After ramping up my running to train for the Gold Coast half marathon in July, I suddenly started to get knee pain. This is a great concern for any keen runner because you start to worry about long term injuries that keep you off the pavement. It turns out it was as simple as a tight ITB that was pulling my knee cap to the side and causing knee pain when I ran. I saw our physiotherapist Vanessa and she taped my knee cap and I ran 13km with no knee pain the next day.
This goes to show you the benefit of a good physiotherapist and why nearly every professional sports team has a physiotherapist in charge of their rehabilitation medical teams. If you have ITB tightness I have located a video below that demonstrates a simple stretching technique. Foam Rollers are available from Lifestyle Therapies.
Even with the successful treatment of Lower Back Pain, the research shows it tends to recur. While undergoing treatment the patient is full of enthusiasm and adheres well to advice and programs. They see the benefits at the end of the treatment, feel empowered and notice the improvement and are very knowledgeable about their problem. However after treatment has finished, when asked if they would continue to carry out the prescribed exercises at home, many were so much better they didn’t feel the need and because of a lack of time couldn’t see themselves carrying on with their exercises. So what does this tell us?
lower Back Pain
Should our therapists relinquish any responsibility for patient outcomes after they have been discharged and expect re-occurrences? Clearly this a choice for each and every patient and what we do at Lifestyle Therapies is offer a range of take home therapies, self management programs and ongoing exercise programs such as Pilates. This provides the patient with a range of post treatment support that will reduce the chances of the injury recurring. Post treatment support includes:
– Pilates classes – both larger mat classes and small group equipment classes
– Home programs – printed with diagrams
– Advice and education – with regard to prevention
– A range of educational materials including Pilates and stretching DVD’s and a range of books.
– Self massage tools including Muscle Mate
– Ergonomic changes and advice
– Ongoing preventative physiotherapy treatment
– Self-management tools including Q magnets and ice packs.
Reference:
Capitalising on effective treatment strategies for low back pain – How do we bridge the self-management gap? Manual Therapy 15 (2010) 133-134 An Moore, Gwen Jull
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