So, to help avoid that from here are 3 things to keep in mind.

1 – Take regular breaks. 

It might sound obvious but the majority of pains and injuries happen from people doing Too much, Too soon. Every now and again, get up and change position, go get a drink of water or rest for a few minutes.

This is help you break up the repetitive positions that you can end in when gardening and bring your joints through a full range of motion.

Your body will thank you for it and in the end, you will be able to garden for longer.

2 – Use aids to help

Use a pad to kneel on or a stool to sit on if you have to spend a long time in a crouched position.

Again, it might seem very simple and obvious but it’s very easy to start a job thinking that it may only take a few minutes, and 60 minutes later you are still in the same position. This will cause overload on your body as again it is too much, too soon. 

So, if you have to weed or plant then bring a few aids with you to make it easier. 

3 – Stretch out that evening and the next morning

This can be as simple as 5 minutes of stretching that evening and again the next morning. 

This will bring your joints through their range of movement and will can help to prevent them stiffening up and causing pain. 

Also, if you are very stiff and sore the next day, take note of this and it would be advisable to take it easier that day in the garden. 

Like any exercise or sport, when you haven’t done it in a while, you will be a little sore and stiff the next day. If you are a little out of shape, except to feel even more sore and stiff. 

Treat gardening in the same  way and it treat you well in return. 

If you are reading these tips too late and you are in need of some help with aches and pains then you can get in touch. Call the clinic or you can book online by clicking the link the link below.

Derek  

BOOK Your Appointment online  by clocking here 

Have you been told that this could be down to your posture and in order to prevent this back pain from happening you should sit up straight with ‘better posture’?.

If you answered yes then please read on because I’m going to share a simple bit of advice that could make your day a lot easier.

We can’t avoid sitting.

You’ll probably have heard or read some quotes that say ‘sitting is the new smoking’ and is a serious health risk of the 21st century and while I feel this may be a little over the top, too much sitting and not enough varied movement is not ideal for anyone.

However, we all have to sit for often long periods of time at some stage, whether we like it or not. So, instead of just bashing sitting and saying that you shouldn’t sit for too long, let’s look at a way that we can make it easier for you, especially if you suffer from back ache.

How can you sit without causing back ache.

In order to sit comfortably for long periods without ending up with back pain, you need to sit in a way that avoids putting excessive tension on your low back .

Often when people come to the clinic with back pain they will be sitting in an opposite way to this…… very straight and upright ……because that is how we have been told we should sit …or else we will end up with a bad back.

But there is a big problem with this and it is often not the best way to sit if you suffer with back pain, and here is why.

The problem with ‘good posture’

If you sit up really straight in what traditionally would be called ‘good posture’, you will feel two ridges of muscles sticking out either side of the spine. They will feel quite tense.

If you stay in this position for a long time, those muscles will start to get tired and you will find that you will naturally want to slouch a little.

What you will actually find is that when you slouch a little bit, the tension will go out of those muscles and your back will feel more relaxed, which will make sitting for long periods much more comfortable for you.

So, if you complain of low back after sitting, then you can try this out.

How to sit with a ‘relaxed posture’

The first thing you need to do is to sit right into the chair. Make sure your lower back up to your mid back area is in contact with the back of the chair.

Now allow the rest of your back, from the mid back area up, to relax. This DOES NOT need to touch against the chair.

If you struggle to relax your upper back, a good tip to do is to take three exhales or three sighs to help it drop and slouch a little.

When you do this, put your hands behind your back and you SHOULD NOT feel those ridges of muscle either side of your spine. They should feel soft and relaxed.

From there you want to breathe in a calm and relaxed way, in and out through your nose as you sit and go about your days work.

Of course, it is advisable to change position every now and then, or get up and move around if you have the option to do so.

While, there is no such thing as the perfect posture (in my eyes anyways) , I do believe that the best posture is one that is able to adapt to different positions and do not hold excessive tension in a particular area.

If you need help reach out

If you, or someone you know, are struggling with back pain when driving or sitting for long periods then please know that this can be helped.

You can contact us by calling 09064 66761 to see how we can help or you can book a physio appointment online at www.midlandsphysio.ie

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Back Pain Example:

One patient that springs to mind was a lady who came to see early on in the year with low back pain. (for the sake of this blog I’m going to call her Joan, which, of course,  is not her real name). Joan was at her 5 year olds nieces birthday party and was helping her family to tidy and pick up the leftovers from the fun that was had over the hours previously. 

As she bent down  to simply pick up a burst balloon from the ground she got a sharp pain across her lower back and immediately thought ‘oh no, this doesn’t feel good.’ Her back felt like it locked up and she struggled to straighten back up again. 

Of course, her family rushed to her aid and started to make a fuss over her which made her feel like she was closer to her 80th birthday rather than approaching her 40th.

She went home to lie down and slept well that night only to wake up feeling stiffer and more painful the next morning. She went to her GP who gave her a cert off work and a script for a nice concoction of muscles relaxants, anti inflammatories and pain relief and told her to rest up in bed for the week. 

Taking Action

Joan called the clinic about 5 days later on a recommendation from a friend as the stiffness and  pain was not getting better and she needed to get back to work soon. Driving was not possible because of the medication and getting in and of the car would have been too difficult.

After listening to Joan’s story I found that she had a minor back complaint a couple of years ago but it cleared up within a week or so. The only other issue she had was from a bad ankle sprain she had 3 years ago.

Her job was desk based but she went to the gym twice a week and walked when she could. The only thing she noticed recently was a slight niggle in her right hip when she got out of her car two weeks ago and thought ‘oh, that was strange’ but didn’t notice it after that.

What I Found

When I assessed her movements, she was quite stiff and had back pain on her left side when trying to bend over from a standing position. She also wasn’t happy putting full weight through her right leg when reaching to the side.  Her right hip movement brought on left side back pain and the muscles around her right leg were weaker than her left leg…..

BUT she could bend quite well through her back when sitting down which gave me more confidence that this was more of a lower body issue that was affecting her back rather than purely a back issue caused by injury to her back.

I was now more curious about her previous ankle sprain on her right leg as it seemed that her left sided back pain was being brought on by positions that tested her right leg but her left side was fine.

The Result

To cut a long story short, I set about helping her right leg move better and tolerate more tension. I also did a little bit of work on her back to help it relax but the majority was focused on giving her body back confidence and reassurance on her right leg. And guess what, it worked. 

Joan left that day bending more easily and over the next few days it continued to improve with the exercises I gave her and she was back driving and back to work in a few days. By the next session her pain had reduced a lot but it took another couple of sessions to get her moving without fear and with confidence to return to her circuit classes again. 

Throughout the treatments Joan kept saying ‘I still find it hard to believe that it was the right side that was the problem.’ 

Conclusion to Joan’s back problem.

Thankfully Joan returned to her exercise classes without any trouble and her back has not given any issues in the 9 months and hopefully it will continue this way if her body stays balanced and her back avoids getting overloaded. 

Find the true reason behind the pain for lasting results

Joan’s back pain may well have settled with time or with another type of treatment such as massage, chiropractor, or more medication. But, the problem is that it may not have stayed that way if the imbalance in her right leg was not addressed.

If she returned to exercise and circuit classes and her right leg was still not happy taking tension due to the old ankle sprain, then her left hip or back may have got overloaded again and the problem could have returned shortly afterwards.

This is where finding and addressing the real reason behind the back pain is so important for a lasting solution and in order to find this an individual assessment is necessary. 

This is what I do with all my patients at Midlands Physio and I find people do like to understand why their body has reacted in that way and to have the ability to actively take charge in doing something to prevent it from recurring.

If you need help then get in touch:

If you are struggling with pain that is not going away and you have been focusing a lot of attention on the painful area then hopefully this blog has made you rethink your approach.

If you need some help or would like to book an assessment at my clinic then fill out the form below and we will let you know how we can help. 

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We all know the importance of movement and exercise , yet so many people can struggle to fit it in to their day. With everyone back to what seems to be as busy as they were before the pandemic, exercise can often get knocked down the list of priorities that need to be accomplished that day.

Or a common scenario can be that you say to yourself that ‘I’m going to get out and do some exercise this evening when I get home’ but often that doesn’t happen for a number of reasons.

Maybe you get home late from work…

Maybe you have to bring the kids to a football match ….

Maybe you forgot you have to go to a meeting …..

Of maybe you are just too dam tired to do anything and as soon as your bum hits that couch you are getting back up again.

If this has happened to you then don’t worry.

You are not alone.

I’ve been there myself and I hear it from my patients all the time in my clinic. So, to help you get more movement and exercise into your day, I have put together 5 simple tips that will hopefully reignite some energy, motivation or even something you used to do yourself, but you have lost track of. You can watch the full video above or if you would prefer, read below for a summary of each tip.

The morning time can work really well. Before the kids get up, before the busyness of life gets in the way, before you start checking the phone and before the emails come in. If you get up half an hour to 45 minutes earlier you can almost be guaranteed to get in a 20 – 30 minutes of exercise. 

This could consist of a walk in the morning sun, a run, light stretching or some yoga type movements or you could lift weights or do a HIIT session. 

But, the beauty is that if you get it done in the morning, at least you have it done for the day now matter how busy the day gets.

Tip 2 is to set up your environment to make exercising as easy as possible. Your environment could be your house and to set it up to ensure success you could have a room where you can have a mat out on the floor and have your exercise clothes beside it. Or you could have a couple of weights or a resistant band out on display so you can do a few exercises whenever you see it.

The aim is to take away any obstacles and try to make exercising as easy as possible. The opposite to this is having to go and first clear your room, find and put out the yoga mat and search for some suitable clothes to change into. These are all obstacles that can get in the way, distract you and stop you from the exercise that you had planned to do.

Whereas if it is easy, if you see the mat on the floor, if your runners are easy to find, if your track suit or your shorts are laid out and you are prepared, then it’s much easier.

Tip 3 Is to attach an exercise to an existing daily habit. An example of this could be when you get up in the morning and as soon as you walk out of your bedroom door, a yoga mat is waiting for you ready to do some movements.

It could be that everytime you brush your teeth in the morning you do 3 minutes of movement afterwards. After you drop the kids to school you come back home and  straight away you do  10 minutes of exercise. Or It could be when you come in from work and you’re getting changed out of your work clothes you put on your exercise gear  and do 10 minutes of exercise then.

 It doesn’t need to be crazy, we are just looking for ways to get an extra 5 minutes here and there. But you’re attaching it to something that you do every day and the chances of you doing it are far greater. 

Tip 4 is to be realistic about what you can fit into your lifestyle. Okay. This can be a huge one, especially after New Year. People make these New Year resolutions, they go way overboard, they last about 20 days and all of a sudden they realise that they are exhausted and say ‘I can’t do this. It doesn’t fit my lifestyle.’ So you have to be realistic about what you can fit into your current lifestyle.

People often ask me ‘what’s the best form of exercise? Is it swimming?’  My first answer to this is ‘can you swim?’ and then ‘are you a good swimmer?’ If they say no, then it’s probably not the best form of exercise.

Also, if the swimming pool is half an hour away, that’s a half hour to get to the pool, you want at least a half hour swim, allow time to get changed and time to drive back again. That could be two hours out of your day and if you are busy at the moment that may not be realistic to stick with consistently. 

So try and be realistic about what you can do. I aim to do 30 minutes of exercise every morning at 7.30am during weekdays. It means I can be finished by 8 and have breakfast with the kids and be in the clinic by 9. I’ve been doing it for almost a year now and it works for me so your challenge is to find a time that consistently works for you too. 

If your goal is to get more movement into your day and to try and get into the habit of exercising more, then a great way to start off is to think ‘little and often’.

What you’re also trying to do is make exercising a habit and if you can do small chunks of exercise little and often, the chances of you exercising regularly becomes greater. It also has cardiovascular benefits for your body as you will regularly get your heart rate up with small bouts of exercise.

Some simple examples could be, every time you boil the kettle for a cup of tea, do 10 push ups.
If you are working from home, whenever you get up from your chair do 10 squats. There are loads of opportunities during the day to fit in a few minutes of movement and by the end of the day those minutes will have added up. 

So that’s my 5 tips. As I said, nothing groundbreaking but hopefully there is something there that will motivate and inspire you to exercise more if you feel that you have let your fitness and movement levels dip.

If you are struggling to exercise because of pain or injury and you need some help then you can book an appointment by clicking the link here https://midlands-physio-and-back-pain-clinic.eu1.cliniko.com/bookings

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But over the last 3 years I have definitely seen a vast increase in the number of people with neck, shoulder and upper back pains. ( no surprise it coincides with the stress and challenges of Covid and more people working from home)

A lot of the people I see can complain of an ache between the shoulder blades that they can’t quite get at, stiffness or crackling sounds, and this can be accompanied with headaches or pain going down the arm also.

Going for a massage or applying heat can feel good and can help to relieve some pain in the area but often this can be short lived.

So what can be done to resolve the problem and get lasting pain relief.?

The First Step:

The first thing is to identify what brought on the pain. Was there a specific action such as a lift or a sudden movement, has there been an increase in stress, poor sleep recently or was it brought on by repetitive movement or even a lack of movement.

How the pain came about will help give us clues into structures that are involved and what is best to get a solution.

If there is no specific cause then previous pains and injuries are very important to know about and a movement assessment will be necessary to see what areas are getting overloaded and what is not doing enough.

The effect of stress and inefficient breathing

If you have been very busy, not sleeping well and under a lot of stress recently, then it may be an issue where you are not breathing efficiently and are using muscles around your neck and shoulder muscles excessively to breathe.

This can be very common and a lot of people are unaware of it and if you are spending 7- 8 hours per night sleeping while breathing heavily and using accessory muscles to breathe like this, it can contribute to neck pain and stiffness.

Often people can use this same breathing strategy when sat behind a desk at work. This is where strategies and exercises to help you breathe more efficiently and manage your stress better throughout the day will be very helpful.

Identifying the root cause is key

Finding the root cause behind someone’s neck or shoulder pain is really important if you want to get lasting change and overcome your neck pain. This is what we do in our initial assessment when we are seeing someone for the first time or with a new complaint.

Once we have identified the reason behind the pain then mapping out the steps to get a solution becomes a lot easier. At Midlands Physio Clinic we use a step by step system to help your patients get back to the things they love and need to do.

Do you need some help?

If you are struggling with neck pain, stiffness or shoulder pain that is not getting better and is having an impact on your quality of life then get in touch .

You can book an initial assessment at our clinic by clicking the link below on our online booking.

https://midlands-physio-and-back-pain-clinic.eu1.cliniko.com/bookings

Or if you prefer to speak to us first then fill in the form below to apply for a free phone consultation first.

Free 15 Minute Phone Consultation

Fill in your details below to apply for a free 15 minute phone consultation to get advise on what is best to help you with your pain or injury.

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They will often say that their knee got gradually worse over time. Less movement and more painful to the point where it is affecting their everyday activities and preventing them from walking, exercising or doing their everyday tasks.

In these cases, we need to find out what is bringing on their knee pain to get clear on what needs to be done to help them. To do this, we follow our step by step system that you read about in out last blog on knee pain.

Below you will find three short video clips from my latest knee pain webinar on the steps needed to overcome knee pain. In these videos, I go through some of the steps we take and about what is needed to overcome knee pain. I hope you find them helpful.

If you are struggling with knee pain and want to find out what can be done to help then you can fill out a form at the bottom of this page to apply for a free 15 minute consultation.

Of course if you are fed up with living with knee pain and need to get back to pain free movement then the best thing to do is to an initial assessment at our clinic and get back on the road to pain free living as soon as possible.

Identifying the true stressor behind your knee pain

If there has been no specific injury to your knee and your knee pain has come on gradually, then we need to find out why this has happened.

The first step is to understand the patient’s story to find out what their life looks like, their injury and medical history and what events may have led to them developing knee pain.

We then need to piece this together with the information gained from a movement assessment. This will then help us to identify the true reason behind someone’s knee pain and importantly, what needs to be done to help find a solution.

If you like the content in this video be sure to subscribe to our page and sign up to my weekly newsletter to receive updates about weekly content.

What is causing my knee pain? Here are 5 things to look out for:

If you have hurt your knee or if you are struggling with some knee pain lately, you may not be sure how bad it is or if you need further medical help. 

To help you with this,  here are some questions you should ask yourself. 

1. Was there a ‘pop’ sound at the time of injury?

2. Was there much swelling to your knee at the time and is it currently still swollen and not going down?

3. Is your knee locking on certain movements or at random times during the day?

4. Does it feel like it is giving way when you walk or put pressure on your knee?

5. Is the pain constant and not letting up?

If you have answered yes to one or more of these questions and your knee pain is not improving then it is advisable to go and seek further help in the form of a physiotherapist or physical therapist, GP or healthcare practitioner. 

If you are living in the midlands area in Ireland you can of course book a consultation and assessment at my clinic to help answer these questions.

You can book online or contact us at https://midlandsphysio.ie/contact-us/  

Most common causes of knee pain that I see in my clinic.

When someone comes to see me in the clinic with knee pain, often the first thing they will want to know is “what is causing my knee pain?”

To answer this the first thing that I need to understand is the patient’s story and what has happened that has resulted in them experiencing knee pain. 

Most of the time there are two scenarios that have led to knee pain.

1. A specific trauma or injury such as bang, fall, or twist.
2. No specific injury and the knee pain has come on gradually for no obvious reason.

Of course there can also be medical reasons such as gout or infections that will need medical intervention to reduce the swelling and arthritis can also be a cause of knee pain. 

If there has been a specific injury to their knee such as a twist, bang or fall to the knee that has resulted in swelling, pain or stiffness, then the answer to their pain may be coming from some of the structures inside the joint, such as cartilage, bone or ligament.

In these cases, I will need to assess the level of injury and if they need further investigation such as an x-ray or scan. We then need to look at settling the symptoms and follow the best management protocols for healing and recovery.  

But very often my patients will not have had a specific injury to their knee and the pain will have  ‘come on by itself’’.

In this case, we need to investigate a little more to uncover the root cause behind the pain, which often is not the knee itself but somewhere else in the body that is leading to the knee getting overloaded and becoming painful. 

Finding A Solution

Once we have the key information pieced together from the persons story we then bring them through our 5 step treatment pathway below.

The first step involves understanding the person’s story as I mentioned already.

The 2nd step involves a movement assessment to see how your body is moving, where any imbalances may be and what needs to be helped to offload the knee.

The third step involves undoing these imbalances by using hands on treatment and exercises to reduce the pain and improve the movement.

Step 4 involves building solid foundations around the joints of the ankle, knee and hip to ensure that all the key areas are working together efficiently and doing the job they are meant to do.

The 5th step is really what ensures long lasting change and preventing the problem from recurring. This is where we build strength and resilience to allow you to confidently return to the stresses and challenges of your sport or everyday life, without fear and worry of the problem returning.

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This March I will be starting exercise classes in Moate with the aim of helping people improve their fitness, strength and resilience in a safe and progressive way to prevent the risk of injury.

These classes will be suitable for both past patients of the clinic and non patients.

The classes will focus on key exercises to build good movement habits, strength in key areas and good mobility to help you move well and feel strong. They will also have the added benefit of increasing your fitness levels.

There will be 2 Levels of classes depending on fitness levels.

A –  Lower level of fitness or haven’t been exercising as much recently. Want to start slower and build up slowly

B – Those who have a baseline level of fitness – have been exercising or taken part in exercise classes over the last 6 months.

Where and When:

Classes will take place on Monday and Thursday evenings in the Carmelite from 7pm for a 6 week term (you can choose your preferred day in the form below)

You can choose which day suits you best or attend both if you want to train twice a week.

The 6 week course will follow a plan of:

1 – Building solid foundations by getting key muscle muscle group working together
2 – Improve mobility in key areas
3 – Improve resilience and reduce injury risk by improving strength
3 – Improve fitness levels
5 – Improve confidence and movement with more speed and change of direction

Starting date:  Monday 13th March 2023

Class length: 50 minutes

Cost :
Pay as you go:  10 euro per class

Or pay for 6 session term : 50 euro (1 class per week)
(90 euro if you wish to attend 2 classes per week)

If you are interested and want to secure your place on the term please click on the details in the form below. (numbers are limited )

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• Monday - 7pm
• Monday 7.50pm
• Thursday 7pm
• Thursday 7.50pm

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• A - Lower level - Haven't exercised much lately, would prefer a slower pace to begin with
• B- Medium/high level - I exercise regularly and have taken part in circuit classes in the last 6 months

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Every year, towards the end of January, we see an increase in people come to Midlands Physio & Back Pain Clinic who have hurt themselves from returning to the gym or exercise a little too eagerly after the New Year. A lot of these injuries can be prevented by having the right information and know-how. 

In this blog I am going to go through 3 common reasons I see that can lead to gym or exercise related injury and what can be done to help prevent them. I also held a webinar on this last week and you can watch the recording of the full 30 minute webinar below also.

3 Common Reasons People Suffer Injury.

Three of the common reasons that I see people suffer injury from returning to exercise are:

1. Training Load 
2. Technique 
3. Previous Injury

Let’s look at them in a little more detail. 

1. Training Load

Training Load is huge when it comes to preventing injury. It is so important to get the balance right between doing enough to stimulate growth and fitness and not enough to risk tissue injury. 

I go into this more in the webinar but basically you want to avoid spikes in activity and gradually increase your exercise load in a safe way. This not only includes the duration of how long your exercise for but also the intensity you exercise at. 

2. Technique

Good technique helps to manage load and reactions on your body effectively. This is important when taking up a new exercise or activity and especially important when lifting weights. A good tip is start off slowly and use body weight only before adding speed and weight.

3 – Previous Injury. 

What previous pains or injuries are something I am very interested in knowing when anyone comes in to see me at Midlands Physio Clinic. Ideally, you want your joints and muscles coordinating efficiently with each other when you move or lift something.  When this happens your body feels safe and balanced.

When this balance is altered, due to previous injury or repetitive stress, it can cause imbalances in muscles and joints. This can cause overload which can lead to stiffness, pain and injury. 

7 Tips to help prevent injury

You can watch the webinar below at the 22 minute mark to hear more information on these but in brief here are 7 tips you can take away to help prevent injury and keep your exercise and health goals this Winter.

1- Know your current fitness level and where you are starting from

2- Include a warm up and don’t stretch cold muscles

3- Do body weight exercise first before adding weight

4 – Vary your exercise to prevent overload

5 – Learn good technique especially when starting a new exercise or lifting weight 

6 – Schedule Recovery days

7 – Listen to your body

To help prevent injury or gym related injury, watch the full 30 minute recording of my recent injury prevention webinar below to learn more. If you have any questions on the webinar then reach out and let me know. 

Coming Soon : Brand New Physio Led Exercise Classes

This March we are starting out brand new physio led exercise classes (click here to learn more)

Of course, if you are starting to feel some aches or pains creeping in after exercise and don’t want to let them get any worse and turn into an injury,  then please get in touch also..

You can call the clinic on 09064 66761 

Or you can book an appointment directly below