Motion Forword - Words of a Therapist: Too much of a good thing, Meeting an Idol and Painful Movement to Aerial Silk/ Karate Star.
Welcome to Motion Forword - Words of a Therapist! Number 20!
Motion Forword is about discussing the combined benefits of movement with a positive mental attitude. Using my personal/professional experiences, evidence-based research and some of your own experiences.
Bringing some hope, positivity, happiness and maybe usefulness to those, perhaps like yourself, that needs a pick me up.
Something about me…Too much of a good thing?
This month I have asked a lot of myself…
I have been:
Dancing 2-3 nights a week until late
Hockey on a Saturday
3-4hrs of Acroyoga on a Sunday
Tried to start running again (signed up to a half marathon in September 😐)
Long drive to Bluewater and back to celebrate my nephew’s birthday
Doing a weekend course (see below)
AND on top of that, opening up my clinic on a Wednesday afternoon/evening on top of my other long days.
All of these things are good and I’ve often said dancing gives me energy rather than takes it.
But there can be too much of a good thing and I started noticing early signs of burn out towards the end of the month.
I was feeling tired a lot of the day and having to take long naps. I was losing focus, becoming irritable and was almost ‘zombieing’ from one task to the next.
I found myself telling myself something I tell some of my more audacious and stoic patients…
Slow down.
‘‘Lois this is not my batman glass’’
I was driving in the fast lane, having a great time, not recognising all the warning ‘Road Work’ signs ahead.
So… having recognised this, I also had to take action.
Recognising something is a problem, saying ‘everything is fine’ and not doing anything about it is not a good idea.
I’m sure we’ve all been guilty of this…
In this instance for me, taking action meant, not actioning!
I had to put on the brakes and give my body some mental and physical breathing space.
I took a weekend to chill. I slept in, watched movies, played video games and cooked nice meals. I did have a hockey game I was committed to but that was a period of time out of the house at least!
I genuinely felt so much better Monday morning having not rushed about over the weekend.
The lesson: there can be too much of a good thing.
We need to give ourselves those rest days to allow us to function as normally as possible. Even when that means taking a short-term break from the things we enjoy/love to allow us to continue to do them in the long-term.
Something for you… Shoulder Weekend
Adam Meakins, aka The Sports Physio, is not a name you would have heard of.
But in my world, Adam is a bit of a celebrity.
He has created a reputation amoungst his peers of being the go-to no nonsense Physiotherapist. It may come as no surprise that when someone questions the dogma… it ruffles a lot feathers.
But I think he is right in making us aware and educating, professionals and members of the public alike, of the short-comings of some of our currently held beliefs.
So I got the opportunity to attend one of Adam’s Shoulder Courses and even got to try out some of the testing for myself…
In real life, Adam is actually a very humble, funny and easy going chap. His education style is engaging, active and simple.
But as he says, simple doesn’t mean we don’t know what we are talking about!
Keeping things simple removes confusion and helps patient’s understand better what is going on. And my brain likes to keep things simple. I can’t keep up otherwise!
Some big take-aways for me (but this is just a fraction of what was covered):
Reps in Reserve (RIR): A helpful guide to understanding how hard you are pushing yourself with your rehab exercises. Often used in resistance training settings but useful in pain/injury rehab too. With moderate intensity you should feel like you always have 3-4 reps left in the tank.
Misinterpretation: A study showed that up to 80% of what people are told in a doctor’s surgery is misunterpreted or misunderstood. Even when asked immediately after the consultation! So basically, keep it simple and specific! I’ll be checking more often if you’ve understood what I’ve said!Shoulder Osteoarthrosis: AKA Osteoarthritis, OA or ‘wear and tear’ but OA is more complicated than mechanical wear and involves factors outside of age and weight. Cartilage that is implicated in OA is Hyaline cartilage. A cool anology was thinking of this cartilage as a sponge: It needs to be squeezed clean (loaded) to remove waste material and replenish nutrients but also not dried out (over squeezed/over loaded) to cause excessive removal of water-holding proteins in the cartiage. Discussed here in more scientific speak! In other words, loading underused hyaline cartilage helps replenish it and resting an overused one gives time for regeneration (perhaps that is what my restful weekend did!)!
Overall the weekend felt like time well spent. Learning a simpler diagnosis method, ‘back-to-activity’ testing and exercise/rehab methods. I feel more equipped to diagnose, manage and plan for shoulder problems and beyond thanks to Adam.
Finally, here I am looking like a star struck puppy.
Now the reason my answers are quite ambigious and not put into nice neat boxes is because, as cliche as it is, we are all different.
What will work for me may not work for you.
In my experience, even when I thought something was ridiculous and shouldn’t really work… for some people, it does. So I believe it is important to be open minded and try different things until you find your sweet spot.
A story… Aerial Silk Star
Megan was originally brought in by her Mum because of continuous and ongoing back pains causing weakness and loss of flexibility.
She would rate it 7/10 painful, 8 at worst, which she considered ‘normal’ after having it for 2-3 years. She also mentioned numbness and pins and needles into her thighs and feet. Having always been quite active with karate and dance, this pain was seriously impeding her.
Additionally, Megan suffered from migraines and seizures that were impacting her time in school.
In my mind, a 14 year old with a constant 7/10 pain wasn’t normal. Let alone for 2-3 years! Also, all my testing was painful… apart from her elbows! A young flexible person whos joints were being battered all over the place.
She had seen other therapists before hand but wasn’t too keen as they would push her to do things that were painful. A big no no in my book.
We started with some very gentle work just getting her used to some movement. Slowly introducing some strength work for her hamstrings, hips and back.
Gradually I was adding more and more to Megan’s repertoire, asking more and more of her as she felt she could. It took 3 months until I could get her to use her hamstring muscles with no pain and another 6 until she had full strength.
Now at 16, I have been treating Megan for well over a year and am very proud of the progress she has made.
In that time she started at an aerial silks group doing some very impressive stuff, been awarded her black belt in Karate, exceeded expectations in her GCSEs and has started college studying psychology, law and criminology.
Having been able to continue with my exercises and her Karate AND introduce aerial silks I believe has hugely improved Megan’s physical ability, strength and health overall.
Mild discomforts from time to time feels much more acceptable and an added bonus, I can’t recall the last time she had a migraine or a epileptic seizure!
Megan and her Mum have been brilliant, always bringing good energy and humour even when things felt dire. I’ve genuinely enjoyed seeing this young lady grow and hearing of her progress in negotiating this thing called life with me.
I am excited to see what this young power house can bring in the future!
Thanks for reading.
Until next month…
Motion Forword ⏩⏩
Nathan