Anybody who has had back pain, hip or groin pain before will know how frustrating this type of injury can be to shift. Apart from the frustration of re-occurrence if the underlying cause is not found and resolved, there is a stack of other injuries that are likely to follow if intelligent changes are not made. This article is intended to show you our most effective rehabilitation and injury prevention methods (injury tests, best stretches and exercises) that we have used successfully with many clients (see testimonials) for over 15 years working as Rehabilitation specialists in Melbourne. Our goal is to address the whole problem of your pain or injury, looking closely for the source of the problem so we can help you attain long term balance and optimal function. The hip joint, along with the ankles, is a joint we find where most of the troubles originate. It is also often missed in diagnosis of injury, as it may not present with pain, instead it will show stiffness and a lack of mobility. The hips are designed to be very mobile, having to withstand both direct loading stresses and large rotational forces with weight-bearing activities. It is especially vulnerable to injury in sports that involve pivoting or twisting movements, such as soccer, football, tennis and golf. Because the muscles around the hip joint attach directly on to the joint capsule, they have a large influence on the range of movement. And why we need explosive rotation in sports and even in some daily activities, these forces place tremendous strain on your ligaments, tendons and muscular structures designed to protect the joint. The failure to adequately control these forces can lead to chronic pain and a lifetime of restricted movement!
WEAK VMO & KNEE PAIN: How To Improve VMO Strength & Reduce Knee Pain In 5 Simple Steps
Knee pain is one of the most common injuries affecting people of all ages. It can cut down many young sporting athletes suffering with patella-femoral problems and more severe ACL injuries and it can greatly affect adults and people with a more sedentary lifestyle. If the cause of the problem is left unchecked it will develop into a much bigger problem and eventually begin to create injuries at other joints of the body. According to latest research, frequent knee pain affects 25% of adults, and osteoarthritis is the most common cause of knee pain in adults 50 years and older. Rates of knee replacements have tripled in women in the United Kingdom and have increased 8 times in the United States among those 65 years and older. In the early stages of treatment people are often told they have a weak vastus medialis muscle (VMO) that needs to be strengthened and it will make their pain go away. Unfortunately, it is not as simple as that as there are many factors you need to consider with correcting knee pain. While it is true that the VMO plays a massive role in stabilizing the knee, the methods you use to strengthen this muscle is the secret to finding the solution to your knee pain. In this article I explain the 5 steps you need to follow to get this right.
Why Tight Quadriceps Exacerbate Knee Pain & The Solution Is Not With Stretching
One of the most confusing things I have come across over the past 15 years as a rehabilitation trainer working with many complex injuries and movement dysfunctions is how confusing the role of the quadriceps can be with relation to knee pain. In most cases of knee pain there is significant stiffness at the knee joint leading to conclusions of tight quadriceps and hip flexors. For years I believed the answer for people who had limited knee flexion needed to spend more time stretching and foam rolling their quads and hip muscles to restore full range to the joint. It makes perfect sense, the muscle is noticeably tight and not even close to its full range of motion so it must need stretching to improve it. And while some showed some great results, there were many who showed little improvement with some even becoming worse! This failure led me to find that the solution was not to be found with stretching but from changing the underlying cause of the stiffness. This article I will show you how to find this and what things you can do to correct the problem for good.