Why do I twist when I squat?

Do you find yourself always leaning or rotating to one side when you squat?

Recently, squats are gaining popularity in today’s modern society. Yes they have an endless list of health benefits, however if done incorrectly this may cause a poor performance in your training session or worst case scenario an injury.

If you notice that you constantly twist when you squat, you should book in for an assessment with a physiotherapist here.

This lateral shifting of weight could be caused by several factors:

1.Muscular strength and/or endurance imbalance

Most commonly, twisting or rotating in a squat is caused by a lack of muscular strength/endurance in either the lateral core strength and/or glutes. A result of a muscular imbalance can be your knees caving in or torso leaning/rotating.

2. Poor ankle, knee or hip mobility

The squat requires a lot of mobility in 3 key areas. Without adequate mobility you will be forcing the body to find a compensatory pattern (leaning or rotating the body, reduce squat depth, lifting the heel, and/or knee caving in)

3. Hip socket alignment

Everyone is unique, we are born and built differently. Some people have hips capable of squatting with a narrow stance, and some do not.Therefore, it is finding the correct stance best suited to your body and needs.

Conclusion

In conclusion, building strength and mobility in these various muscles or joints will change your overall positioning, allowing you to squat without leaning or rotating.

The next time you are completing a squat make sure you’re not shifting either side. If you have any questions or queries don’t hesitate to call us!

Book in for a physiotherapy appointment here.

August 24, 2020July 31, 2020

Save your knees and increase your cadence when you run

By Physiotherapist, Paulina Backiel

What is cadence?

Cadence is the rate at how many steps you take per minute.

For example, let’s say in 1 minute you take 65 steps with your right foot and 70 with your left foot. This equals 135 steps per minute (spm).

Cadence = Steps per Minute (spm)

What is the cadence I should be running at? Is it 180?

You may have heard about the 180spm cadence that everyone talks about, however, this is not true for everyone. The number came about when a running coach by the name of Jack Daniels analyzed professional runners in the 1984 olympics and found that the average cadence between all of them was 180spm. This does not mean 180spm is bad, it just means that it is not going to work for everyone. We all have different leg lengths, therefore, we will have different cadence when we run.

For example a person with longer legs(longer levers), therefore it would be hard for that person to slow their legs before they touch the ground than a shorter person(short levers). So what you find in common is that taller people will have a slightly lower or equal to 180 cadence and shorter people will generally have 180 or higher cadence.

How can you save your knees using cadence?

Most people when they run actually have a very low cadence. This is because we run to music that is on the radio and that is commonly played at 120 beats per minute, so the body ends up copying the rhythm it hears.

Evidence and my own running experience shows that just by increasing your cadence by 10% can improve your running technique and decrease knee pain. These improvements are also shown to last 3 months after the change in cadence. Can you imagine, it can decrease load on your knee by 20%, that is massive! It also has benefits such as decreasing the load on your hips and more.

Conclusion

Everyone’s cadence is going to vary, however, it will hover around 180spm. By just increasing your cadence by 10% you can save your knees and improve your overall running technique.

Want to improve your running further? Be sure to book in for my Run Faster and Smarter program HERE.

Your physio,

Paulina

Resources

1.Bramah C, Preece SJ, Gill N, Herrington L. A 10% Increase in Step Rate Improves Running Kinematics and Clinical Outcomes in Runners With Patellofemoral Pain at 4 Weeks and 3 Months. The American journal of sports medicine. 2019 Dec;47(14):3406-13.

August 21, 2020August 21, 2020

How can calisthenics help a scapula injury?

By Calisthenics Coach, Nathan Leith (Maximum Potential Calisthenics)

Have you ever suffered from a chronic injury that’s held you back from consistently progressing your training?

Perhaps you’ve even felt a pain in a location that you have never injured before.

Injuries come in all shapes and sizes, sometimes the pain is quite sharp and intense and other times it may be a very dull pain. Major problems can arise in many cases when the actual site of pain is not even remotely close to the initial point of impact or injury location.

For example… Let’s say that you’re a tennis player who always makes wide arching swings in accordance with your playing style. If you were to injure your foot badly you will instinctively place less pressure through that foot and therefore compensate with your other leg. As the years go by you may maintain this habit which will cause your torso to twist causing some mild scoliosis in your spine. This stance may then cause a dip in one of your shoulders (you see where I’m going with this yet?) which as you continue to play tennis can cause your wide arching swings to place extra tension on your shoulder joint and scapula.

From this hypothetical example we can see where the knowledge of a sports injury professional really comes in handy; often, in order to get to the root of a problem, we first must look at the big picture and then armed with more knowledge, diagnose the scapula injury from a holistic standpoint.

The ‘scapula’ is the scientific name given to the shoulder blade which is actually the two large triangular shaped bones that you will find in your upper back. Surrounding this bone is a complex web of muscles that act upon the ball and socket joint that is your shoulder which keeps you moving fluidly within that joint.

The scapula is an area of the body often mired in injuries for people from just about any walk of life. From people who are just going about their daily activities like reaching for a jar from the high shelf in your kitchen… to an athlete who stretches and trains on a daily basis.

The good news is that these injuries are preventable.

If you have or if you haven’t suffered from scapula injuries the time to begin working on strengthening them up is NOW!

If you have an injury you’re not sure about and never taken the time to have it looked at by a professional I highly recommend you have someone like Barangaroo Orthopaedic & Sports Injury Clinic give you a once over.

If you need to see a physiotherapist for an existing injury, book HERE.

Personally? Well, in the past, I have injured both of my rotator cuffs, one while wakeboarding and the other lifting weights in the gym when I was in a foul mood. The transition from being a bodybuilder who never really stretched at all to a calisthenics coach that loves running and joining in on mobility classes… I’ve performed a full 180 on my approach to training in this regard!

In our 1on1 PT and small group calisthenics strength and hypertrophy classes we focus on scapular strengthening methods and ALWAYS warm up the body before the training begins. Come enjoy a FREE week on us 🙂

Visit the Maximum Potential Calisthenics website HERE to book now!

~Nathan Leith

August 17, 2020August 17, 2020

Tips for a healthier spine while WFH

By Physiotherapist, Vanessa Boon

While working at the office has its challenges, Working from Home (WFH) does not come without challenges either. We have found that most of us do not have a proper desk setup, we do not get out of the house as much and our step count is pretty poor. While this is stressful for our mental health, it also puts a lot of stress on your physical structures such as your spine. Here are our tips on how to reduce the stress on your back and reduce your risk of an injury!

1) Move!

As difficult as it is to find time to move throughout the day, especially now that we are all working from home, we need to make time to do it. A few easy ways to add in movement in your day would be to:

Stand up every 30 minutes
Walk and talk (instead of sitting down for calls)
Add an extra few minutes onto your lunch break and go for a walk outside
Do a few squats/lunges/pushups/planks between meetings

2) Try to create the optimal screen height

Though we may not be able to get it 100% perfect, we can try to make smart and realistic changes. Make sure the top of your computer screen is at eye level, this can be done by putting thick sturdy books under your monitor to elevate it. If you use a laptop, it makes it a little more difficult, but you can use a seperate/bluetooth keyboard. Try

3) “Ergonomic Chair”

Quite a few of us are lucky enough to have ergonomic chairs at work but not at home. These relatively expensive chairs were designed to support the natural curves of your spine and allow for maximal comfort. Most of us do not have these chairs at home but with a simple trick, we can try to mimic the support. Firstly, sit all the way in, roll a small towel, place it behind your lower back and lean on the back rest. Give that a try and see how it feels!

4) Desk stretches

We have filmed a series of stretches that you can perform at your desk: link video here. Though we would prefer if you could get up and move around, we also understand that not everyone has the time to. These stretches we created for maximal time efficiency as well as stretches the muscles that get the tightest while we are hunched over working. Do each 2 sets of 30 seconds.

If you have any question or would like to find out more, give us a call at 8599 9811 or book in here to talk to one of our physiotherapists and let’s keep our spines happy and healthy!

August 10, 2020July 28, 2020

Why should I strengthen my hamstrings for running?

By Physiotherapist, Paulina Backiel

Where are our hamstrings located?

The muscles that are most commonly called “the back of our thighs” are actually our hamstrings. They are 3 really strong muscles that help us walk, run, and move with ease throughout the day.

What do they do?

Their main action is to extend the leg behind our hip and bend the knee. However, in running, they are extremely important for absorbing the energy we create and controlling our limbs just before we plant our foot back down on the ground.

The muscle that gets left behind.. literally!

Usually when running, the front part of your thighs, your quads, start to overpower your hamstrings. This can lead to an imbalance which could potentially change the biomechanics of your running, resulting in a higher risk of injury. We have a lot of muscles in our lower limbs for a reason, these muscles have to work together to propel us forward, especially in running. If one of these muscles overpowers the other, the weaker muscle has a hard time catching up. When this happens, our running no longer becomes a smooth pattern but disorganized. This is when injuries occur.

How loud are you when you run?

When the hamstring is supposed to slow down the leg before it touches the ground but it can’t, that results in the runner hitting the ground too hard with their foot. This will increase the force going into the ground (because it was not absorbed by the hamstring) and then that force comes back at you more than double as much. The faster we go, the more energy our hamstring needs to absorb in order to slow down our foot before it finally reaches the ground.

Other injuries due to weak hamstrings

Another biomechanical issue we see is overstriding. This is when the hamstring gets overpowered and the knee does not bend fast enough before placing the foot on the ground. This is where injuries such as shin splints and stress fractures occur.

So are you actually training your hamstrings enough? If not, here are some exercises to try:

Good Mornings
Romanian Deadlift
- - - - Progression: Single Leg Romanian Deadlift

Double Leg Hamstring Bridges

- - Progression: Single Leg Hamstring Bridges

Don’t forget to book in for an appointment with a physiotherapist at Barangaroo Physio. I am certified to give running assessments and would be happy to get you started on a strength program so that you can avoid injury and become a stronger runner.

Your physio,

Paulina

Sources:

Schache AG1, Dorn TW, Williams GP, Brown NA, Pandy MG.Lower-limb muscular strategies for increasing running speed.J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2014 Oct;44(10):813-24. doi: 10.2519/jospt.2014.5433. Epub 2014 Aug 7.