangerous as the body can overheat. Dehydration can also significantly reduce the aerobic capacity of the body and hence affect sports performance.
After training:
Adequate nutrition after training is equally important as it speeds up your body’s recovery and hence reduces fatigue and down time, thus improving performance. It has been found that the best way to speed up recovery is to take adequate supplements within 45mins after the training session ends. The recommended recovery food should contain sufficient fluid and carbohydrate to protein ratio of approximately 4:1. Carbohydrates replenish our muscle glycogen stores while protein aids in the repair of our muscles that break down during training. The above fundamental strategies are simple, easily implementable but are essential to maintaining a healthy and injury free body for training and competition. They help an athlete recover quickly from strenuous training and thus are the keys to improving sports performance.
Recovery Strategies to improve Your Sports Performance (Part 1)
Ever wonder why elite athletes such as the NBA players can play 82 games in 6 months? That’s an average of almost a 40 minutes game every 2 days for 6 months!
What is the secret of such elite athletes being able to push their body to the limit and perform at such high levels every other day without succumbing to serious injury?
Is it because of their natural talent or intensive strength and conditioning program?
Are such capabilities beyond the reach of an amateur but driven athlete?
Athletes striving to perform at high levels must push their bodies to the limit. As such they put their bodies through sessions of strength and conditioning, skills training almost every day. Such strenuous training and sometimes grueling competition schedules impose a tremendous amount of physical and mental stress to the athletes. If they cannot cope with the demand, fatigue and physical breakdown occur, leading to poor performance and often, injuries.
The key to allowing the allowing an elite athlete, or even an amateur like myself, pushing our bodies to the limit without breaking down, lies in a simple yet often neglected part of the training program, RECOVERY.
According to Barry Barnes, Head Coach of Australian Men’s Basketball ,in his 1996 Atlanta Olympic Report “ If there was one single factor that helped this team perform at the level they did at Atlanta, it was the recovery program that was put in place…” Tour de France Legend Lance Armstrong also remarked “Recovery is the name of the game.. whoever recovers the fastest does the best.”
RECOVERY, often mistaken as just rest, is much more than just that. It is a very crucial part of training strategy that many amateur athletes are unaware of. Athletes are always looking to train and to find new ways to train to make themselves faster, stronger and better. Yet, in order for the body to adapt to the training at the high intensity, there must be appropriate recovery strategies implemented.
In the next few series of articles, I will share with you a number of recovery strategies that has been used widely by elite athletes and their coaches successfully. These strategies are vital to aid the athlete to optimize their training and at the same time, reduce the risk of illness and injury. They include the use of compression garments, contrast baths, appropriate nutrition, passive and active recovery, sports massage and flotation tanks.
Heard about ACL. What about PCL?
Have you ever hit your knee against the dashboard of your car coming to an emergency stop? Or fallen onto the ground on the front of your knees resulting in your knees fully bent backwards? Chances are you might end up with a tear in a major ligament in your knee without you knowing, the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL).
The posterior cruciate ligament or PCL , is a lesser known cousin of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) but of no less importance. It is one of the 4 key ligaments that stabilize your knee. Its primary functions are to prevent your tibia (shin bone) from sliding too far backwards and providing rotational stability to your knee.
How is PCL injured?
These are some common ways the PCL may be injured:
- Commonly known as the “dashboard injury”, it happens in car collisions where the shin hits the dashboard hard. The shin is forcefully pushed backwards when the knee is already in a bent position
- Falling onto the front of the knee where the tibial tuberosity (top part of the shin bone which protrudes out) hits the ground first, causing the shin bone to move backwards forcefully.
- Forceful pressure on the front of the shin while the knee is hyperextended (during a soccer game, a player’s knee is extended out during the end of a kick and received a hard tackle from the front of the shin)
How to know if you have injured your PCL?
If your knee is injured in the above few ways, there is a high chance you might have torn your PCL. The signs and symptoms for a PCL injury is similar to an ACL injury, i.e. swelling, pain, decreased mobility of the knee. However, the sensation of instability of the knee is not as common and pronounced as an ACL injury. If you do have sensation of instability, such as the knee giving way while turning or pivoting on it, surgical intervention might be necessary.
How is PCL injury diagnosed?
A major part of the diagnosis stems from you remembering as closely as possible how your injury occurred. A reliable test that your doctor or physiotherapist usually does is the posterior drawer test to test the integrity and laxity of the PCL. Further investigations such as X-Ray and MRI can help to confirm and assess the damage of the injury and reveal any other bony, ligament or cartilage injury.
The disabled throwing shoulder- The “Dead Arm”
What is the “Dead Arm”?
“Dead Arm” is a common term used in the athletes in sports requiring precision throwing like baseball. The term “Dead Arm” is defined as any pathological shoulder condition in which the thrower is unable to throw with pre-injury velocity and control due to pain. Dead arm usually occurs during the acceleration phase when the arm is moving forward and the athlete suddenly feel s pain, and the am goes “dead” and is no longer able to throw the ball with his usual velocity.
What are the causes?
The “Dead Arm” phenomenon is characterized as a disorder with various causes. Some of the causes postulated include psychological factors, calcification in the ball and socket joint, bone spurs in the acromion, impingement of the shoulder ligaments, rotator cuff problems, bicep tendonitis, micro-instability, internal impingement and SLAP lesion.
What happens in the “Dead Arm”?
In the painful shoulders of throwing athletes, because of the repetitive arm position being turned out backwards as far as possible (external rotation)to create potential energy in the wind up phase prior to the forward acceleration phase, it has been previously postulated that the pain is due to the shoulder capsule in the front being over stretched. This excessively stretched capsule then allows the shift of the “ball” of the shoulder forward, creating an impingement of the structures in the front of the shoulder joint, hence resulting in pain and the inability to throw.
However, this theory is now being challenged. Some researchers have found that “Dead Arm” syndrome to be most commonly associated with type 2 SLAP lesion. SLAP (Superior labral tear anterior -posterior) lesion is a tear in the top part of the labrum (which is like the meniscus of the knee). It is now postulated that the type 2 SLAP lesion occurs because of tight capsule posterior capsule, which is the capsule at the back of the shoulder joint. It is because of this tight capsule which forced the ball of the shoulder upwards and backwards into the shoulder joint resulting in a tear in the labrum. The outward sign of this capsular tightness is the loss of forward rotation (internal rotation) of the shoulder joint.
How do I know if I have a "Dead Arm"?
A test that can be performed to assess the range of forward rotation in to lie down and have your arm placed at 90 relative to your trunk and with the elbow held in 90’. Keeping the shoulder stable without allowing the shoulder blade to slide up, allow the forearm to drop forward as possible. Ideally, you should get about 90’ forward movement. Everyone is different, the best way to assess for loss of range is to compare with the non painful/good arm and use that as a guide. A study found those who had the loss of range and did stretching to the capsule had a 38% decrease in the incidence of shoulder problems when compared to the non-stretched group. Researchers have defined an acceptable loss of forward rotation range as 20 degrees or less than 10% of the total rotation seen in the non throwing shoulder.
Reference:
Burkhart S. S, Morgan CD and Kibler WB. The Disabled throwing shoulder: Spectrum of pathology Part 1: Pathoanatomy and biomechanics. The Journal of ARthoscopic and related Surgery, vol19, no4 (April),2003:pp404-420
Safe and effective weight in the gym
Figuring out what is the right amount of weight you can carry safely to prevent injuries from happening? This article will answer your burning question and keep you on the right track.
How much weight can I lift in the gym to prevent injuries?
A safe intensity for resistance training can be determined using your 1RM aka the maximum weight that can be lifted with only one repetition.
70% of 1RM will give you the appropriate weight. Eg, if 1RM is 50kg, the safe weight to use is 35kg, derived from 70% of 50kg.\
How do you find out what is your 1RM?
To find out what's the maximum weight you can lift is to use a relatively lighter weight and lift it repetitively until exhaustion. If you are able to do it for more than 12 repetitions, the weight is too light and you should try to increase the weight. If you can complete 12 repetitions or less, apply the following equation to determine your 1RM.
RM = Weight × ( 1 + ( 0.033 × Number of repetitions ) )
Increasing your weight is only 1 way of increasing your training intensity. Try varying it with number of repetitions. Bear in mind that the training intensity will also depend on your training goals to achieve better endurance or strength. Generally endurance training involves higher repetitions using lesser weights and strength training involves lower repetitions with heavier weights.
Simple sets with 70% 1 RM -e.g 3 sets x 8 repetitions with 70% of 1 RM, is a good way to start off your resistance training regime. Know your training goals and pick the appropriate weight and intensity to meet those goals safely.
Shoulder Impingement
There are many conditions that can result in shoulder pain. Some of these conditions include the more traumatic ones like subluxations, fractures, tears in the rotator cuff muscles or the labrum (a structure that forms the socket) through an injury. The more insidious shoulder pain are usually frozen shoulder and impingement syndrome. In this article we will discuss the mechanical causes of an impingement syndrome, particularly the subacromial impingement syndrome.
What is an Subacromial Impingement Syndrome?
As the name implies, an impingement syndrome is a condition that results in pain and movement impairment because certain tissues are being impinged or compressed between 2 bony structures. One of the most common shoulder impingement occurs in the space under the acromion (see picture).
The impingement is most significant when the arm is elevated sideways to about 90 degrees. The structures that are impinged are soft tissues that lie under the acromion- which are your supraspinatus tendon (which is part of the rotator cuff) , the subacromial bursa, which lies under the the acromion. The pain felt can also be magnified by the irritation of the ligaments that surrounds the area. An untreated subacromial impingement can eventually result in a tear in the Supraspinatus tendon.
What are the contributing factors?
The cause of an impingement is anything that reduces the space through which the soft tissues lie. A structural fault such as a bony spur present under the acromion can reduce that space. However the presence of the spur itself may not be a primary cause of the impingement. Often, it is more of a result of the inability of the ball (head of the humerus) staying centre in the socket and or together with the bony anomaly in the acromion that result in the impingement. Hence, we need to look at what in a normal pain free shoulder holds the ball centre in the socket and without it will result in space reduction in the space under the acromion.
These structures are primarily the rotator cuff muscles, specifically the Subscapularis and the Infraspinatus. These two muscles are positioned lower and their function is to provide a downward force. Together with the other rotator cuff muscles including Supraspinatus and Deltoid muscles, they work together to stabilize the humeral head in the centre of the socket. When the ball jams up into the acromion, mechanically this means that the ball has moved upwards away from the centre in the socket. This is a result of the muscle imbalance between the muscles that pull the ball up (Supraspinatus and Deltoid muscles)and the muscles that hold the ball down (the infraspinatus and the subscapularis). When there is an imbalance, the ball rides up and jams into the acromion, hence reducing that space.
What's next?
Knowing the above, amongst other exercises to correct faulty motor control patterns, the rehabilitation that you receive for a sub-acromial impingement must include the retraining of the lower cuff muscles- namely the Infraspinatus and Subscapularis.
