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weekly Tips

tip 7

To all Gym trainers: pain in the forward part of the shoulder while doing a bench press, shoulder press, army push ups etc. IS NOT A NORMAL THING !!!! Its the body's way to tell us that probably an inflammation or at least an irritation starts at the rotator cuff muscles or tendons and that the area is being overloaded. This area is poor in blood supply, therefore its healing process in slower.

1st of all, stop the training or exercises that cause you pain. Emphasise more the work on the posterior (or back) shoulder girdle muscles and check the pain at a clinical situation with a physiotherapist. Don't forget, training into pain might eventually cause the inflammation to progress into a tear.

tip 6

Shoes in general are a degenerating and fixating brace. Researches have shown even back in the 1980's that 50% of the power that propels the body forward and activated during a run, comes from elastic components and muscular structures in the foot. an aspect that's disabled by a running shoe. Kids that grew up without shoes tended to develop less pronated feet (flat feet). People who walk barefoot have a better stability and equilibrium and some researches actually showed that there is no difference between an expensive shoe and 1.99$ shoe in terms of the risk of injuries.

Our feet went through a degeneration process for years. just as much as if we'll place another joint in our body in a cast, the muscles and tissues around it will atrophy and will have less endurance.

Try walking at home barefoot. do it gradually though. when taking off a brace it takes a while for the tissues to adapt to the new load. For the runners, go and learn barefoot or forefoot running. its also a technique that takes 6-7 weeks to adapt to.

tip 5

To all football and rugby players: shoe and footwear companies tell us lately that the new bladed cleats provide a better grip on the ground than round studded cleats during dynamic movement changes on the pitch and therefor a better control during the game. After checking several professional articles on the matter I have to say...they're right. The problem lies where the grip is too good, it might endanger the player for lower limb injuries.

The researches have checked the applied forces on the ankle and knee while comparing between round studded cleats and bladed ones. The lateral applied forces on the ankle (that cause the common lateral sprained ankle) were greater in the bladed cleats while round cleats simulated a more normal situation in the ankle during a sudden change in movement. In addition the forward and vertical forces on the knee were greater with bladed cleats.

Its hard to determine conclusively if the bladed cleats are actually more "dangerous". more researches have to be made in order to check also the type of ground variable (synthetic or natural grass). I found just one article on the matter. None the less, I do believe that from reading the raw data available already, It can be derived partially that my recommendation tends to be more for rounded old scholl cleats.

Even if Christiano Ronaldo, Pato and Ibrahimovich tell me otherwise in commercials....

tip 4

Anyone who suffers from chronic pain or is in rehab at the moment and a smoker...just for general knowledge: smokers suffer from pain sensations much more than non smokers. There are many researches on the matter with thousands of participants and the issue has been confirmed many times. The neural activity, blood flow, tissue regeneration abilities and the entire body functions slower and in a more problematic way among smokers. I am not talking here about obvious long term complications such as respiratory, cardiac and vascular problems.

The biggest and most effective motive a patient can have is the avoidance of pain. People can tell you all day that smoking is bad for you, cancer, heart attacks, strokes etc. (and they're right) but this doesn't change a smoker's perspective much. However, if you are suffering NOW, at the moment from pain and smoke simultaneously, just know that quitting smoking can influence your pain sensation dramatically and in a short term.

tip 2

To anyone who chew gum: please stop !!! chewing gum can cause a long an excessive strain on the Maseter and Temporalis muscles that are the main mastication muscles. these muscles tend to develop trigger points that ultimately limit the ability of these muscles to stretch and therefore limit the the movement of opening the mouth. a condition requiring treatment is one when when we cannot open our mouth and place 3 fingers in a vertical row between our teeth.

in later stages this limitation will cause "clicking" sounds that indicate a problem in the jaw joint's articular disc (TMJ).

Around 5%-12% of the population develop problems in this area, about 66% will seek medical help and 15% will develop chronic problems.

Also, when sitting in front of a computer, sit straight and don't lean your chin against your hand. problems in the TMJ is very much associated clinically with tension and limitations in the neck, torso and spine.

tip 1

If you sprained your ankle in the past and still suffer from pain during exertion: aside from the ligaments, one of the key tissues that undergo an over stretch while spraining is the Peroneus muscle. A long and thin muscle that spreads between the knee and foot. Its function besides pronating (or everting) the ankle is to provide input to the central nervous system through its many stretch and contraction receptors (proprioceptors).

It is common that this muscle after spraining, develops trigger points (inner contraction points) that radiate pain to the ankle region, that limit its ability to contract and stretch. these points can be active in rest as much as during activity.

Treating these points is by deep soft tissue massage, dry needling and various manual therapy techniques performed by the PT. If the pain after the injury has not subsided after awhile, it won't go by itself (or at least not for a while). the limitation in the ankle can start a vicious cycle of movement deficiency and can chronically influence the ankle joint itself, posture and even back pain.

ankle sprain is an injury usually neglected and that's not a correct approach. it requires treatment and consideration like any other injury.