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Myodetox

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Education

Protect Your Hamstrings


If you were to ask any individual to show you a stretch for the body, there’s a 99% chance they would bend over to reach their toes with their hands. This universal flexibility exercise is known to stretch the hamstrings.

But what do the hamstrings do, and why are they prone to strains? Here, we’ll dive into why you should be aware of hamstring strains and what you can do about them.




What Are the Hamstrings?

The hamstring muscles are three muscles found at the back of the thigh. Their main function is to bend the knee, otherwise known as flexion. An easy example of their movement is bringing your feet to your buttock. Though they function to bend the knee, they’re also stabilizers for walking, running, and absorbing impact from a jump.

The hamstrings are made up of the biceps femoris (the outside hamstring), semitendinosus, and semimembranosus muscles. All three muscles attach at the hip and knee, essentially crossing two different joints. Therefore, they not only contribute to bending of the knee, but extension of the hips (working alongside the glutes).

During walking and running, the hamstrings play a role in the heel phase in which the leading foot makes initial contact with the ground, absorbing the energy from the ground to protect the knee and hips. Furthermore, it helps pull the center of mass forward, propelling forward motion.

However, when your feet make initial contact with the ground (often starting with the heel), the hamstrings are placed in their most stretched position underload. This leads to an eccentric contraction, where the hamstrings undergo load in a lengthened position, risking strain if the force is strong enough.




hamstring muscles


What Are Hamstring Strains?
Strains to the hamstring muscles are the most common muscle injury in athletes and everyday people. They are sometimes known as “pulled hamstrings”, and most prevalent in sports like sprinting, track & field, soccer, and basketball. Hamstring strains make up 12-16% of athletic muscle injuries, and have a reinjury rate of 22-34%. They are typically seen in males more than females.

The mechanism of injury is often associated with overload placed on the hamstring in a lengthened position, followed by a quick contraction, such as the initial contact and shock absorption at the heel while running.

Severe strains can lead to partial or complete tears of the hamstring. These are graded from 1 to 3:
  • Grade 1: mild pain with some swelling, with minimal loss of range and strength. These typically take 2-3 weeks to fully heal and return-to-sport.

  • Grade 2: moderate pain, inflammation and bruising, with tears to the tissue that lead to a loss of range and strength. These typically require 4-8 weeks to fully heal and return-to-sport.

  • Grade 3: complete tear of the muscle, or musculotendon point with severe pain, swelling, and a complete lack of function. These are typically surgically managed, and may require 3-6 months for full healing and return-to-sport.


    hamstrings



    Who Is Most at Risk of Hamstring Strains?
    Those most at risk of developing a hamstring strain show:

  • Decreased flexibility and range of motion.
  • Decreased strength and endurance.
  • History of previous hamstring injury.
  • History of low back pain.
  • Poor lumbopelvic stability and control.
  • Heel striking with running gait.
  • Improper or lack warm-up.

    There are many factors that may relate to the development or recurrence of hamstring strain. Males aged 16 to 25 years old, with asymmetrical differences in function, are at most risk. Identifying areas of opportunity is key, and should be done with your physical therapist, chiropractor, or massage therapist.

    What Do Hamstring Strains Feel Like?
    Those experiencing hamstrings strains may have:
  • Pain and cramping at the back of the thigh with bending of the knee and extension of the hip.
  • Pain, muscle cramps, and dysfunction with walking and sitting.
  • Decreased range of motion at the knee into flexion.
  • Bruising 24-48 hours after injury.
  • Grade 2-3 strains and tears may have a palpable rupture, with significant muscle spasms.

    Your physician, physical therapist, chiropractor, or massage therapist can help differentiate your hamstring strain, review the involvement of the sciatic nerve, and help start the first steps into rehabilitation or prevention. Your physician may order imaging to determine the extent of damage, if necessary.

    How Do You Treat and Manage Hamstring Strains?
    Thankfully, the majority of strains can be managed conservatively. Grade 1 and 2 strains will usually require rest, ice for 10-20 minutes at a time, activity modification, and pain medications directed by your physician. Grade 3 strains may require surgical intervention. In the early stages, rehabilitation is meant to focus on protecting the tissue, and minimizing any loss of motion and strength.

    Early on, your physical therapist should guide you through progressive and safe exercises focused on strength and re-establishing movement. Though some pain is expected, each exercise progression into further mobility and functional strength should be as pain free as possible. Exercises will not only focus on range of motion and strength, but trunk stability and movement retraining specific to your activity. This is key for reducing other extraneous factors that can contribute to hamstring injuries (e.g. lumbopelvic instability, poor strength at the glutes and quadriceps).

    Hands-on therapy, such as myofascial techniques, acupuncture, and dry needling may complement therapy by reducing muscle spasms and pain along areas of the body experiencing overuse. Once tissue is healed, further application of hands-on therapy may help improve range of motion at the hamstring, and bring further input to the body for functional movements.

    Protect your hamstrings this season!

    Find your nearest Myodetox clinic

    • 2 min read

    Myodetox

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    Education

    What Is Frozen Shoulder?


    If you’ve experienced a serious injury to the shoulder, like a rotator cuff tear, you may have been warned about developing adhesive capsulitis, otherwise known as “frozen shoulder”.

    This condition gets the name “frozen shoulder” due to the stiffness and pain it causes.




    What Is Frozen Shoulder?
    Frozen shoulder is significant shoulder mobility restriction and pain that develops slowly, and can sometimes last for 1-2 years. It typically develops during long periods of rest (e.g. post-fracture and post-surgery).

    The shoulder joint has connective tissue surrounding it. This tissue typically serves to stabilize the ball-and-socket joint of the shoulder, and acts as a support structure. With this condition the connective tissue becomes immobilized and inflamed.

    stiff shoulder


    Who Gets Frozen Shoulder?
    Frozen shoulder affects up to 3% of the US population. Of all the shoulder conditions that cause immobility and pain after the age of 40, adhesive capsulitis is the leader. The major risk factors for developing it include:

  • Non-dominant hand/arm.
  • Rotator cuff pathology.
  • Glenohumeral fracture.
  • Systemic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, thyroid dysfunction, cardiovascular disease, and Parkinson’s disease.

    frozen shoulder


    What Causes Frozen Shoulder?
    There are two primary causes for frozen shoulder, but the mechanism of development is largely unknown. Primary adhesive capsulitis is idiopathic – pain and immobility gradually develop without any specific cause.

    Secondary adhesive capsulitis is associated with systemic issues of the body such as diabetes mellitus, hormone issues, rotator cuff injuries, shoulder injuries, calcific tendinitis, cervical spondylosis, and strokes to name a few.

    What Are The Symptoms?
    The main symptoms of adhesive capsulitis involve movement restriction and pain. There are three stages involving these symptoms:

  • Freezing stage: shoulder range of motion begins to diminish, and general movement (particularly overhead and behind the back) movements become painful. This stage ranges from 1-9 months.

  • Frozen stage: shoulder movements become even more stiff, though pain begins to reduce. Functional use (e.g. reaching overhead, putting a coat on) becomes much more difficult. This stage ranges from 4-12 months.

  • Thawing stage: this is when movement and pain begin to improve, and previous loss of functional movements slowly return. This stage ranges from 5-24 months.

    How Do You Prevent and Manage It?
    Most cases of adhesive capsulitis develop during long periods of immobility such as healing from a shoulder break, stroke, or a post-surgical rotator cuff tear. For some it will develop without any associated cause. Regardless of cause, once safe, movement will be key.

    Maintaining health movement, strength, stability, and facilitating appropriate muscle recovery of the neck-back-shoulder complex is key.

    The physical therapy interventions that are most favorable focus on manual therapy, progressive stretching, and myofascial techniques to maintain optimal shoulder movement and strength. This is most important in frozen and thawing stage.

  • Myofascial techniques: focus on the muscle and fascial tension that builds with frozen shoulder, providing stimulus to aid in movement and recovery.

  • Progressive manual therapy: mixing joint mobilization, deep tissue massage, progressive stretching, and muscle energy techniques.

  • Exercise: focused on challenging and progressing range of motion, scapular stability, and strength for functional movements.

    Frozen shoulder is a long road for many, but the right treatment can get you back to moving at your best.

    Ready to start managing your shoulder mobility?

    Find your nearest location

    • 1 min read

    Dr. Nicole Chambers

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    Education

    3 Types of Shoulder Instability


    Learn the 3 types of shoulder instability to help prevent pain!

    Shoulder injuries are very common. Your shoulder is a highly mobile joint, imbalances in its stability and strength can easily lead to dislocations.




    3 Types Of Shoulder Instability
    Shoulder instability occurs when your muscles and ligaments are challenged to the point of pain and discomfort.
    There are three major types of instability: anterior, posterior, and multidirectional.

    1) Anterior
    Anterior instability occurs when the humeral head (e.g. the “ball” of the shoulder joint) translates forward. Primarily seen in athletes and males aged 15-30. Dislocations generally occur with an outstretched arm. Anterior is the most common form of instability.

    2) Posterior
    Posterior instability is less common but typically seen in overhead athletes like football, tennis, baseball, lacrosse, and water polo. Posterior instability is usually aggravated with the arm forward and across, under load.

    3) Multidirectional
    Multidirectional instability is not associated with trauma. This type of instability occurs when there is general instability in all directions of shoulder movement. People with this type of instability are typically “double-jointed”, hypermobile individuals and/or have developed chronic dislocations of the shoulder.
    Learn more about hypermobility here.





    How Do You Manage Shoulder Instability?
    Exercises dedicated to stabilization and neuromuscular control yield the best results. Managing shoulder instability requires specific strengthening and stabilization exercises that become natural to the individual.

    The progression of your exercises should train you up to positions in which the shoulder was previously vulnerable. The reaction time for your shoulder stability needs to become second nature, which will require significant work and time.

    Exercises should focus on the rotator cuff muscles, and the global movers of the shoulder. Training should focus on both open movements (e.g. overhead, unloaded movements like throwing), and planted movements (such as weight training, specialized push-ups, and core strengthening).


    Want To Work On Your Shoulder Stability?
    Book a session with me! I will assess your movements and set you up on a FutureProof plan to increase your mobility, reduce pain and prevent injury.

    Book your session today

    3 min read

    Gopi Kang

    Posted on

    Education

    3 Ways to Prevent Shin Splints


    We’ve all had them at one point.
    Shin splints can be the downside to a new workout regime.

    As we come into the warmer months, our time spent being active increases and so does the risk of shin splints.


    It’s estimated that 20% of the population experiences shin splints, increasing as we age. Preparing your body and understanding the causes of shin splints is the key to preventing pain.



    3 Ways To Prevent Shin Splints
    If you’ve been increasing your walks and runs, you may need to reduce or break up your volume. Do your best to not increase distance by more than 5% per week. Having an appropriate warm-up, mobility, strength, and recovery routine will do wonders for your shins.

    Mobility: Ensuring minimal tightness at the Achilles tendon, posterior calf muscles, and anterior shin muscles is key to minimizing shin splints. Focus on exercises to maximize your range. Try maximal rotations of the ankle, as well as calf stretches.

    Strength: Weakness with the posterior calf muscles may lead to overuse of the shin muscles. Focus on strengthening the soleus, gastrocnemius muscles, tibialis posterior muscles, and tibialis anterior.

    Warm-Up and Recovery: Foam rolling along the back of the calf muscles and front of the shin can provide stimulus to these muscle groups. This allows relaxation and nourishment to the muscle group with increased blood flow, pain relief, and improvement in range of motion.

    Finally, hands-in therapy involving joint mobilizations along the ankle, tibia, as well as myofascial treatments can provide relief of surrounding tissues contributing to shin splints. Using these ways to prevent shin splints will ensure you stay active all season long!




    What Are Shin Splints?
    Shin splints are an overuse and repetitive stress injury at the shin. It happens when the muscles surrounding the tibia (the larger lower leg bone) cannot recover or heal in response to repetitive contractions like walking, running, or hiking. Shin splints are medically known as medial tibial stress syndrome (they can also exist as anterior tibial stress syndrome).

    They are a common complaint amongst runners new and old – nearly 70% of runners experience them. Those experiencing it will often complain of dull, aching pain during and after activity. What makes shin splints odd for many is that they can be experienced and eased during activity, only to persist as a dull achy pain for days. People that walk for leisure and exercise can also experience shin splints.


    What Do Shin Splints Feel Like?
    Shin splint pain is either felt at the front, middle, or side of the shin. This means you either feel pain along the thick muscle along the outside of your shin bone or around the large ankle bone along the side of the foot. Most commonly the pain is felt at the bottom third of the shin.

    For many, pain along the shin will increase at the beginning of a new activity, and ease with movement. Pain also tends to be the worst for most people after their activity. 24-48 deep dull aches are the average symptom.






    How Do Shin Splints Happen?
    It’s thought that shin splints occur due to repetitive microtrauma to the muscle or tendon. This leads to a point where the ability to recover and heal is outpaced by stress and inflammation of the muscle group.

    Increased walking or running volume, speed, and surface changes like concrete or trails, can all lead to these microtraumas.


    Need Help With Your Shin Splints?
    Book a session with me! I’ll assess your movements and set you up on a FutureProof plan to increase your mobility, reduce pain and prevent injury.

    Book your session today

    3 min read

    Janny Chan

    Posted on

    Education

    Test Your Hip Mobility


    How tight are your hips?
    Test your hip mobility with these simple exercises.

    Stiff hips may be an early indicator of arthritis.
    Here’s what you need to know.


    It’s estimated that roughly 10% of the population experiences some form of hip pain, increasing as we age. Hip stiffness is often the first sign of impending hip pain.

    Understanding the characteristics of tight hips and what you can do to help is the key to preventing pain.


    5 Ways To Test Your Hip Mobility
    Here are a few movements you can do to test your hip mobility.

    These movements are best reviewed with a physical therapist, chiropractor, or massage therapist. Doing the tests yourself will give you an indication of your hip’s mobility and stiffness.

    Squat Test: sink into a squat, and attempt to shift side-to-side. You may find one hip feeling more tension than the other.

    Internal Rotation: lay on your back, bring your knees to a 90 degree angle, and rotate the feet outwards. This is the internal rotation of the hip. Compare range and feel side-to-side.

    External Rotation: lay on your back, and bring one knee to a 90 degree angle. Keeping the thigh still, rotate your foot inwards. This is the external rotation of the hip. Compare range and feel side-to-side.

    Flexion: lay on your back, with your legs flat. Bring one knee towards your chest. This is flexion of the hip. Compare range and feel side-to-side.

    Extension: lay on your stomach, legs flat on the ground. Keep your knees straight, bring one leg off the ground. This is a hip extension. Compare range and feel side-to-side.




    3 Common Reasons For Hip Stiffness
    The hip is a highly mobile joint that relies on cartilage, bone, muscles, and nerves to work together. Each one of those components may contribute to feeling stiff in the hip.

    Nerves: the ability to rotate the hip, and move it into adduction and abduction is limited by the mobility of the major nerves of the hip and thigh. Issues with major nerves of the hip build up over time due to movement, postural habits and/or a lack of mobility.

    Muscles: your muscles and tendons are the most common sources of hip stiffness. Many office workers and athletes may complain of “hip flexor” stiffness or “glute stiffness”. The stiffness here may coincide with weak muscles, decreased range of motion in certain directions, and pain with use.

    What starts off as stiffness and a pinch can become a chronic issue if not appropriately addressed. Hip pain can often feel like a pulling, cramping, or sharp pains at the front, back, and side of the hip. These will often be aggravated by general movements like sit-to-stands, side-to-side movements, running, or even walking.

    Joint: cartilage damage (e.g. labrum of the hips) or surface degeneration of the articulating bones, “wear-and-tear” at the hip joint leads to significant reductions in the range of motion..

    With joint issues, hip stiffness and pain are often felt deep in the groin. This pain is not palpable, meaning massage (or any other similar intervention) brings no temporary relief. There may be clicking, locking, or a feeling of “catching” at the hip. Athletic movements and stair climbing get more and more difficult.

    Those with arthritis feel stiffness in the morning, continuing with aggravation and groin pain throughout the day, making a simple walk very difficult.



    What Can I Do About My Hip Stiffness?
    Regardless of the causes of your hip stiffness, understanding which movements are restricted or painful and what activities are limited is important to know moving forward. Thankfully, movement and exercise routines deliver amazing outcomes for hip stiffness.

    Physical therapy can guide your hip mobility, and start creating movement goals. Along with massage therapy and chiropractic treatment, manual therapy techniques such as joint mobilizations and myofascial techniques provide relief for hip stiffness.



    Want To Have FutureProof Hips?
    Book a session with me! I’ll assess your movements and set you up on a FutureProof plan to increase your mobility, reduce pain and prevent injury.

    Book your session today