Saturday 13th March - 'The Physio Place' and 'Up & Running' working together

This Saturday The Physio Place and Up & Running in North View, Westbury Park are uniting to provide a one stop shop for all your running needs.

It all takes place at Up & Running, 38 North View.

Booking an appointment will give you:

20 minutes 1-2-1 with me, the physio, during which I'll watch you run, assess your biomechanics and muscle lengths and strengths, and give you any advice and exercises that you may need to get the most out of your run and hopefully remain injury-free! (Charge £5)

In addition to this the guys at Up & Running will be there to answer all your trainer questions and provide you with the best pair for your needs.

In addition, this Saturday the nutritionist, Emma Maitland-Carew, will also be available to answer and questions you have on diet etc and Cecilia Skoglund, personal trainer, will be available to chat through any specific training needs you may have...she may even give you a taster session if you're lucky so come prepared if you like the sound of that!

It all starts at 9am on Saturday and goes through til 12. If you'd like to guarantee some time with any of these people email enquiries@thephysioplace.com or call 0117 9737317 otherwise just turn up and we'll go from there.

Look forward to seeing you on Saturday,

Jemma

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS, SPORTING GOALS

Happy New Year! The gym is packed and it seems, more that ever, that people are on a health drive.

What about you? What are your goals for 2009 - to lose weight and get fit, start walking, running, consider a 5k, enter a marathon, beat last year's time?

Whatever your chosen goal, I wish you the best of luck with it. My one word of advice would be, to make sure nothing gets in the way of you achieving your goal, why not consider having your trainers, running, muscle length and strengths looked at before you get going. Think of it as an MOT aimed at finding out and fixing something before it becomes unroadworthy! We do it for our cars, why not our bodies?

Making sure you have the right technique, kit and muscle activation going on is essential to minimise injury.

A quick check list of things to look at before contacting a physio for your MOT might be to work out how many miles your trainers have done, have they done as much as they're expected to do already? Do they still offer your feet enough support? Next try hopping, squatting, stepping up on a box. Does one leg fatigue more than the other? Is one leg tighter than the other when you stretch? Do you get any aches and pains either during or after you've run?

If any of your answers suggest you might have some work to do or need some help, seek the professionals. A good running shop for trainers is essential. Appropriate exercises to strengthen and lengthen muscles will make a world of difference and if you've got even the smallest ache make sure you get it seen to before you start running. It's only likely to get worse!

For more information about running painfree and/or to book you January MOT email enquiries@thephysiplace.com. If it's stretches you're after, check out the stretches in my earlier blog.


Hope it all goes well and have a great break.

BRISTOL HALF FAST APPROACHING - TIME FOR A SPORTS MASSAGE?

Not long to go now until the Bristol Half. Excellent!

Are you ready?

I hope by now you've managed to get a few long runs done without too many problems? How's your time - are you on target?
How are your muscles coping with the additional mileage - any new aches and pains?

Key things to consider:
Are you doing enough stretching? (see my earlier blog on stretching)
Are you eating and drinking enough of the right kind of food and fluid for long distance runnning?

Finally, have you ever considered having a sports massage? A friend of mine the other day was telling me how important it is to be kind to ourselves!! From my own experience with training I can't say that this thought comes into my head very often, being kind to myself really doesn't get the results I'm looking for.....however, a sports massage does tick that box and is also a great way of getting a bit more flexibility into our muscles.

Why not book one and see?

(For sports massage and/or physiotherapy at The Physio Place, Bristol call 07984203698)

RUNNING TRAINING TECHNIQUE

With an ever increasing number of people interested and having a go at running, there is a greater need for running analysis, investment in good trainers and making sure that the right muscles groups are long and strong enough for the journey.  All these are factors help to not only improve performance but also to minimise injury and problems such as knee, shin or ankle pain. I have found this clip which gives some useful hints on good running technique together with some exercises and thought you might find it helpful too.  One point to note however is that the technique of forefoot running is associated with a faster running pace and in my experience this is the not the majority of the population who should focus on getting a heel strike when their foot hits the ground.