Welcome to the September 2022 blog from NW Sports massage.
September has been an exciting month for me. It marked the start of my journey to become a Physiotherapist having started a BSc in Physiotherapy at the University of Gloucestershire. The course is going to be intense and full on, but I’m really excited to get started.
This change also means my opening hours have changed slightly. You can see all my availability when going on to my book now page. I am open most evenings on weekdays giving busy and working people a great opportunity to visit after work. I will also have some weekend availability so keep an eye out for that on the booking page or drop me a message to find out if I have space.
My sponsored athlete, horse rider and coach, Abby Lloyd was competing at the Cotswold Cup Championships a 3-day event involving dressage, Cross country and Show jumping from the 23rd – 25th of September. Just to qualify for the championships on its own required performing consistently over the course of the spring/summer at a number of events so to accumulate points with the top riders qualifying.
Not only did Abby show great high performing consistency to qualify both her horses for the championship, but she also went and WON her Championship Class!! An absolutely amazing achievement. The event ran over 3 days starting with a dressage test day one, on the second day Abby had a tiring day of riding roads, tracks and steeple chase section before riding around a Cross country course (on 2 horses!) which left her in 4th place after day 2. The pressure was on for the final show jumping day where Abby and her older horse Blaze left all the poles in their cups (and with other riders knocking down poles and the leader board being so tight) Abby took the win!! Congratulations! Abby's second younger horse also had a wonderful experience and placed 13th. Check out Abby Lloyd Coaching Facebook page to keep up to date!!
Finally, I attended 2 events with my massage stand offering free pre or post event massage to the participants at the Malvern Challenge and the Apperley Quarter marathon. They were both fun and busy days where the weather was kind to everyone, and I was happy to be helping people with some tired legs after their exertions!
Pre event massage is used to help warm up the muscles, improve range of motion and
decrease stiffness and prepare the body for exercise, it generally uses faster strokes and targets specific areas for the person's sport.
Post event massage helps decrease muscle soreness, increase recovery, find any potential areas that may have been strained or over worked, relieve muscle tension and help the athlete mentally unwind after the event.
Sport in the spotlight - Running
Each month I cover a new sport highlighting how it can affect our bodies and muscles required for that sport. This month we look at Running.
On September the 4th Cheltenham hosted run Cheltenham, a choice of half marathon, 10K, or community mile, running all around Cheltenham. They encourage participants to challenge their bodies, whilst also having fun.
Running is a great hobby and sport as it’s accessible to almost everyone as you can do it anywhere and its very low cost (all you really need to get started is a pair of trainers). There are also great local clubs such as Tewkesbury running club and Cheltenham running club. Often having that support network and peer group can offer fantastic encouragement to stay committed, and improve fitness plus make friends.
Running is great cardiovascular exercise. It is a weightbearing exercise that can help build muscle and strengthen bones, plus, improve heart and lung health. Running predominantly uses lower body and core muscles. Keeping these muscles balanced and in harmony can help prevent injury.
· Our glutes stabilise and strengthen the hips and responsible for hip extension
· The hamstrings work to pull our leg backwards and help the hamstrings help slow down the led at the end of the forward swing.
· The calf muscles contract each time you push off the ground and act as a propelling force.
· The quads are responsible for straightening and stabilizing your knees as you run.
· The hip flexors flex your knee and leg up toward your body and move your legs forward. Strength and flexibility in the hip flexors is important as tightness here can compromise the action of your glutes creating compensatory movements.
A tip for newly starting out running is to build yourself up (progressive overload) starting out on an hour run having never been before is not ideal (and makes your more likely to failing to continue). Start with a short run, create a habit of getting out doing the exercise and slowly build up your body’s tolerance to the new exercise and movements, the couch to 5k program is a great example of this.
Finally, don’t forget to add a warmup before heading out the door and don’t forget NW Sports massage is here to help alleviate any aches and strains your legs may be feeling too!!
I’d love people to share their knowledge on a sport they are passionate about to participate in the newsletter please email: nswsportsmassage@gmail.com
Moving Muscles
Each month I pick a new muscle to look at and see how it helps us move and effects posture and problems tightness in the muscle can cause. This time we will look at the Hamstrings.
🦵The Hamstrings 🦵
The Bicep femoris, Semitendinosus and Semimembranosus are the 3 muscles that make up the hamstrings found on the back of our upper leg.
Hamstring action is to flex the leg at the knee, extend the thigh at the hip and help rotate the thigh and leg.
🦵During running the hamstrings slow down the leg at the end of the forward swing and pull the leg backwards.
🦵Sports that heavily utilise the hamstrings include sprinting (and any sports that require sprinting), hurdling, jumping sports and weightlifting.
🦵Sudden lengthening of the hamstrings without sufficient warm up increase injury risk.
🦵Problems that can occur with tightness or shortening of the hamstrings could be low back pain, knee pain, restriction of stride length whilst walking or running.
Massage and the use of MET's can be very beneficial to ease hamstrings when they have become shortened or tight.
Thank you for reading this months blog!!
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