Patellar Tendonitis/Tendinosis or Jumper’s Knee

The patellar tendon links the kneecap (patella) to your shin bone (tibia). The quadriceps muscle and the quadriceps tendon allow your knee to extend.

Tendonitis refers to inflammation of a tendon. Tendonitis in the knee is commonly caused by activities that shorten the quadriceps, and that transfer force directly to the tendons of the knee. This force causes friction and inflammation of the tendons, making it difficult and painful to run, walk, or perform any weight-bearing motion.

Tendonitis of the knee is common in ball players, runners, cyclists and triathletes. It is also common in the elderly, or in extremely inactive individuals. Untreated tendonitis can eventually lead to tearing and rupture of the tendon.

Traditionally, tendonitis/tendinosis is treated by icing during the acute stages of the injury, reducing physical activities, and by the consumption of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). These are short-term treatments that should only be applied during the acute stages of the injury. Most of these treatments are limited in their effects, and they provide only symptomatic relief – they act to reduce inflammation – but do not address the underlying biomechanical problems that caused tendonitis/tendonosis.

In addition, the long-term consumption of non-steroidal anti- inflammatory medications has several detrimental side-effects including gastrointestinal problems, ulcerations, and internal bleeding.

Treating Patellar Tendonitis with Soft Tissue  Therapy

Patellar Tendonitis, or Jumper’s Knee, usually responds extremely well to Soft Tissue Theapy (ART, Graston, Register Massage Therapy, Fascial Manipulation). The pain caused by Patellar Tendonitis is usually felt between your kneecap (patella) and its attachment point on your shin bone (tibial tuberosity of your tibia). Essentially, the entire knee capsule must be evaluated and any restrictions that are found need to be removed.

It is equally important to remove any restrictions in the quadriceps muscle since muscle fibers from the quadriceps combine at the knee to form the patellar tendon.

In addition to removing adhesions and restrictions, you should also address the following key factors to obtain a full resolution of this condition:

• Strengthen Your Knee’s Kinetic Chain – It is important to perform exercise routines that strengthen and support all the elements of the knee’s kinetic chain even when that exercise does not appear to directly affect knee function.
• Address Muscle Imbalances –The muscles that form the quadriceps femoris group can be incredibly strong. This strength has to be counter-balanced by an equivalently strong hamstring. When there is a large imbalance in strength between these two muscle groups, increased force is placed on the patellar tendon which attaches to the knee. Muscle imbalances in the hips and core also affect these structures, and need to be addressed for long-term resolution of the knee injury.
• Reduce Obesity – Research has shown that carrying an extra 10 to 20 lbs of weight will greatly increase the stress on the patellar tendon. Weight management can be an important factor in resolving this condition.
• Manage Your Training Intensity – It is important to pay attention to the onset of your patellar tendonitis. If you find that the condition occurs suddenly after an increase in training intensity, then you should be careful and restrict your increases to 5%-10% per week. Any increases above this level increases the probability of another injury.
• Get Enough Rest – It always amazes me that people are so unwilling to give their body sufficient time to heal. Rest is a critical component of the healing cycle, so give your body enough time to heal between your workouts.
• Wear Proper Footware – Good footwear is essential to the healing process, especially if you already have gait imbalances (over-pronation or supination).

By combining Soft Tissue treatments (ART, Graston, Register Massage Therapy, Fascial Manipulation)  with exercise, and by following the above recommendations, you can usually expect substantial functional improvements in your ability to perform your daily living tasks (climbing stairs, sleeping, running, and jumping) as well as a reduction in your pain.

If you would like more information or to purchase our books please go to www.releaseyourbody.com . 

If you would like information about our clinic in Calgary Alberta please go to www.kinetichealth.ca.

(COPYRIGHT KINETIC HEALTH 2012 – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)

Aerobic Warm-Ups and Injury Resolution

It may sound a little strange when we tell you to “warm up” your entire body, especially when you feel that your pain is localized in one area like your jaw, neck, or shoulder, and you just want to get started on resolving that particular issue.

But this initial aerobic workout (lasting for 10 to 20 minutes) is one of the first things you should do before you ever begin working on your injured or restricted areas, and definitely before you begin any exercise routine.

Improving Cellular Function with Aerobic Exercises

Aerobic exercise is the fastest way to increase the strength and function of your cardiovascular system. By increasing the density of capillaries, you are able to get more nutrients into your muscular tissue, thereby helping them to heal and perform better.

The increased density of capillaries means that you are better able to eliminate the waste by-products of healing and metabolism from your cells, again allowing them to perform more efficiently.

Aerobic exercise also increases the function of mitochondria in your cells. This increased mitochondrial function immediately boosts your body’s ability to generate power and energy since your mitochondria are the principal energy generators for your cells.

Mitochondria convert existing nutrients into ATP (adenosine triphosphate), a form of energy that is readily usable by all the cells in your body. Your body uses this energy to perform all of its functions – from healing existing injuries, to eliminating waste, to powering your muscles when you walk, talk, or perform any action.

As we age, or when we injure ourselves, our ability to produce ATP decreases. Exercise is one of the few factors that will naturally increase ATP production to give you increased energy.

Aerobic Warm-Ups how they helped resolve my injury!

I have had a personal experience that showed me the importance of cardiovascular warm-ups as they relate to recovering from an injury.

I am speaking about an injury for which most people would never perform an aerobic workout. A few years ago I suffered from a severe case of Bell’s Palsy (weakness of the nerve that innervates and controls the muscles for facial expression) on one-half of the face.

Bell’s Palsy left me with the muscles of one-half of my face paralyzed and expressionless. I was told it would take 3 to 6 months before normal nerve function would be restored!

I was unwilling to live with this condition for that long and immediately researched means for reducing this time frame. One of the first things I did after getting Bell’s Palsy was to get on my road bike/wind trainer for at least 20 to 30 minutes each day. I followed this up with TMJ massage and a variety of jaw, neck, and shoulder exercises.

To everyone’s amazement, I recovered fully, with complete neuromuscular control of the muscles in my face, within about a month. I am convinced that my daily aerobic exercise is one of the major reasons I got over this condition in about a third of the normal time. The aerobic exercises I did every day resulted in increased circulatory function and improved mitochondrial activity (energy production)!

So take the time to do your aerobic warm-up before doing rehabilitative exercise programs...you will be amazed at the difference it makes in your healing, recovery, power, and strength development!

So What is a Good Warm-up?

A good warm-up should include all the large muscles of your body and include movements that increase your heart rate and breathing. This is a good opportunity to listen to your body, and recognize any injury, tight spots, or restrictions that you may have to accommodate during your exercise routine.

• Go for a brisk 10–to–20 minute walk. Make sure you move your shoulders and swing your arms. Good upper extremity motion takes the stress off your back and helps you to store and release energy from your core. Don’t walk at a slow pace, this will not achieve the desired results and is actually quite hard on your back compared to brisk walking.
• Jog, or run for 10 to 20 minutes. If you are not a runner, start with a brisk walk interspersed with a few short jogs. If you are a runner, make sure you maintain a good upright posture with good shoulder movement, and make sure you land on the middle of your feet. No toe or heel running as this deactivates your gluteals and causes a lot of other problems. Treadmills are fine but do not increase your elevation too much.
• Swim for 20 minutes. If you are doing the front crawl, make sure you breathe from both sides. You don’t want your warm- up to create neuromuscular imbalances because you breathe from just one side of your body.
• Use an elliptical or ski machine for 10 to 20 minutes. Both are good for reinforcing a cross-crawling pattern, which helps establish good neuromuscular control, as well as for warming up all the big muscles of your body.
• Ride a stationary bike for 10 to 20 minutes. This option is not my first choice due to the lack of motion in the upper extremity. In terms of bike types, I prefer the use of upright bikes much more since you can maintain better posture, especially if you have a history of back pain.
• Hula-hoop for 5 to 10 minutes. Most people may not think of this as an aerobic exercise, but it is! The hula-hoop is not only a lot of fun, but it is also a great way to learn how to properly brace your core – a key concept in core stability.

If you would like more information or to purchase our books please go to www.releaseyourbody.com . 

If you would like information about our clinic in Calgary Alberta please go to www.kinetichealth.ca.

(COPYRIGHT KINETIC HEALTH 2012 – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)

Massaging Trigger Points in Your Hand or Feet

Trigger points are tender points in your muscles where you will find palpable nodules in tight muscle fibres. These are areas where blood flow has decreased, lactic acid has built up, and muscles have tightened up to form “knots” or “nodules” of tissue.

There are two types of trigger points - Active and Latent. When you compress an Active Trigger Point, it will refer pain to other areas of your body. Compression of a Latent Trigger Point will only cause pain at the point of compression, but will not refer pain. Trigger point massage focuses upon releasing the tightness in these hyper-irritable sports.

Use of a golf ball to apply pressure upon the trigger point to release the restrictions.

Apply Trigger Point Therapy

Roll the golf ball in firm, circular motions across the area for 10 to 20 seconds.

When you find an area that is particularly tender, use the golf ball and work this area for an additional 20 to 30 seconds until you feel a softening of the trigger point.

• Monitor the level of pain on a scale of 1 to 10 (where 10 is excruciating pain). Do not exceed a level seven pain.
• Ask yourself, “Would I be willing to do this again tomorrow?” If not, you are pressing too hard, so back off on the pressure.
• Don’t be aggressive with your therapy.
• Be consistent with your therapy. Perform the trigger point therapy
• several times a day.

If you would like more information or to purchase our books please go to www.releaseyourbody.com . 

If you would like information about our clinic in Calgary Alberta please go to www.kinetichealth.ca.

(COPYRIGHT KINETIC HEALTH 2012 – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)

Tissue Quality and Power Generation

Power (within your body) is about the production and transfer of force through your entire body. Power is also a function of how well you can recruit your nervous system to control muscular action.

The more efficient your nervous system, the more power you will have. The more power you have, the easier it is to perform your activities and exercises without injury.

Power is not the same as strength; power is about maximum efficiency without effort. (Strength requires a lot of effort and energy.) The more power you have, the less energy you will need to expend to perform a task, which equates to having more energy available to heal and grow your body.

Power generation is also directly related to the quality of your soft tissues (muscles, ligaments, tendons, etc.). The quality of your soft tissues determines how well you can store and release energy.

Think of your soft tissues as being like cords of elastic rubber (or perhaps a telephone cord) that can stretch (storing energy) and contract (releasing energy). In a healthy state, your muscles contract and release instantaneously, storing and releasing energy with changes in body motion.

So what happens when a rubber cord gets knots tied in it? The rubber cord’s ability to store and release energy is immediately diminished. The same thing happens to your soft tissues when you build up restrictions and adhesions (from the micro-tears caused by repetitive motion), or scar tissue from injuries. These adhesions and scar tissues are analogous to knots in the cord. Just as the cord’s ability to store and release energy was diminished by knots, so is our body’s ability to store and release energy diminished by these restrictions. Think of these adhesions and restrictions as energy leaks that rob your body of much needed energy for healing.

You will have problems with storing and releasing your own energy if your body is full of tight areas and ropy fibrous restrictions. This is why foam rollers, Massage Therapy, Active Release Techniques, Graston Techniques, and dozens of other soft tissue techniques are so valuable for helping in your healing process. All these procedures act to improve the quality of your soft tissue by releasing or removing the soft tissue restrictions that lie between your tissue layers.

Bottom line: you may need to invest in some soft tissue care to get rid of these restrictions...these restrictions are sapping your energy, causing injuries, and aging you prematurely. Consider getting treatment for these areas even if you don’t have an injury.

Preventive care is an investment that will pay countless positive dividends to you for the rest of your life.

If you would like more information or to purchase our books please go to www.releaseyourbody.com . 

If you would like information about our clinic in Calgary Alberta please go to www.kinetichealth.ca.

(COPYRIGHT KINETIC HEALTH 2012 – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)

Weight Loss Tips

Think long-term…. avoid the rebound effect.

Keep your weight-loss goals realistic. It is reasonable to expect to lose about one to three pounds per week. Too rapid weight-loss almost always results in a rebound effect, where all the lost weight returns if you fall off the path.

Quick weight-loss fixes never last long. In many weight-loss programs, the quick weight that you lose is often due to loss of muscle rather than fat loss. When you lose muscle mass, you actually lower your metabolism since muscles are the primary “burners” of carbohydrates and fats in your body.

Dramatic decreases in caloric intake leads to decreased or slower metabolism, and more weight gain.

Sudden, or too low caloric intake leads to a loss of muscle mass as your body struggles to meet its daily energy requirements by burning muscle rather than fat. It also causes your body to STORE FAT. This can happen whenever you eat less than 1000 calories a day. Your body requires at least 1500 calories a day just to perform its basic functions.

Decreases in your muscle mass result in a decrease in your metabolic rate, which in turn results in more fat being stored! This is the major reason for the failure of over 80% of diet plans. Instead of training your body to burn fat, they train your body to store fat.

Graze, Don’t Gorge!

Frequent SMALL meals are better for weight loss. Frequent small meals serve to convince your body that you are NOT starving, that food is abundant, and that fats DON’T need to be stored for hard times.

Research has shown that you can increase your metabolism (and lose weight), by eating smaller, more frequent meals during the day. You will lose weight on five small meals a day, and gain weight on two large meals a day.

Your Mother was right…. you need to eat breakfast!

Did you know that your body burns about 450 calories when you sleep at night? Your body needs to re-fuel at breakfast time. Believe it or not, breakfast actually helps to kick-start your metabolism!

If you don’t have breakfast, your blood sugar levels can fall too low, resulting in cravings for high-sugar food. It can also cause your metabolism to slow down, resulting in increased weight gain. Successful individuals in any weight-loss program always eat breakfast. Oatmeal cereal with egg whites on the side is a great way to start the day…you get both complex carbohydrates and protein. A small fruit topping (without sugar) gets you started on your daily fruit and vegetable requirements.

Forget the fast food.

Fast food is generally made with cheaper ingredients, such as high fat meat, lots of saturated and trans fats, lots of salt, and cholesterol. All of these ingredients lead to health problems, weight gain, high blood pressure, inflammation, and heart disease.

Consider what is in a basic medium fast food meal of a burger, French frys and a vanilla shake. In that one meal you will get 87 grams of fat and 1,480 calories. If you want to gain weight, inflame your body, and die of a heart attack, then by all means, go for it.

Keep the salt levels down.

Salt (or sodium chloride) is essential for the maintenance of human life. Salt controls the amount of water within our bodies and maintains the critical balance between cells and body fluids. It also aids in the contraction of muscle tissue and serves as a vital ingredient of blood plasma and digestive secretions.

Excess salt, however, upsets the electrolyte balances in your body. It can cause your body to retain water in its attempt to balance electrolyte levels within your body. Fluid retention causes increases in blood pressure, bloating, kidney failure, stroke, hypertension, and of course, weight gain.

Get All Your Building Blocks with EACH Meal

Fad diets, fasts, and other quick fixes deprive your body of the essential requirements it needs to survive. Your body's immediate protective response is to store every particle of nutrition it does receive, and cut back on its metabolism. In other words, your body stores all its input nutrition as FAT...to help you survive what it perceives to be a hostile and food-poor world.

To really lose weight in the long term, you must ensure that you are giving your body the required nutritional elements that it requires. You need to convince your body that food is abundant, readily available, and fulfills all your body's nutritional needs. When you provide all the key building blocks of nutrition in each meal, your body becomes willing to increase its metabolic rate, and release the fat reserves that it currently has locked up.

The basic building blocks of good nutrition are green and colored vegetables, protein, good fats, and carbohydrates. Try including each of these in every meal.

Start thinking about your body-fat percentage.

Body-fat percentage measures the percentage of fat in your body. If you are 200 pounds and 30% fat, it means that your body consists of 60 pounds of fat and 140 pounds lean body mass.

Remember your goal is to gain muscle (which burns fat), and muscle also weighs more than fat. So initially, don’t worry about what the scales say. Your focus is to get rid of the fat while adding on muscle.

Also remember, a certain amount of fat is essential to bodily functions. Fat regulates body temperature, cushions and insulates organs and tissues, and is the main form of energy storage. If your body-fat percentage gets too low you can actually damage your immune system.

Add Muscle to Your Body

· Muscles burn more calories than any other type of tissue in your body (with the exception of your brain). Muscles help to increase your resting metabolic rate, which means you burn fat even when resting.

· For each pound of muscle that you add to your body, you will burn an extra 50 calories each day. This means if you add five pounds of muscle mass to your body, you can burn 250 extra calories a day, even when you are just sitting around.

Strength training (or muscle building) should be one of the fundamentals of anyweight loss program. (Note: diet changes alone will not give you the results you want!) Strength training builds muscle mass and increases your resting metabolic rate. Exercise and strength training are the keys for getting rid of all that already stored, excess fat.

Remember, you want to GAIN muscle mass. Since muscle weighs more than fat, you may find that initially you are gaining weight, rather than losing it. But that’s ok…because a few weeks later, all those new muscles are going to start burning your excess fat reserves, and that’s when the weight starts dropping off!

Get a good night’s sleep!

You need to sleep at least 8 hours every night if you want to lose weight. Lack of sleep increases stress, increased stress increases cortisol levels in your body, increased cortisol levels result in weight gain.

Proper sleep is essential! Your body uses this time to rebuild and repair tissue, to re-energize your immune system, cleanse your brain and body of toxins, and to replenish your energy reserves.

Lack of sleep affects the level of hormones which control weight-loss – melatonin and human growth hormone. Both of these are produced during sleep, and interruptions and lack of production inhibits their positive effects on your body. In fact, research has shown that the probability of your being obese is 73% higher if you get only four hours of sleep per night.

For more information, go to www.releaseyourbody.com. 

If you would like more information about our clinic please go to www.kinetichealth.ca.

(COPYRIGHT KINETIC HEALTH 2010 – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)