Exercise, injuries and physio during lockdown.
Exercise, injuries and physio during lockdown.
Geordie Fella: “Week Ten in the Big Brother house. Malcom is trying to do Joe Wickes with a disc that slipped whilst trimming his beds and borders. Jayne is in the diary room.“
Jayne: “It’s eviction night and, I’m sorry Big Brother, but I really really want to be evicted. I can’t face any more. Really. Oli’s become obsessed by running to trigpoints. It’s all he ever talks about. He’s never shown any interest in trigpoints before. I don’t know what’s come over him. And JJ’s out Dancing In Driveways at all hours. Thinks she’s Bowie and Jagger that one. No good will come of it, let me tell you.”
Let’s face it, lockdown has upset all our exercise regimes. Those that trained two or three times a day are training once, but for longer. Those that didn’t train at all are suddenly training two or three times a day. Regular club runs, runs, walks or bikes with friends, exercise commutes, gyms and classes have been replaced by a plethora of online resources - Joe Wicks, HIIT and backyard marathons.
And suddenly everything’s now a challenge. Why is that? Last week my daughter and I decided to run a combined 79 miles in honour of Karen Darke. This week we’re doing a combined 79 pull-ups a day. Nuts. Completely Nuts. Is the telly really that bad these days?
Any regular reader of these blogs will know that sudden variations in your exercise programs can quickly lead to injury. Patients we’ve talked to during lockdown are struggling with the balance of going gung ho at different, new activities interspersed with spells where the mental strain of lockdown takes its toll and they struggle with motivating themselves to do anything.
Classic conditions for the dreaded and deadly Yo-yo.
Our bodies need time to adjust to these changes and, as with anything, we need to make sure we don’t over do it. So whether you’ve suddenly increased your pavement pounding or your pilates-popping make sure you are balancing your efforts:
Not every session should be intense.
Even if you're bored and with time on your hands make sure you have easy, recovery days. Maybe walk or cycle instead of running.
Be inventive - if you live in a hilly area then walk or bike to somewhere flat for an easier run. Mash up walking and running to extend your range and maybe get a bit more peace of mind rather than just going for the endorphin hit from a hard session. Maybe even see how many trigpoints you can find.
If you do have an injury, don't try to exercise through it. We're here to help and by taking action early we can help you try to keep exercising, rather than being forced to rest completely.
During lockdown we’ve helped many patients work through problems, dealing with new injuries caused by sudden increases in exercise through to long term injuries that patients finally have an opportunity to resolve. We’ve managed patients with back and neck problems, calf strains, ankle sprains, knee injuries, achilles problems, painful shoulders and elbows.
In many cases remote appointments have been just as effective as face to face. In others, where some hands-on treatment would have been ideal, we’ve found ways to help our patients to mimic the physical treatment we would have normally given.
As Physiotherapists we are governed by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists. Following the Prime Minister’s announcement on 10th May they have said that physiotherapy practices can reopen, but there is a long list of best practices related to PPE and cleaning that mean reopening is somewhat impractical for now.
Don’t despair. Remember we’ve been doing remote appointments for years and have now become even more proficient at appointments via phone calls, video calls, and zoom. Pete Hodgkinson’s testimonial gives you an example of how it works.
So whether your injury is recent or you’ve been experiencing chronic pain for years and now have time and space to address it, please don’t hesitate to get in touch to discuss how we can help.