RUNNERS
INJURIES Running
RUNNING TO LEARN EXPLAINED
This month read our expert’s advice on how sports massage aids injury
OUR EXPERT Trevor Speller is an experienced Sports and Remedial Massage Therapist at Balance Performance. In 2009 he returned to university to study for a Masters in Osteopathy. He is a member of the Institute for Sports and Remedial Massage and the Sports Massage Association. He specialises in deep tissue massage, soft tissue and myofascial release.
SPORTS MASSAGE Regular sports massage treatment can be a positive addition to a runner’s training programme. The increase in physical demands that running places on the body can lead to functional and structural adaptations within the body. The repetitive mechanical load placed on the body causes adaptations to occur in our connective tissues (muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones, joints and fascia) which remodel to deal with the increased mechanical demand. Due to this remodelling process, connective tissue can become stronger, tighter, thicker and shorter, which can often lead to common running injuries such as Runner’s knee/iliotibial band syndrome, shin splints/ compartment syndrome, back and knee pain, plantar fasciitis and achilles tendonitis.
RUNNING INJURIES I regularly see clients with running injuries that have put the hard and long mileage in but have failed to spend enough time working on flexibility, stretching, strengthening, mobility and regeneration (nutrition, rest, re-hydration, adequate sleep). The body needs time to recover and regenerate from training and daily life. This is where sports massage can play a vital part in helping runners deal with this remodelling and recovery process. Regular sports massage can help: ■ Loosen and keep muscles supple ■ Increase muscle flexibility and strength ■ Decrease muscle soreness and fatigue post-training ■ Aid recovery from training and injury ■ Relieve tension in muscle, ligaments, tendons and joints ■ Enhance performance ■ Develop body awareness ■ Promote relaxation, recovery and regeneration
SELF MASSAGE I regularly teach clients how to develop a stretching, flexibility, mobility and self-massage programme. Self massage foam rolling equipment, such as Trigger Point Performance Therapy myofascial compression tools are a fantastic way of releasing tight muscles after training.
Balance Performance Physiotherapy 113 Gauden Road, Clapham, London, SW4 6LE, Tel: 020 76272308 Web:
www.balancephysio.com Online shop:
www.shop.balancephysio.com Facebook: www.facebook. com/BalancePerformanceLondon Twitter:
www.twitter.com/BalancePhysio
44 ■
www.runningfreemag.co.uk A MEDITATION ON THE MOVE
Julia Armstrong is a lifelong runner and all-round running philosopher. She’s run a 2.36 marathon and ranks second in the UK for V50. Every month she shares her thoughts. Catch up at
www.runningtolearn.com
TChristmas morning
he Christmas morning run has always held for me a magical quality. The land is silent and the atmosphere quiet and still. Behind the lit windows and closed front doors, I imagine the activity and excitement, the contents of Christmas stockings strewn about, chocolate being consumed, bucks fizz flowing, all while I am running.
Sometimes I meet other
runners out too, in Santa hats or with tinsel in their hair, we greet one another with ‘Merry Christmas’ and on we run.
Spending Christmas day
with my Aunt was a tradition when I was young. I would return after my run down to the sea in Lyme Regis, to a house, warm and bright, Christmas music blaring, the smell of the turkey roasting and ‘the bar’ already open. “What can I get you Julia,” my Uncle would shout, I always sensed disappointment in him when I asked only for a fruit juice! I have never really had a
head for alcohol, mainly because I have never really done the training required!
Double celebrations
One Christmas passed in a haze of fragility having attempted to ‘join in fully’ and celebrate a friend’s 21st on Christmas Eve. I only have to recall this situation to remember that training is required whatever we undertake! Be
prepared and practice and anything can be achieved! When we ‘rush in’ and try to accomplish something too soon, without preparation, it is likely to ‘put us off’. To run or dance or sing or play a musical instrument effortlessly requires much hard work and diligent practice. When we embark on something too early or try too hard, without having done the practice, and prepared ourselves, then it can feel as if we are in a minefield of just ‘getting through’, whether that be the race or a presentation or exam. With the correct amount
of effort and attention to letting go of tension and being mindful that there is no need to ‘overdo’ it, then everything flows.
I love to run
Running on Christmas day is easy for me. I have often been asked “Don’t you ever have fun?” Running is my way of having fun! With so many more of us
running now, there is more acceptance from those who don’t choose to don running kit and head out on Dec 25th. It is understood that ‘yes’, it is fun for us folk who like to do what we love, every day of the year! The drinking bit not so
easy for me! I think that probably ‘not embarking’ on a training programme to drink my way through Christmas is the preferable course of action. Stick to the running Julia!
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64