Human & Equine Sports Therapy
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In the the first blog of this series we looked at anatomy and function of the foot and then proceeded to discuss some common injuries in part two. This part looks into exercises that can help keep your feet supple and strong for everyday life.
I hope the video was helpful if you have any questions then do please get in touch
In the last blog we introduced the anatomy and function of the foot (Part one anatomy and function). With this knowledge it can be seen that the foot is quite a complex structure and with so many components you would think quite a lot can go wrong. If you think how often you walk, run or jump and the forces going through your feet it is quite immense, and yet our feet seem to tolerate this on a daily basis. However there are occasions where trauma occurs or our feet just can’t recover as they should. Below are some common injuries your feet might experience.
Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common forms of foot pain. It is common in runners and older adults. It is often associated with biomechanical issues due to excessive pronation or supination. It is an overuse injury and what we would term a tendinopathy. You may have experienced tennis elbow or Achilles tendinopathy. Which is a similar condition just affecting a different part of your body. Tendinopathy in short is when the tendon is not healing in the normal manner, it can fray, become thickened and be painful.
Flat feet or high arches can increase the risk of plantar fasciitis. Tightness in the calf muscle, hamstrings and gluteals can also increase the risk. Plantar fasciitis has a gradual onset of pain which is often located on the medial aspect of the heel and experienced after activity. However when it becomes more severe pain can be experienced when weight bearing and on activity. Periods of inactivity during the day can also increase the pain when commencing activity again. Stretching the foot and fascia also can cause pain.
The common bones in the foot that can suffer stress fractures are the calcanous, navicular and metatarsals. Calcaneal stress fractures are common in runners, military personnel, ballet dancers and sports that involve jumping. Having poor heel cushioning, overstriding and a heavy load can all increase the risk. The onset of pain is insidious in nature and aggravated by weight bearing. There is localised tenderness to the medial or lateral border of the heel.
Navicular stress fractures are the most common stress fracture in the foot. It can occur in sprinters, jumping sports and hurdling. It is an overuse injury and is thought to be due to training errors and impingement of the bone between other tarsal bones. Decreased dorsiflexion in the ankle is thought to perhaps bring about an increase in compensatory dorsiflexion in the foot increasing the stress placed on the navicular. Individuals often experience a midfoot localised ache, radiating along the medial aspect of the medial longitudinal arch. It often gets better with rest.
Metatarsal stress fractures occur with excessive loading of the forefoot and muscle fatigue. Forefoot pain is experienced and aggravated by activity. Pain gradually worsens with activity and tenderness over the metatarsal is present. Stress fractures don’t always present themselves on x-ray straight away so can be harder to diagnose than a complete fracture. However if one is suspected then management strategies can be implemented until diagnosis is confirmed
Metatarsalgia is an inflammatory condition of the metatarsal phalangeal joints. It is caused by excessive pressure over prolonged periods of time. It is associated with high arches, excessive pronation of the foot, clawing/hammer toe, tight extensor tendons of the toes, prominent metatarsal heads and Morton’s foot. Pain is aggravated by forefoot weight bearing and affects the mid stance and propulsive phase of walking. Pain is gradual in onset and local tenderness over joints is present. Passive flexion of the toe causes pain and a v shape between toes can also be an early sign.
This is when the big toe deviates laterally, it is more common in women and older people. There are a number of factors that can lead to the development of a bunion constricting footwear like high heels, excessive pronation of the foot, long first metatarsal (big toe), trauma to the medial and plantar ligaments and trauma to the medial sesamoid bone. As the deformity develops so does the pain over the medial border of the big toe this can be relieved by removing footwear or wearing wider shoes.
Toe clawing is not necessarily a painful condition but suggests that the long flexor tendons are tight. During the propulsion phase of gait the long flexors contract to stabilise the toes, if the foot is unstable the long flexor tendons excessively contract causing the toes to claw at the ground to maintain stability. If this continues then it could affect other areas of the foot or body as they compensate.
The above are just a few examples of injuries that can develop with feet. There are many others. The majority of the above injuries can be avoided by performing exercises and taking other everyday precautions. Part three of this series will address these solutions to help you maintain happy feet.
If you have concerns about your feet then either consult your doctor or Pollyanna would be happy to answer any queries you might have where she can
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Feet are an important part of our lives. They continuously absorb a lot of force to allow us to move and balance in a number of ways. When feet are doing their job life is great but if there is something wrong then daily life can be affected hugely. Do you take care of your feet, understand how they work or want to know more about these incredible structures then continue reading?
Today we are going to discuss the anatomy and function of the foot. Part two will look into problems that may arise with feet and how they can affect the rest of the body. In part three and to conclude the series then ways to keep your feet healthy for pain free movement will be discussed.
The foot is quite a complex structure compared to the rest of a human body. It is made up of 26 bones, 30 joints and over a 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments all working together to create an apparatus that allows movement, and stability while bearing the weight of the whole body.
The foot is separated into three regions the hindfoot, midfoot and forefoot. The hindfoot is made up of the talus and calcanus. The talus articulates with the fibula and tibia to form the ankle joint (talocrural joint) and the calcanous is your heel. The midfoot has five tarsal bones, which are wedge shaped and help form the arch of your foot. The forefoot contains the metatarsals and phalanges which form your toes.
As noted earlier the foot bears the weight of our bodies. When walking the pressure on the feet increases twofold and then fourfold when running. This is a huge amount of pressure in such a small structure. As a result the foot needs to be able to absorb and distribute weight. It also needs to be able to help with propelling the body forward in our chosen gait. The foot has three arches the medial longitudinal, lateral longitudinal and transverse arch. These arches allow weight to be distributed throughout the foot as well as allowing the foot to make adjustments to uneven terrain. The medial longitudinal arch is the primary load bearing and shock absorbing structure of the foot. It forms the instep of the foot.
The plantar fascia makes up the primary passive component (along with the bony structures) of the medial longitudinal arch. It covers the sole and side of the foot. Active toe extension stretches the fascia which adds tension to the medial longitudinal arch. It helps stabilise the foot especially in the push of phase of movement. Other structures such as muscles help stop the arch from lowering to much when weight bearing and likely protects against stress related injuries.
The foots ability to repeatedly transform from a flexible and shock absorbing structure to a rigid lever type structure is really important in our ability to move and weight bear. If there is a problem in the foots structure then our ability to weigh bear and move is compromised and our everyday living is profoundly affected. In the next post injuries that can arise with feet will be discussed.
If you have any queries about injuries to your feet then don’t hesitate to get in touch to discuss your concerns or book an appointment
One of the many questions I get asked is, “Does it tickle?” No it shouldn’t, as it is all about the pressure points in the foot, which when stimulated provide physical and emotional wellbeing.
Reflexology has been practiced throughout history from different ages and cultures. It was practiced in Egypt, where there is evidence documented on the walls of tombs. India also seems to be a place where reflexology started its early days. The Buddhist monks took their techniques to China and then onto Japan, teaching along the way.
Benefits of Reflexology
Reflexology can bring many benefits including;
What to Expect in a Treatment
Reflexology is a holistic and non-invasive therapy performed on the feet, with varying degrees of pressure to promote physical and emotional wellbeing. It stimulates the body’s own natural healing powers. Reflexology is to treat the whole person, body, mind and spirit.
A first appointment will include a conversation about your medical history, needs and what you want from a treatment.
However if you have the following conditions then you may not be able to have reflexology
Once your history is complete then your treatment is started with effleurage to warm the soft tissues up. This is followed by working on the pressure points in your feet, which will not be painful but should feel relaxing.
After a treatment, your body is in the process of healing, as a result you may feel some of the following positive reactions
Other common and normal reactions can be
Some people have no reactions to treatments but if you do they will occur within 24hrs after treatment but will subside after 48hrs.
If you would like to find out more about reflexology or discuss your needs then contact Francesca on 07709 431659 or email on dollytrolley32@hotmail.com
At some point in everyones life they will likely suffer back pain of various degrees, some people more than others. Why this is, is not fully understood. Continued research allows us to gradually develop a better understanding. For instance 15 yrs ago the advice for back pain was to lie flat with a hot water bottle, but this is seen as detrimental and that movement does help back pain.
Causes
Back pain can be caused by many things such as a direct trauma, chronic overuse or an underlying illness where the pain is being referred from elsewhere. It is really important to seek professional help to rule out any more serious health issues if the pain is constant, non-mechanical and there is unexplained weight loss.
Causes of lower back pain can include the following
The above conditions can be diagnosed with relative ease and treated accordingly however the following structures can also cause back pain and are harder to diagnose
In many cases lower back pain can be caused by more than one of the above structure. Sometimes the body can over react to pain and injury by causing muscles too spasm to protect the area, which does have it benefits as it prevents further injury of that area, however this increased tension can also cause discomfort and will need treating. Due to the involvement of multiple structures and the fact that these structures are more difficult to pinpoint in assessment does mean that when being treated there is sometimes a need to try a treatment and see if it works. It may take several alternatives before something is found so don’t be disheartened if your therapist takes some time to pinpoint the best treatment method.
Treatment
There are many treatments that a qualified professional can employ and here is a list of possibilities
Exercises
Some simple back friendly exercises to mobilise and strengthen
Shoulder bridge
The shoulder bridge is a good basic exercise to start with. Below is a link to an entry level version which is a good place to start. There are many variations that are progressively harder but start basic and gradually build. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2I8_VBJPGM
Key points to remember when doing a shoulder bridge
Hip twist
Is a great way to mobilise and stretch through the lower back. This exercise can be performed as a continuous movement or held at the end of your range to get a bit more of a stretch. This link shows the movement pattern https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONB4d84SXRc
Things to remember when doing a hip twist
The end of the hockey season is upon us, our bodies are starting to feel the accumulation of all the hard work put in. Mentally and physically fatigue is starting to show, now is the time to allow yourself to recover and address any niggles or injuries picked up.
Recovery
Recovery is often overlooked by many athletes but is the key to making gains in physical and mental performance.
” Train smart not hard”
is something I say regularly to athletes I have worked with, especially endurance athletes. Often athletes believe that poor performance is due to not training hard enough, but often its because they don’t integrate enough recovery time into their training. Due to this athletes become stale and progress does not occur. However, by making sure recovery occurs in training on a regular basis will allow the body to adapt and adjust to the stresses placed on it during training. Further to this training volume and intensity need to also be adjusted to create stress on the body. If we did the same all the time the body would not get fitter and performance levels would not improve. This means that during the off season, in any sport, not just hockey, a good amount of recovery time needs to be scheduled in before training commences.
Once the season is finished it is okay to take a week off and not doing any physical activity. Yes you might loose some fitness but this can easily be retained in no time from a well constructed training plan. Low level activity can be reintroduced after a week to allow a gradual increase in volume with the intensity being relatively low. This begins to build a base for the rest of your fitness and it is always a good idea to build a broad endurance base. Taking up other sports like cycling or swimming are great for this. They have less impact on joints but build cardio fitness.
I slightly digress, so a bit of time out allows the mind and body to recovery from the high intensity hockey season. It reboots and refreshes the system, it is also a good time to see your sports therapist or physiotherapist, to address any injuries or niggles and allow them time to recovery.
Addressing injuries or niggles
During your down time it is good to pinpoint any injuries or niggles that have occurred throughout the season even if you feel you have recovered from them. Once pinpointed you can develop a strength and conditioning training plan, which you can implement during your off season. This will allow you to return to pre-season training with any weaknesses or imbalances addressed reducing your incidence of injury during the season.
Key areas to address in hockey players
Through my time working with hockey players I have identified three areas, that if worked on during the off season could help prevent injuries during the hockey season.
The off season is a great time to get on top of everything so that you come back into the season stronger and better prepared that the previous one. This will help your performance and reduce your injury risk. So go out there enjoy the warmer weather and work on yourself.
When we ride our trusty stead, we try and develop balance, straightness and suppleness in our horse so that they can carry us more effectively and efficiently. However, how often as a rider do you develop your own balance, straightness and suppleness? I would hazard a guess, not as frequently or diligently as you do your horse. With the winter almost over and spring on the horizon, now is a really good time to begin focusing and developing yourself for your horse. They will appreciate it!
We often hear the words “balanced rider” being banded around but what does this really mean? A balanced rider can encompass so many things. Here are just a few to consider when talking about a balanced rider
Force Balance
When the word balance is used, most people will automatically think of the ability to balance against gravity, for example, when standing on one leg or on a beam in gymnastics. This is balance and does play a huge part in riding a horse. If you are not balanced then gravity unfortunately takes control and a rider may fall off or come close to it. If this component of balance is something that you find difficult, think how that affects your horse’s balance. If you are carrying a child or small animal that keeps moving and wriggling around, you have to make adjustments so that you don’t drop them and sometimes this ultimately doesn’t work and a fall occurs. The consequences could be injury to both parties and a feeling of letting someone down. This is something that your horse could experience when you are not balanced and fall off. So to help your horse, working on your basic balance would go a long way to helping to make their job of being a ridden horse easier and less stressful for both parties.
Strength Balance
When I talk about balance of strength, I am referring to muscle strength. This can be left and right dominance. The majority of people are right-handed and are therefore stronger in their right hand or arm. Balance of muscle strength can also refer to agonist and antagonist muscle pairs. If there is an imbalance between these then injury can occur. While this is really important, for this blog it is not of focus but something that will be addressed in the future. So going back to left and right dominance, it is a natural occurrence but it is something we can decrease by working and training our non dominant side. This will even our strength out from one side to the other making our aids more consistent side to side when riding. By doing this a rider can further balance their horse out and be more supportive on their horse’s non dominant side.
Tension Balance
Muscle and soft tissue play a huge part in movement biomechanics for horse and rider. If an area is tight this will affect the body globally and also affect how your horse moves. You may not think this is so, however you may be shocked at how much you actually do influence your horse’s movement.
About 5 months ago, I injured my back playing field hockey. I had pain in the right side of my lower back which resulted in a huge decrease in range of motion, strength, force absorption and suppleness in my hips and back. However, I still attempted to ride and it was definitely an attempt. In walk I was not too bad, nor was my horse but going into trot was another story. My horse looked lame on both reins, feeling pretty low at being injured myself, having the prospect of my horse being lame as well, just would have been the last nail in the coffin. I was lucky enough to have my instructor present and being an equine bodyworker myself, we got to work straight away to fix him. Firstly we lunged him still with tack on and were happily surprised to see that he was not at all lame but instead moving rather well. It was therefore put down to rider influence. This surprised me hugely. While I know we influence our horses, I didn’t think by this much. Let me put this into a little bit more perspective. I am a small rider standing at 5ft2″ and 53kg. If my horse was small perhaps this would be understandable but my horse is 16.3hh, maybe a little taller and probably weighs near if not more than 700kg. So you can see that we can influence how our horse moves quite considerably, even minor things that we don’t realise could have an affect.
Soft tissue tension can affect mobility of the body causing decreased movement in various areas. It can also affect how different muscles activate, for instance, when there is a lot of tension in the iliopsoas muscle (hip flexors), this can affect your gluteus medius (one of your many butt muscles). The gluteus medius helps stabilise the lower back so will really kick in when performing rising trot. When the iliopsaos is tight it causes the gluteus medius to become stretched and it doesn’t like it. As a result it doesn’t activate as effectively, thus not stabilising through the lower back. No matter how much you try and strengthen the gluteus medius, it won’t make a difference until the iliopsoas is released and the gluteus medius is no longer stretched. Once this muscle can activate, then strengthening can occur and the body can function as a unit.
Anatomical Balance
Unfortunately, sometimes the way we are built means that we will have some differences from side to side or back to front. We were born like this and this is something we can’t always change, or we may have sustained an injury causing an anatomical difference. However, we can give ourself the best chance possible by being aware and doing something about it.
How do we develop ourselves so that we become the balanced rider that is talked about so much? Well there are many ways and here are some ideas below.
Massage
A massage is not just a luxury or something at a spa, a good sports massage will help with the following
A good massage therapist will be able to help with improving posture off and on the horse. It is also good practice to be seen around the same time your horse receives bodywork so that one of you doesn’t undo the hard work put in. So when your horse is next scheduled for a session also schedule yourself in.
Pilates
Pilates was developed by Joseph Pilates to help rehabilitate soldiers during the war. It is used now to help people strengthen their core. However it is a bit more than this. Pilates does focus on your deep core muscles but it also develops better movement patterns by encouraging co-activation of deep core muscles and global muscles. I work with athletes and non athletes and while the athletes look strong, they tend to not use their deep core muscles but their global ones. They therefore find the more advanced Pilates exercises often easier but when you take them back to just using their deep core muscles they find this very difficult, unlike non athletes. Due to this, athletes that favour their global muscles will sustain injuries. Pilates teaches people to activate and use their body in a more functional and long lasting way.
Pilates is brilliant for horse riders as it allows a deeper understanding of one’s body. Equipilates™️ was developed specifically for horse riders by Lindsay Wilcox-Reid and is a combination of Pilates and other movement therapies to develop that body awareness and allow a rider to have a deeper connection with their horse. If you have an Equipilates™️ instructor near you, it is worth signing up to regular classes. Over time you will notice a difference. However, if you do not have an Equipilates™️ instructor close by, a normal Pilates class will still make a huge difference.
Things you can do when you ride
There are many things you can do without spending extra money or too much extra time. These include videoing yourself. This will highlight whether you are sitting evenly and what posture you adopt during all gaits and can be quite an eye opener. Often we are unaware of little things like this due to our bodies adapting and normalising them. It feels wrong when we correct them but in time your body will adjust to this being normal. The next step to really highlight any issues would to be to do regular no stirrup work. This will allow you as an individual to lengthen through the leg and hip and work hugely on balance force, especially when transitioning down. As you progress, using Franklin balls would further develop your awareness, balance and connection with your horse. Lastly, and this does cost a bit of money but having lessons with a riding instructor who understands core engagement is worth its weight in gold. Having someone tell you when and how you need to activate and seeing the results transfer to your horse in real time, is a huge learning curve and something you will then use throughout your riding, even when hacking.
So the above are just a few things you can do to become that balanced rider. There are others but the above would be a good first step in the right direction.
What is K-Tape all about?
Most people have heard of K-tape (kinesiology tape), or at least seen athletes wearing it. There is a strong belief with some that tape is used for injuries (which it can be), and as a result don’t want to visibly give their opponent a psychological advantage. However k-tape has more uses than when injured.
For instance it can be used for the following
How can k-tape help posture and proprioception?
We are all being told about poor posture and that we need to be mindful to improve it. K-Tape applied in the correct manner can help remind individuals of a better posture. For example it can be used to help draw the shoulders back for those working for long periods of time at a desk so that they don’t slump. It can also be used in sport to remind an athlete on limb position (proprioception). A good example is with horse riders, it allows long lasting corrections to be made to a riders position and balance, which in turn allows the horse and rider a deeper partnership.
K-tape can help recovery, reduce bruising, swelling and pain
The way that K-tape works is that when placed on the skin it helps lift and decompress the tissues beneath. This is thought to help decrease muscle tone, allow easier movement between muscle fibres and increase circulation. This in turn allows for more rapid removal of inflammation, excess fluid and by products of exercise or injury. This is turn can help reduce bruising, swelling and chemicals causing pain. K-tape can therefore help recovery after exercise and injury making it very useful to have in your sports bag.
Increase Flexibility
Rocktape®️, which is the brand of tape I use on a regular basis, developed Powertaping™️. Which is meant to help develop neuromuscular function and movement along myofascial chains of movement. Myofascial chains was developed by Thomas Myers and is termed Anatomy Chains (which is a very interesting read if you want to learn more!). Powertaping™️ can potentially help treat pain, improve flexibility, delay muscle fatigue, and reduce imbalances. The way Powertaping™️ is thought to work is by the tape stimulating the sensorimotor system through cuteness afferent nerves. This in turn sends signals to the brain causing small adjustments to movement patterns to be made affecting proprioception. It is also thought that tape can alter the nociceptive pain pathways through the pain gate mechanism and lastly decrease tone in muscles allowing an increase in flexibility.
As you can see the way the tape affects the body interlinks and has several outcomes that are beyond just injury management. K-tape is a great tool to help injuries but can be used for so much more as stated above. Apart from massage I find it is one of the most useful treatment options to have at hand and works well with other treatment modalities. It is easy to carry round, apply and it can be used for up to 5 days. Rocktape®️ also have many colour and pattern choices, which also goes down well with clients. Lastly K-tape can be used on horses to help in a similar way to humans but I feel this is an area for its own post in the future, so watch this space.
Further information on Rocktape®️and how it can help movement can be found here blog.
