COVID-19 The Road To Recovery
COVID-19 The Road To Recovery -
Advice From The Chartered Society Of Physiotherapy
Have you had Covid-19 or know someone who has had it?
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) has developed a brand new animation to help patients who are recovering from Covid-19 to self-manage their symptoms with physiotherapy guidance. This is a great resource for you to share with your friends and families to help ease some of their anxiety about recovering from the virus and getting back to normal life. The animation is titled COVID-19 The Road To Recovery and you can watch it below:
This short, 90 second animation illustrates what people can expect when recovering from Covid-19; reassuring them that it may take time to get their energy and fitness back. It also provides advice on simple measures that anyone can take to ensure the best recovery possible; like keeping active and partaking in low-intensity exercise.
If you or anyone you know have concerns about your recovery from COVID-19 we encourage you to seek the advice of a Chartered Physiotherapist, GP or other Health Professional, who can provide bespoke advice and support. You can also see more information about Covid-19 recovery from the CSP by visiting this link - Covid-19: the Road to Recovery.
If you’d like an appointment with one of our physios, please call us on 02030 12 12 22 to book an appointment.
How To Stay Injury Free Whilst (London) Marathon Training
How To Stay Injury Free Whilst (London*) Marathon Training
With the London Marathon* coming up at a rate of knots, we asked Stuart, our lower limb and sports injury specialist physio, to give us his advice on how to stay injury free whilst training for a marathon:
Runners, joggers and walkers view the marathon as the ultimate fitness test and challenge with a record number of people now participating globally. Many will have never completed this kind of run before and are also not seasoned runners. However, this does not stop many of us trying to complete this challenging and arduous task and getting that medal for the 26.2.
Training for a marathon can be a daunting task as many people are worried about being injured and how they will react if this is the first time they have ventured into the higher mileage brackets. It has been viewed in the evidence that most people who do participate in the marathon will suffer from some injury during their training or the race. For example, it has been seen that novice runners sustained 30-38 repetitive strain injuries per 1000 hours of running while marathoners running more than 200 minutes per week sustained less than 10 RRIs per 1000 hours of running.
There are many ways to help reduce the likelihood of injury such as good preparation/warm up, having a good base level of strength and stability monitoring your build up gradually and of course having rest days:
Warm up:
The purpose of a warm up is to increase core body temperature, muscle activation, joint mobility and prepare the body for activity. The ability of the muscle to contract efficiently can benefit greatly as the quadriceps can help reduce up to 60% of the load through the knee joint when landing during a run thus being warmed up appropriately can prevent any knee injuries.
For the ideal warm up we should incorporate a high number of dynamic tasks such as lunges, calf raises, toe walks, leg swings. The evidence has been shown that a Dynamic Warm Ups performed pre training can also enhance and improve performance.
Strength and Stability Exercising:
A base level of strength and stability is required to undergo any exercise or physical task. For example if we are running and have a cadence speed of 140 then we are impacting 70 times on each leg every minute that requires the ability of the body to absorb force and propel us forward while trying to maintain good kinetic chain control and stability.
Resistance training has shown improvements of up to 8% following a period of resistance- or strength-based training during a normal running training plan. This can be attributed to improving running economy and improved neuromuscular control. When we consider that any small improvement can impact running economy the benefits may have a larger impact on long distances such as a marathon.
Training plan:
It is a advised that you don't increase your mileage by more than 10%. The 10% rule is one of the most important principles to adhere to help prevent injuries. As most running injuries are overuse in nature the 10% rule can help prevent this. It may be a long and slow process by only increasing the 10% but it will help keep you running safe and for longer.
Rest Days:
Having rest days helps not just your body to recover but reduces the likelihood of injury. It has been seen that less than two days rest in endurance runners had an increase of 5.2 fold of overuse injuries. Every day that we exercise causes microdamage to muscles and without adequate rest we don’t repair. Build in a few rest days each week to help recharge, reduce injury and then improve your training and performance.
If you experience any prolonged niggles or pain during your marathon training period, don’t ignore it. Get expert advice and help. Call us on 02030 12 12 22 to book an appointment with one of our specialist physios.
* Other marathons are available.
Words by Stuart Mailer.
Emily's top tips for marathon (training) recovery
Emily's top tips for marathon (training) recovery
Manchester, London and other marathons are coming up soon and we hope your training is going well. Recovery is as important as getting those miles in, so make sure you're well prepared for your marathon or marathon training recovery.
Our soft tissue therapist and Triathlon coach (and partaker of extreme challenges), Emily Chong, writes: A few days ago I ran up a skyscraper 10 times for charity. Specifically, I climbed 420 floors in 1hr 29min taking the fastest female title and 4th overall. Naturally, I was bracing myself for DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) from hell. 24 hours later, my legs felt good, 48 hours later, nothing hurts!
After years of experimenting with recovery routine, I’ve finally found the combination that works for me. After leaving the tower, I stood at a high table and stretched my glutes, quads and hamstrings while waiting for my anchovy, spinach and mushroom pizza, washed down with a litre or so of water and a glass of orange juice. I stood in the Tube on the way home using the over head bars to stretch my lats. Once I got home I had a cool rinse followed by a warm shower and a 45min nap. That evening, I went to swim club: the main set was suitably a mixture of technique and a small amount of 70%-90% short sprints.
Maybe that doesn’t sound like most people’s recovery (other competitors seemed to have spent the next 4 hours sitting in the pub!) but if you prefer your legs to be intact the day following your marathon, here is my magical (aka sensible) recovery regime. With running and triathlon seasons starting you may find it useful.
Don’t sit down, or you’re just shortening already shortening muscles. Straight after a race (or training), keep walking, eat while you’re standing and while you’re standing, do some gentle static stretches.
Cool dip - where it’s available, such as the Brighton marathon or a lake side triathlon, walk thigh high into the water, walk around or stay there for 2 - 5 minutes. The cool water temporarily constricts the blood vessels. As you come out of the water, they’ll dilate and encourage blood flow, carrying oxygen and other recovery material to your muscles.
Rehydrate - Most people are under-hydrated in a race. As you heat up, electrolytes (various salts) come out with your sweat. It is very important to replenish both and not just the water. You can buy water soluble electrolyte tablets, or ones that come in a capsule form. For a natural alternative, bananas and pomegranates are full of electrolytes.
Refuel - catch that 30 minute post-race window of opportunity to get some easily digestible carbs and protein into your system to kick start recovery. Many national teams swear by chocolate milk but for a dairy free alternative, try nut butter toasts or an avocado honey smoothie.
Active recovery - getting blood circulated through your muscles is key to recovery. While a brisk walk and an easy swim is fine, what works better is some short, low impact maximal effort such as 5-10 repeats of 10 seconds max efforts kick in the water. Alternatively, spin with medium to low effort on a bike for 30 minutes or so, interspersed with 3-5 repeats of 10 seconds high power and high cadence.
Sports massage - again this encourages blood flow with the bonus of some assisted stretching thrown in - definitely good for recovery. A post-event massage is meant to be gentle, so don’t expect or ask for a deep tissue massage as it could cause damage to already tired muscles.
If you’d like to book an appointment for a post London Marathon or post any other marathon or event recovery massage with Emily, call us on 02030 12 12 22. Have a great race!
Amazing views!
Words by Emily Chong. Images courtesy of Emily and Shelter.
