interview with the olympics. (well, Locog)...

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Today saw us do a 400 mile round trip to the Excel Centre in London to be interviewed for our suitability as massage therapists for the upcoming London Olympics in 2012.
We registered on the site last year, and hadn't really heard much at all in the past few months, and so didn't really think anything had come of it.

Since moving away from London, we have suddenly been back in contact with them, and were invited to an interview event in the Excel centre. 7 tube stops away from our previous flat, and quite a bit longer from our current place in Glossop. As there was only 1 day available for our interviews, we went online at the same time, and managed to get the same time slot requested- around midday today- Friday 13th May.

To cut rather a long story short, we got down there in plenty of time, and spent time outside in the sun, drinking coffee and thinking how absurd it seems that we lived not 5 miles from there, only 5 weeks ago.
After faffing around, chilling out and generally mooching- attempting to think up questions which may or may not be asked of us in the interview, it eventually became time for us to wander in, and after sitting in the reception area for a short amount of time, I happened to see Susan Findlay- Director of NLSSM- and head tutor of our Sports Massage course- walk through the door. We ran over to say our hellos and so forth, at which point she said that she was certainly not doing our interviews- she was only doing people she had not tutored. Not giving anything away about the interview, we agreed to meet up after it was all over.

The majority of people in the "intake" we were in were volunteering for transport/logistics, but the co-ordiantor for the medical team was on hand to take us through the details of how the team was potentially going to be organised throughout the olympics- where we may or may not be be needed, and a general overview of how the whole thing should (theoretically) work.

Within the olympic village apparently there is going to be a huge medical centre, in which there will be a large amount of sports doctors, osteos, chiros, massage therapists, dentists etc. all of whom will be volunteers. It all sounds rather exciting, but, as you can well imagine, its all a basic framework at this point, and bits are being filled in on a daily basis as it goes.

After a short introduction to what we (or rather the transport people) were volunteering themselves for, there was a short film about the olympics and why volunteering is so important- finished off with a 3 min talk from Eddie Izzard (on the screen, unfortunately, not in real life), and off we went to the interviews.

As Massage Therapists we were interviewed by other qualified massage therapists- who had volunteered to be interviewers. There were all the volunteer type questions you would expect to be asked, and also, because of our speciality- a couple of curve balls were thrown in to make the interviewers aware of the level of our experience. They were assessing us not only on our massage skills, knowledge of body mechanics and contraindications, but also on how we deal with people, athletes, and our past experiences of volunteering.

All in all, it was a very thorough interview, and I hope I can say we came through it with flying colours. But we have to wait until much later in the year to find that out. With 5000 staff to recruit on the medical team alone, the whole thing is taking a massive effort, and it is possible to see why things do seem to take quite a while to get into motion.

Hopefully, all things being well, we shall be working at the Olympics- and I should make it clear that the reason we are volunteering is not solely so that Lynne can massage Usain Bolts bum.

After the interview we caught up with Susan and had a good old natter about how things are going at the school, and had a quick chat about the marking we are doing on the Anatomy and Physiology papers- which this time a couple of years ago, we were doing! Lovely to catch up, even if for such a short time, and then it was back in the car up the M1.

It would have been better to take the train- but when the car is only half as expensive... what choice do we actually have?

As a final word- just as we got home, we got a call from Tom at Rockover climbing wall asking if we would like to help out at a climbing comp in the near future. I suspect we'll be over there for Rockovers birthday, doling out massages- potentially in return for donations to Mountain Rescue. We'll keep you updated as and when we know more of whats going on.
And tomorrow... Mount Famine. Short. Sharp. Looks like it may be a tad boggy. My first race in club colours...

Processes involved in healing a muscle strain

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The first aim of treatment in healing a muscle strain is to reduce pain, swelling, bleeding and secondary tissue damage by utilising PRICE (protection, rest, ice, compression and elevation). Encouraging circulation, after the acute stage, through gentle massage lymphatic drainage can help recovery. There are three stages to healing a muscle strain: inflammatory, proliferative and remodelling.

Inflammatory: this is the body’s reaction to the injury and preparation for the repair phases.

The inflammation stage is when the immune system increases circulation to the injury site, with the aim of producing edema (swelling). Pain will be felt at the site, which indicates that the immune response to injury is working as it should. In response to inflammation the body produces chemicals which eliminate dead muscle fibres and begin repairing the fibres. Inflammation also causes heat and redness to occur in the area because of the dilation of small blood vessels. Once the blood in the area clots the macrophages can start to remove dead tissue and digest any cell and bacteria particles. This ‘cleans’ the area ready for the next stage and blood vessels can begin to re-grow in the area and restore oxygen flow. Massage can help to speed up this process by flushing out the toxins and dead cells from the area, increasing circulation to bring oxygen and fresh nutrients to the area.

Proliferative: this is the stage when cells produce the materials to repair the injury. Fibroblasts begin to multiply and produce small fibres of collagen which is laid down, increasing the strength of the fibres. When a tear of the connective tissue in a muscle occurs it is fibroblasts which lay down collagen. The collagen fibres which make up the scar tissue mature and become aligned along lines of external stress and are able to withstand more force. This is how the area becomes functional again. In significant tears the adhesion could form in connective tissue layers. Adhesions in the fascia result because of abnormal cross-links forming in the collagen. The formation of scar tissue is where a matrix is formed in the damaged area. This is the result of bleeding which forms a scaffold to join the two sides of the scar together. In a typical injury the muscle will become shortened and can lose extensibility. Satellite cells help myoblasts develop into muscle fibre and regeneration is generally achieved within 3 weeks. At this stage massage will help align fibres correctly and keep scar tissue formation to a minimum.

Remodelling: this is where the body tries to restructure the injury site back to the pre-injury state. It consists of the new replacement tissue settling down to its ultimate structure. With maturation of the scar the site becomes shortened. This can be prevented by use of the muscle, thus maintaining the length of the fibres which are needed for normal function. Once the fibres are being used normally the scar will steadily mature until it resembles the tissue that was present before it became injured. Massage continues to play an important role in this phase, enabling the body to adapt in a functional way.

Burbage Skyline

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This was a fairly popular one. Managed to get there early and bagged a carparking space, and an entry form- which were in somewhat short supply as they had been forgotten by the race organiser.
(He'd remembered EVERYTHING else, but of the entry forms, there were only 8).

So got my number, and stood around waiting. Within a short time there was an almighty queue for race numbers, not going anywhere. However, it was soon sorted and there were people all around getting changed, pinning on numbers and generally prepping for the run.
There were all kinds of runners there, from serious fell runners to what almost seemed like fun-runners. (not quite as bad as that, but there were a few obvious roadies, who were in for a bit of a shock.

From the off it was horrifically crowded, and I ended up walking some of it, simply because of the sheer volume of people in front of me. On the first descent I took an outside line and overtook a goodly number, but I must still have been at least 2/3 of the way  down the field. (and I THOUGHT I was somewhere near the front at the beginning- oh how wrong I was).
Over the stream- overtook a few more people, and then a long singletrack with little or no place to overtake. To be honest, by this point I didn't want to overtake any more as it was still the first 2k of the run and I really wanted to have a good finish. So I plodded along, took some people on a wider section of the course which was quite rocky- and tricky underfoot if you're not used to it.

By the time I came to the plummet, I was behind a gaggle of people- so I hooned it down, and caught up with them, a lovely little stream crossing at the bottom proved fun, and then the long drag up to the head of the valley. I slowed down considerably here, wanting to have legs for the end, and was overtaken by a few eager people, who I ended up taking back further up the climb as they slowed down to walk, and I carried on plodding.
Round the head of the valley and along the top of Burbage - flat, but still slightly sloped uphill- rocky underfoot, and I reigned back a bit more- allowing 3 people to overtake - but keeping in touch with them.
The final descent was lovely, though narrow, and afforded no opportunities to get past slower runners, but it headed down to the wide open track 1.5km from home.

From being 3rd or 4th in a gaggle of about 6 or 7, I took a good line off the hill- into 2nd, reeled in the guy in front- a Dark Peaker, and stretched out in front. This was the bit I wanted to have legs for. All the way home I was worried that the guys I had just overtaken were going to come roaring past in the last few metres, so I ran and ran and ran.
Didn't look over my shoulder the whole way- and the people who were in front of my group were a good 300m ahead, (well, only about 100 when I finished), but as you can see from the picture, there was no one in touching distance from me at the end.
The only thing to wonder is if I hadn't held back on the climbs, would I have blown up, or would I have caught and taken those guys 300m in front?
Practice is called for!
(oh, I came 78th out of about 300ish, in 47:47, 10 mins behind the first chap)(official time tbc)

Contraindications

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When you go for a sports massage you may wonder why you spend 10 mins, 15 mins, or maybe longer talking about you and your health. There is a very good reason for this. The point is that the therapist needs to work out not only how best to treat you by questioning about your injury or reason for coming, but also to find out whether there are any reasons why you should not be treated, i.e. if there is a contraindication.

Contraindications are categorised as systemic, local and modifications.

Systemic contraindications are classed as illnesses or conditions which are severe in nature, acute, contagious, anything undiagnosed and anything uncontrolled. Systemic means the condition affects the whole body: massage should not be carried out under any circumstances. An example here would be compartment syndrome (over-developed muscles cause pressure on blood and nerve vessels). The vascular system is already under great strain and is compromised – to massage would simply add to that and worsen the situation, even if massage is carried out elsewhere on the body.

A local contraindication, e.g. varicose veins, is something that affects a particular area of the body: massage is possible providing you do not work on the affected area. But, if the condition is undiagnosed then the first step is always to refer the client to their doctor.

Modifications require the therapist to have an awareness and understanding of the condition before proceeding. Take osteoporosis as an example, treatment will depend on the stage and severity of illness as undue mechanical force can worsen the situation; but percussion and tapotement could encourage new bone growth, giving vital strength to weakened bones.

Once your consultation is over with the therapist will know whether or not they can treat you that day. I have only had to refuse treatment to one client: they had a kidney infection which is a systemic contraindication.

Lynne

Swimming while Pregnant

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I have been researching swimming whilst pregnant and came across this article which is a good short read: http://www.sportcentric.com/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,,4716-1-1-84574-0-file,00.pdf

The main thrust of the advise seems to be that swimming is good, particularly to counterbalance any postural changes that may occur by strengthening your chest and back muscles. This is important because the body's centre of gravity changes dramatically as you gain weight and rather than let your muscles just adjust in an unbalanced posture you need to keep them healthy and strong by exercising.

For someone carrying a baby the main benefit of swimming has to be getting into the water and feeling as though you are weightless. The buoyancy force from the water pushing you up makes it appear that you weigh only about 10% of your actual weight. There are other benefits too. You'll be getting an aerobic workout which is gentle on your joints yet strengthening for your muscles. If you're suffering from sciatica then swimming can help to stretch the back and glut muscles – important in relieving the pressure on the nerve which is being compressed by tight muscles. For those who have water retention and swelling then swimming can help because the pressure of the water can push fluid back into your veins and back into the circulatory system where it needs to be.

A couple of notes of caution for swimming though: just as for sleeping/laying down, exercising on your back may not be a good idea because the weight of the baby can press on major blood vessels (the aorta and vena cava). If you have any concerns you must always speak to your doctor or health care practitioner. Also, if you have Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction you should avoid breaststroke as you need to avoid over-stretching your pelvis and related joints.

To summarise then, swimming is good! It's non-weight bearing, it can give you an aerobic workout, help relieve sciatica and reduce swelling, lessens pressure on your joints and will help you to relax. Check out your local pool, many will offer aqua classes specifically for pregnant women.

Lynne

Crowden Horseshoe

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My second fell race of the season. I didn't really think about entering it until a couple of days ago - I knew that Burbage Skyline was coming up, but this wasn't really on my radar.

Barely 6 miles from home, this was a good one to start getting used to a longer race. Herod Farm was short at 5 miles or so, this was a slightly more challenging 8(ish).
Lynne kindly drove me over, and then wandered about the hillside taking rather marvellous photos of people plunging down toward the end.

The beginning was fast - over road for about 300m, and then a stile. I started somewhere near the back, never really wanting to blow my legs out before the mid-point of a race. So I was quite far down the field by the time the bottleneck appeared.

That over, the long pull up the hill began. That was a looooong way up. basically 4 miles up hill. There were a couple of slightly rocky descents along the way (not very big ones), but they were sufficient to notice that the guys that I was pretty much keeping up with along the flat and losing out slightly to on the ups really were not all that good at going down.
So I sat there, biding my time on the ascent, making sure that I wasnt being left behind too significantly, and making sure that my legs weren't being totally sapped by a pace that I couldn't sustain.

Toward the top I was not happy, but I was in touch, we turned around the trig point and theoretically down hill, but very much into the wind. As it happens, the gradient down wasn't all that much at all, mostly flat, so it turned into a complete slog into the wind. I gained some on the downhill bits, and lost some on the uphill (well, slightly up-slope - by this time anything that wasn't downhill constituted a mental uphill effort).
I knew that the final part was a vicious little downhill which, if I was right in my observations at the beginning of the race, the guys around me would not be happy about.

778 - Tim

Brain off, legs on, and go.
I think I overtook about 5 people in the last 500 metres and eventually came in 26th in 75:49.
Not that tired, feeling good.
Need to work on the old climbing skills though.

Tim

Shin Splints

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Having seen some interesting theories on Shin Splints and what to do about them in recent days, I thought I might write a little about them.

There are actually 3 different conditions which are known as shin splints, so its quite useful to be able to differentiate between them. I'll start scary and get less so as we go through.

The first and most scary is stress fracture of the tibia (main weight bearing bone in the leg below the knee). If this happens, get it looked at asap. Stop running. Let it heal. There really isnt much that massage can do for this in the acute phase- but in rebalancing and for remedial work- it may well be a useful modality to be using.

The second is almost as scary- its compartment syndrome. Basically the muscle on the front of your tibia (tibialis anterior) which is partially responsible for lifting your toe as you swing forward, and also helps prevent the collapse of the main arch in your foot) has got too big, there is too much blood in the muscle and it is the fact that it is swollen means that the pressure make it hurt. In this case there really isn't much massage can do, because massage is about getting blood flowing. The last thing you want is more blood going to an already engorged muscle that is causing you pain. You need to see a doctor. Its a bad thing.

Thankfully, these 2 are the least common forms of Shin Splints.
The most common by far is general pain in the Tibialis anterior - (again, its the muscle that helps lift your toe up as you swing your leg forward in the gait cycle). It could be because you have recently changed your shoes and are wearing heavier footwear - making the muscle work harder, it could be that you are attempting to run in flip-flops - (a BAD idea), it could also be an issue with your gait, that your arch is collapsing and this is causing undue elongation of the Tibialis Anterior, all of which are causing micro-tears in the muscle, slowly, over time, it gets more and more painful until you can barely run down the drive and back without the pain coming on.

An aside to this is that overtraining causes this syndrome as well - too much running and not enough rest means that the microtears in the muscle, which you induce by doing exercise in order to make the muscle better and more efficient, don't have the time to repair and make the muscle more efficient... they break, they break more, and more until eventually something has to give - and generally it's the pain that tells you that you've gone too far. REST is AS IMPORTANT as exercise.

Anyhow, back to treatment.
Ice, Compression and Elevation. And, most importantly of all, Rest. The problem being, that if you haven't rested as much as you should have done while training, you will need to compound that time now in order to relieve your pain. Not running when you are a runner is a bummer, and makes you restless and in some cases depressed. However, thinking that it feels a little better, and going out for a run is the WORST possible thing you can do. You'll be ok, then it will hurt, and then you'll be back to square 1 again, and it will take even longer to heal.

Massage - helping break down scar tissue in the muscle, assisting with the healing process, giving ideas as to remedial exercises that you can do, along with icing the affected areas for 15mins twice a day - that is what is going to bring you back from shin splints as fast as possible.

There are also a couple of things you can do in terms of taping techniques which will help reduce the pain. This can be useful if you HAVE to finish a race, or HAVE to run away from a tiger, however, it is only a stop gap, and should not be used as a replacement for rest etc. As such, I won't go into details here. 

If your car was broken, what would you do? Take it to a garage and pay money to get it sorted?
If your body is broken what do you do? Go online and look for answers, or go and get it looked and and healed properly?

You can buy another car.
You can't buy another body.
If its broke, see a pro and get it fixed!

Tim