3 min read

Gopi Kang

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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

2 min read

Myodetox

Posted on

Education

How to Treat a Pinched Nerve in Your Neck


Cervical Radiculopathy Explained


Have you ever had numbness or tingling going down your arms or fingers? You may have experienced cervical radiculopathy, also known as nerve compression or a pinched nerve in your neck. This unassuming injury occurs in nearly 2 out of 1000 people.


What Is A Cervical Radiculopathy?
Cervical radiculopathies are the result of compression and inflammation of a nerve at the neck. There are various conditions that may lead to nerve compression:

  • Degenerative disc disease of the neck (spondylosis)
  • Disc herniation at the neck
  • Osteophytes of the neck
  • Stenosis at the cervical spine
  • Muscle tightness at the neck



    Who Gets Nerve Compression?
    The population most at risk for developing pinched nerves is the 50+ age. Women are more at risk than men, though the difference is mild.



    Symptoms Of A Pinched Nerve In Your Neck
    The nerves from the neck connect to your trunk, shoulder, arm, hand, and fingers. Symptoms of nerve compression can radiate to any one of those regions:

  • Numbness
  • Tingling e.g. “pins and needles”
  • Muscle weakness
  • Reduce reflexes (tested by your healthcare professional)
  • Pain

    Radicular symptoms like pain and nerve sensations are often felt down the arm. Moving the neck becomes incredibly painful. Performing certain movements may change your symptoms – for better or worse.

    Many cases will present with reduced reflexes and muscle weakness. The most common region affected is the C7 nerve root, the C6 nerve root, and the C5 nerve root. Common movements affected by a pinched nerve in your neck are pushing, pulling, and gripping.

    Cervical radiculopathies typically occur on one side of the body. If you’re noticing nerve symptoms down both sides, see your physician immediately.



    How Do You Treat It?
    Treatment of cervical radiculopathy will involve your physician and physical therapist.
    Your physician can perform tests to identify the cause of your nerve compression. Your physician and physical therapist can perform tests to determine the extent of the compression and provide treatment options such as:

    Postural training: nerve compression may be aggravated by a forward head posture. This requires postural awareness, education, and exercises.

    Exercise: strength training of the muscle can dramatically improve symptoms.
    Check out our IG posts dedicated to neck strengthening.

    Manual therapy: traction, myofascial techniques, and joint mobilizations dedicated to improving posture and reducing muscle tension can provide relief.
    Check out this post about manual therapy for the neck.

    Immobilization: temporarily providing a soft collar to reduce nerve symptoms. Be aware, there is minimal evidence supporting this.

    Medication: provided under the guidance of a physician.

    Surgery: when conservative management fails, and serious nerve symptoms are present.

    There is good news for those with a pinched nerve. Your symptoms will nearly fully resolve in 4-6 months. Up to 90% of people with nerve compression maintain recovery for 4 years. This shows that degenerative changes in the neck do not lead to permanent nerve damage.



    Worried You May Have A Pinched Nerve?
    Give us and your physician a call. We’ll book you a session with one of our expert therapists. They’ll assess your movements and set you up on a FutureProof plan.

    Find your nearest clinic