Planning for January

Planning for January - putting load management into context

It’s that time of year again when we are thinking about our personal plans for the new year, resolutions & all that goes with it, which likely includes a plan to return to fitness, or maybe a more consistent or regular approach to exercise and dietary intake.

Today, I’m going to discuss two things which we may be be making ourselves more familiar with over the coming weeks, alcohol and exercise, and how parallels can be drawn in our understanding of how to manage both... or not! :)

This is not an attempt by me to be a life coach, in any form!

Anyone that knows me will tell you that I'm not one to give advice on alcohol tolerance, so I'll stick to what I know and channel our focus here on exercise.

In mid to late January, year on year, without fail, we see many cases in clinic of people presenting with hip, knee, shin, ankle pain. Not necessarily injuries per se / something arising from a particular incident, more so overload injuries due to a considerable spike in exercise load exposure (like a feed of pints after being on the dry - we all know what happens there!)

A lack of conditioning (preparing the body) for what we are asking of it can result in mechanical overload giving rise to pain in certain areas. For example, a strength or movement deficit at the hip or foot/ankle could contribute to a gradual increase in excessive load being exerted on the knee or shin for example.

We'll now briefly move into the DIY space, which isn't a forte of mine either!

With an attempt to give some context, grab a small lump-hammer from the garden shed for this one.

If you are tapping your knuckle lightly with a hammer, it's not likely to be sore, but if you do it 200-300 times its likely to start getting a bit uncomfortable. The cumulative load is the issue, the repeated impact when our body has not had sufficient exposure to adapt to be able to tolerate it, results in somewhere or something being asked to do more than its able for at that moment in time.

(If this has happened to you, it may be time to give up the DIY and make that call for help!)

Like any good plumber will tell you, the source of the problem isn’t necessarily where the issue may appear to be.

Couch to 5k over a 7-10 day period if you’re starting from scratch, is not something I'd recommend!
If we visualise a graph showing the volume of workload we are exposing our body to, the incline should be gradual and over a longer period of time. (I’m not advocating all day drinking here just for the record!)

If the incline is steep and over a shorter period of time, our risk for breaking down becomes higher.
So, we aim for the opposite to mitigate risk, gradual increase over a reasonable period of time for the body to adapt & recover. (Drink water!)

So, im summary, pace yourself. Start small, be consistent with your application, and build steadily.

If you would like to discuss this in your own context in making plans for January or have any questions, please feel free to reach out. I'd be more than happy to discuss.

You can reach me via email barry@mcenteephysio.com or Whatsapp us on +353469062265

Wishing all our clients, patients & friends a very Happy Christmas,
Barry