MYTH MONDAY: “Rest is always best.” This is not true. While rest may initially reduce inflammation and pain, it will not treat a soft tissue injury (i.e., muscle, ligament and tendon sprains, strains and tears). In fact in many cases, specific movements will decrease recovery time and therefore rest is rarely given as rehabilitation! It is important to seek a proper diagnosis and treatment plan beyond the initial rest period (2-3days) to treat soft tissue damage. Rest alone is not enough to heal and strengthen the affected area. #rehabilitation #restisnotbest #mythmonday #4thmyth #sportsinjuries #sportsinjuryspecialists #softtissueinjuries
MTYH MONDAY: “Orthotic inserts always work wonders.” Simply slipping an insert into your running shoe may alleviate knee pain caused by over-pronation during running, but unfortunately it won’t treat the underlying problem. Most runners’ knee pain is caused by poor form and/or muscle imbalance during striding. So before you grab that insert, an assessment of your overall running form is recommended and addressing such imbalances may reduce any need for an orthotic insert! #mythmonday #everymonday #firstmyth #findthefacts #orthotics #kneepain #anklepain #backpain #sportsinjuries #sportsinjuryspecialists
Myth Monday: ‘Heat for swelling?’ We do often hear about patients reaching for a heat pack to initially treat their swollen joints post an injury. This is possibly due to the thought of applying heat apposed to ice is far nicer! However, in the first 48 hours post an acute injury, ice is vital and actually heating the area could promote more tissue bleeding! We use ice to constrict our localised blood vessels in order to limit the amount of tissue bleeding. There is often a good time to apply heat but seek advice before doing so and if it’s within the first 48 hours then reach for the ice. #ice #swelling #acuteinjuries #mythmonday #sportsinjuries #sportsinjuryspecialists
MYTH MONDAY: ‘what are muscle cramps?’ This is quite a frequent question for us at OST and there does seem to be a few misconceptions. When a muscle is cramping it is essentially contracting involuntarily and does not release quickly. Often cramp occurs in the calfs but it can occur in any muscle. The occurrence is usually due to fatigue or overuse, dehydration or a lack of electrolytes. However cramp can also occurs due to inactivity or being in the same position for too long (nighttime cramps). Bellow is great video of cramp in action!!
MYTH MONDAY: ‘You always need to stretch more’. Yes, most of us could do with stretching more, and having a better flexibility could benefit a lot of the sporting population. However, any reductions in flexibility are not necessarily the route cause of our muscular injuries. Sometimes our muscles are ‘too tight’ due to working too hard, and therefore we need to address the muscle imbalances or asymmetries before focusing on flexibility! If our muscles are not sharing the work load equally this could be resulting in tight muscles!
MYTH MONDAY: ‘Pain is always where the problem is’. It can be a difficult concept to get to grips with, if your knee hurts what has your ankle got to do with it? Our human body is incredibly smart and ensures that our joints do not work in isolation. Therefore it is very possible that a knee injury could be coming from the ankle, or from the hips or vice versa! This is where seeking help from professionals is very important to ensure the problem and not just the symptoms are solved. #sportsinjuries #pain #biggerpicture #ankles #knees #hips #shoulders #muscles #joints #TeamOST #sportinjuryspecialists
MYTH MONDAY: “The amount you sweat during a workout represents how hard you are working”. There is actually no link between a ‘good’ workout and the amount you sweat. It is commonly thought that the more your sweat the harder you must be working. This is incorrect and can be misleading as sweating is just our way of cooling down. If you want to monitor how hard you are working throughout a work out try checking your heart rate for an accurate representation.
