Thoughts On:
Training, Rehabilitation, & Best Care Practices
It’s the start of a beautiful day. You were able to get to the track around 6:00 am for a solid speed workout, your favorite. You warm-up, go through your stretching and dynamic movement routine, and besides a little early morning stiffness, you feel great. Then it happens, you are on number 5 or 12 200 meter repeats, and the back of your leg cramps up something fierce! You stop, stretch, massage, but nothing helps…now you can’t run - workout over.
Running is one of the best (coming from a runner) and easiest sports to take up in the world. Running is a major part of nearly every sport on the planet, making it an excellent option for our school-aged athletes. In 2017, almost 500,000 runners ran XC, and over 1 million athletes ran track. With the ease of access and a million different training techniques and training theories comes the risk of adverse effects. Over the last 10 years, we have seen a 34% increase in injuries incidence among runners.
If you are tracking along with us on this journey of everything Sciatica, your patience and dedication is about to be rewarded. In Part 1 of our Sciatica Pain Relief series, we discussed what Sciatic Nerve pain is and the associated anatomy (always my favorite part). In Part 2 we went a little deeper with the 5 most common causes of Sciatica and touch on a few of the red flags we want to rule out as soon as possible. Having made it through those two very information-heavy articles, it is time to look at what YOU can do to improve your situation as well as some of the most common everyday actions that may be the primary cause for your Low Back and Sciatic Nerve pain.
In part 1 of our Sciatica Pain Relief series, we covered the basics of sciatica, sciatic nerve pain, and the general anatomy involved. While this may not interest everyone, it is useful in understanding the sharp, burning, and often debilitating pain that radiates down the leg that some people experience with low back pain. Our goal in this series is to inform, empower action, and give our fellow Salt Lake City, Utah friends the information and tools to help yourself through this condition as well as the understanding of when to seek care and a trusted source to do so if needed. In part 2, we are going to briefly discuss some of the most common causes of sciatica but before going forward, check out part 1 by clicking the button below.
Improved health tops nearly every new year's resolution list ever made, 2019 will be no different. From this, running comes to the forefront of our ‘get in shape’ plan because of its ease (almost everyone can shuffle one foot in front of the other, not saying it is easy) and relatively low cost (a decent pair of shoes and some running gear is all you need). While this plan seems fool-proof, there is a reason 60%+ of the people we see in our clinic are runners, new and old.
Over the last 5 weeks, we have discussed everything from what low back pain is, most common causes, some of the most common myths associated with low back pain, and when to consider imaging studies (x-ray, MRI, CT) due to red flags that lead us to something more severe being the cause. We even covered a few tips to help when you find yourself traveling for work or vacation.
We have been building up toward the actual care of low back pain but wanted to fully educate on how common low back pain is, what we know about low back pain at this time, and help you focus on life outside of back pain.
In part 4 of our Fix Your Low Back series, we discussed some of the most common myths and misunderstandings around low back pain, care of low back pain, as well as updating some of the old-fashioned thoughts. Today, we are going to discuss imaging and red flags as it pertains to low back pain and a couple of VERY IMPORTANT things you need to know.
For several weeks we have been covering patellar femoral pain syndrome (PFPS), or runner’s knee as many like to call it. However, as with many of the conditions we see, it can be found in more than just one population of people. PFPS can also be caused by other physical activities that put repeated stress on the knee. This can include squatting, jumping, climbing stairs, etc. Along with that, PFPS can occur when you have patellar malalignment, which was touched on in Part 1 of our Runner’s Knee series.
With most PFPS we see, it comes from a sudden increase of load placed on the knee. So if you have recently increased your weight at the gym, time on the Stairmaster, or taken on a new activity, if the stress level on your knees has increased you could experience “runner’s knee” even if you do not consider yourself a runner. With that said, here are a few preventative measures we can implement that could help.
After three exhilarating weeks of discussing Runner’s Knee, we have covered the anatomy, mechanism of injury, hip and ankle mobility, training modifications when injured, and self-care options. This week, we culminate with what happens when self-care is not enough, when you need to seek help, and what that looks like.
