Category Archives: Sports Therapy

Gua Sha Massage Aftercare, what are these bruises?

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If YOU have experienced a Gua Sha Body Massage, we hope you are feeling looser and lighter after your recent Remedial Massage treatment.

Gua sha is a therapeutic method of classical Chinese medicine that works to improve circulation and blood flow to reduce tension and chronic pain. The scraping of skin with a gua sha tool causes the appearance of purple or red spots known as petechiae or sha.

Although this may appear visually similar to mild bruising, it actually signifies the impeded circulation of qi, blood or fluids in the area of treatment.  Gua sha is used to address stagnant energy, blood and fluids within the body and to move the body back into a state of homeostasis and promote overall well-being.

We trust that you left the studio feeling rejuvenated and with increased mobility in those tight and painful areas. If your pain persists, please Contact Us.

To maximize the benefits of your Gua sha session and extend the post-treatment feeling, keep reading for a few aftercare tips….

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The Benefits of Sports Massage are Game-Changing  

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We have so many clients visiting us for Sports Massage in Southampton, here, we explain why a Sport / Remedial Massage is a Game Changer

Whether you are an athlete or live an active lifestyle and are looking for ways to improve or maintain your training regimen, then sports massage is a great way to aid recovery and enhance performance.

sports massage southampton

Clients often wonder ‘what is the difference between Sports massage and Deep-Tissue massage’? And the truth is, Sports massage goes beyond relaxation. What sets it apart is its customized approach, tailoring each treatment to the specific needs and goals of the client.

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OSTEOARTHRITIS – how Physiotherapy can help

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Physiotherapy Southampton for OsteoarthritisAs written by Southampton Physiotherapist, Phil Coleman

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a very common condition involving the degeneration of joints in the body, commonly affecting the knees, hips, lower back and neck, base of the thumb and big toe and finger joints. The degeneration particularly affects the cartilage, the smooth, slippery surface between the joints. The body cannot replace cartilage but attempts to repair the damage but makes it worse, laying down new bone in the form of osteophytes (bony spurs).

Types of Osteoarthritis

There’re two main types of OA – primary, where there’s no clear cause of the breakdown of cartilage, although there may be a genetic link, and secondary, where OA may develop in later life following injury such as a fracture or ligament damage.  For example, ankle fractures commonly become arthritic and footballers with a history of major knee ligament damage may develop knee OA.  More recently, a high BMI has been linked to OA in weight bearing joints.

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Introducing Chiropractic Student and sports Massage therapist: Islay

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chiropractor southampton

Islay has had extensive training and is commencing a Masters degree in Chiropractic this year

Qualifications and experience

Islay is a qualified Sports Massage Therapist Level 3

She is also studying to become a Chiropractor at the AECC and will be entering her final year in September 2019.

As a competitive sports person Islay understands the importance of keeping the body free from pain and is partially skilled in identifying and reducing painful muscle knots.

Islay believes in the importance of the mind-body connection and alters her massage treatments to ensure her patients leave the room feeling relaxed and rejuvenated.

 

Skills:

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Western Acupuncture – Dry Needling – with Osteopath Edward

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Southampton AcupunctureSouthampton Osteopath, Ed Webb, offers Dry Needling from our Bedford Place studio

What is dry needling?

The popular treatment of dry needling (as opposed to wet needling such as Botox, corticosteroids, anaesthetics etc), also known as western or medical acupuncture, is frequently used by health care professionals such as osteopaths, physiotherapists, chiropractors and even some GPs.

By effectively isolating problem areas on the body, namely myofascial trigger points, the therapist can deliver fine acupuncture needles intramuscularly. Several studies have shown immediate improvements in pain and/or disability by targeting trigger points in this way, and there is no shortage of clients and patients who can advocate the outstanding effects of this ever-popular treatments.

How does Dry needling it work?

The proposed mechanism of dry needling involves the mechanical disruption of the integrity of dysfunctional endplates, alterations in the length and tension of muscle fibres and stimulation of mechanoreceptors, increased muscle blood flow and oxygenation, and endogenous opioid release affecting peripheral and central sensitization, among others.

What on earth does that all mean I hear you say?

Essentially, dry needling therapy induces a stimulatory effect on the body’s tissues, which helps kickstart the body’s own painkilling and healing capabilities; amazing right? Osteopaths amongst many other practitioners and therapists have known for a long time about the internal powers our bodies possess to heal themselves, our job is merely to bring about and facilitate this change and reach equilibrium.

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Exercise Ideas – by Southampton Physiotherapist – Phil

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Body Weight Exercises

Simple exercises using body weight and requiring minimal or no equipment are often the best as they use the body’s natural bio-mechanics and levers and are often functional. That is, they combine strength, endurance, mobility and balance.  This gives all round conditioning which may help performance and reduce the risk of injury in sports but also allows the participant to become generally fitter. Continue reading →

Meet Ed – Osteopath and Sports Massage Therapist

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We would like to welcome Ed to the team of YOU Massage and Therapy Centre.

Whether you’re an office worker or a sports person, Ed’s treatment can help you! Working across London and the South, he has gained valuable experience in treating treating a wide variety of patients, such as the homeless, chronically ill, pregnant women, the elderly and children. Furthermore he is also a fully qualified personal trainer, dry needling therapist and sports massage therapist to complement and enhance his treatment approach.
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Lower Back Pain

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Lower back pain can be caused by any number of things. In this article I will be focusing on what I see most commonly with my clients, which is postural/environmental resulting in muscle imbalances.

 

Let me start by explaining what I mean by postural/environmental and what a muscle imbalance is.

In general, as a society we spend a lot of our day sitting. Whether this is at a desk or in a car, train or plane. In fact in western civilisation we sit on average 23 hours a day. Continue reading →

Ideas to reduce the risk of injury whilst running

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This list has been compiled by Southampton Physiotherapist and running expert, Phil at YOU Massage Southampton

Running on hard services increases the risk of injury. Research does not show a strong link, but it’s probably best to run on a variety of surfaces as this varies the loading pattern.

Here are some more Ideas to reduce the risk of injury

  • Have a training strategy!
  • Increase volume no more than 10% a week
  • Never increase intensity and volume simultaneously
  • Your longest run should be less than half your total weekly mileage
  • Sleep well – this is when the body recovers.
  • Good nutrition. It is now thought that distance runners need higher levels of protein to ensure recovery. Also, vitamin C has an affinity to collagen and so may aid tendon repair.  Runners are commonly found to be low in iron and vitamin D, essential for tissue repair and performance.
  • Strength training. There’s growing evidence (more than stretching!) that exercises such as squats, lunges and calf raises can protect against injury.
  • The ideal cadence, or step rate, is thought to be 170 – 190 per minute. If your cadence is less than 170 you could be over striding, increasing the stress on the body.  Simply by shortening your stride slightly can help.  Over striders tend to be noisy on their feet and heel strikers.  Some GPS watches show cadence.
  • Know when not to run. Try the hop test – you should be able to hop quickly on each leg x 20 times with no pain to run.  Increasing pain when running, increased pain the next day, pain above 5/10 and running with a limp are indicators that you should not run and be checked.

Performance Indicators

Below is mainly from Frank Horwill, the late and great running coach.

  • Marathon potential is 5 x 10K time minus 10 minutes
  • All distances are connected – to run a good marathon you need to run a good 10K, to run a good 10K you need to run a good 5K, need to run a good mile, need to run a good 400m. Therefore training should reflect this with multi-paced runs. https://www.runnersworld.co.uk/rws-training-pace-calculator  is a link which explains the different paces and can auto calculate your paces.
  • Frank Horwill described the 4 second rule – for example, if your best 400m time is 60 seconds, your best possible 800m is 2:08 (64+64). For 1500, add another 4 seconds per lap, and so on. So everything is based on your best 400m time.
  • Optimum training mileage for a marathon is thought to be 70 miles a week. Although Mo Farah does 120 a week but then he’s a full time athlete

Book in to see a Runners Physio for your optimum health report and guidance for injury prevention, Book online today, follow this link >