Hawkes Physiotherapy Blog

The first thing that runners think of when they start to run is footwear. Well as you can see from this current blog series it’s not all about this. That being said, this article will examine this along with orthotics (insoles). Obviously this subject area is huge, especially the orthotics side so we will only be scratching the surface. You may or may not know but people have different foot posture types and these may need certain things from either a trainer or an orthotic. So what do I need then and why? Well let’s answer why first. Injury prevention: The causes of shin splints are many but it is considered that training methods, training surfaces, muscle dysfunction/inflexibility, shoe design & the biomechanics of running all impact on an increased injury risk if these aspects are incorrect. The different foot types are generally overpronation, oversupination and neutral. Each type has certain characteristics and needs different things from footwear...

What is flexibility? Flexibility is defined as the ability to move body joints through a full range of motion. Muscle flexibility contributes to overall flexibility, as muscle is responsible for the movement of the joints. Primarily the ligaments limit excessive movement at our joints but muscle plays its part especially in 2 joint muscles! Think about it, can you touch your toes? What is the most likely limiting factor? Hamstrings? Sciatic nerve? So what do I need flexibility for? If muscles, nerves, ligaments etc.  are too short for the movements that you use and need, then it will lead to decreased performance, abnormal movement and injury (either cumulative or in a one off event). How do I know if I need to improve my flexibility? Everybody is different. It’s not a one size fits all. Ideally you need to be screened for your sport as each sport and each person is different with certain demands on them. What is screening? This is an examination of the...

Here is the latest article in the running blog series. This particular article will focus on nutrition for runners. The average individual expends 1,800 to 3,000 calories per day but some athletes can use more than 10,000 calories depending on the sport (Wilmore & Costill 1994). So that’s quite a window (3,000 to 10,000) So that’s not overly helpful . What do the professional athletes eat? Men consumed 3,055 calories per day, while the women consumed 2,391. On average, they got 27% of their calories from fat, 20% from protein, and 55% from carbohydrate (Erdman et al 2013). However these athletes weren’t all endurance athletes but it gives us a good idea. So what do the elite Kenyan distance runners consume? Well it depends on the gender, the distance they run and the bodyweight that they are, but generally it’s around 5000 calories on average and this is broken down as follows: About 10.4 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight (Onywer...

Firstly, you need to know what core stability is. The medical definition is the following: Core stability is defined as the ability to control the position and motion of the trunk over the pelvis to allow optimum production, transfer and control of force and motion to the terminal segment in integrated athletic activities. Core muscle activity is best understood as the pre-programmed integration of local, single-joint muscles and multi-joint muscles to provide stability and produce motion. Where does it come from? Core stability started in the late 1990’s. It was derived from studies that demonstrated a change in timing of the trunk muscles in back injury and chronic lower back pain (CLBP) patients. However, there have been assumptions on how this relates to injury prevention and sporting performance: Certain muscles are more important for stabilisation of the spine, in particular transverse abdominis (TrA): Transverse abdominis is absent or ...

Obviously running techniques will differ from person to person, likewise a marathon runner with have a different technique than a 100m sprinter but we will discuss things more generally then it is up to you to add your personal tweaks to it to suit what you do. Of late the issue with running technique is that everyone is fixated on barefoot running or forefoot running. Well this article will try to cover this issue but trust me it’s not all about the feet! Due to this current trend lots of runners are trying to turn themselves into forefoot runners but many runners aren't ready for it and actually may not even need or benefit from it. If you know that you will benefit from this change then you need to learn to become more efficient (lighter) within your heel strike firstly and then to shorten your stride length gradually. At each stage the change needs to become second nature before changing. Finally you can start to change the way the foot lands to mid foot and if...

As a Physiotherapist I see many runners and generally I have observed that it is rare that any of these runners actually do any strengthening exercise. Even when they say they do, closer examination finds they aren't really and they are using too light of a resistance / weight and due to this, the effect that they are creating in muscular endurance. Some runners say, why do I need strength as surely the load isn't that great? Well daily activities place a lot of load through the body, for example the hip joint withstands 2610 pressure per square inch (PSI) going up the stairs (Car tyre pressure 29 PSI)! Remember this is only walking! In running your knee cap force is 3 times your body weight! If you squat and jump then the load through your kneecap is even more, with 6 times your body weight (Reid 1992). So as you can see your body is taking a pounding! So if you have stronger muscles then they can absorb some of this load: The knee is the weight...

Running is becoming more popular as a form of exercise in the general population. This is likely to be due to the fact that it is cheap and accessible. However issues can arise when people who have never run or haven’t run in a while, just put on some trainers and go out and run.  This blog series will examine the research on running related injury, injury prevention (Strength, core stability, trainer selection, running technique etc.), what to do when you are injured and how to get back to running post injury. This part is an introduction to the series and will detail the injuries and the incidence of these injuries. Whereas the next part will educate you on what you can do to prevent them amongst other things. So how do we get injured? Injury and musculoskeletal pain syndromes are seldom caused by isolated events, but are the consequences of habitual imbalances in the movement system (think cumulative build up). This point is particularly key in running ...