AFL physiotherapist Darren McMillan provides an example of when it is OK to change teams and explains why he and his family are probably the only Richmond supporters to switch teams after the Tigers won the 2017 premiership season
Tendon pain in the lower limbs is the curse of many runners and other athletes. Part of the difficulty with tendons is that they are structured quite differently to the rest of the musculoskeletal system (as they receive little blood flow) and hence they don’t respond to the standard treatments.
Runner’s knee, or more technically iliotibial band friction syndrome (ITBFS), is a potentially debilitating condition causing pain at the outside of the knee.
It is a non-traumatic overuse injury caused by excessive friction in the area between the iliotibial band
Plantar fasciitis is the most common cause of heel pain. It is a syndrome that results from repetitive trauma to the plantar fascia where it attaches to the heel. Repetitive trauma causes micro-tears within the plantar fascia which eventually leads to pain and difficulty doing exercise.
A nice analogy of plantar fasciitis is the game “tug of war”…
It is great to have knowledge about what type of tendon pain you have or why a tendon becomes painful. Even more valuable however, especially for those suffering during a competitive sports season, is what to do to reduce tendon pain.
Hopefully after my previous blog article you have begun to get an understanding of the different levels of tendon pathology. Let’s now look at the process which makes a tendon painful in the first place.
Tendon pain is an extremely common cause of missed activity of both the elite level athlete and weekend warrior alike. First things first, what do we call a sore tendon?
Muscle tears and corkies account for up to 45% of all sports related injuries, making it quite likely that all sports people will eventually sustain one.
The calf is a very common area to injure in professional athletes and weekend warriors alike. So what does science say we can do to prevent the dreaded ping in the “old man’s muscle”?
As it is the holiday season I have decided to tone down the research a little and provide a light read giving you an insight into what happens on an AFL preseason camp.
