Sports Therapy Centre

My road to Sports Therapy - 

I initially started running many, many years ago, but would only do it on a treadmill, and in the privacy of my own home. I never wanted anyone to see me running, and the thought of doing it outside filled me with dread. I therefore limited myself to running on a treadmill, in a room behind my garage, in Barwell. I only had a cheap treadmill, and it had no cushioning on the belt, so with every step came impact, and eventually I developed Plantar Fasciitis, otherwise known as Policemans Foot. It is a pain in the centre of the heel, and is excruciating of a morning when you try to put your foot down on the floor after being in bed. I was told to rest it, but found that if I rolled my foot on a frozen bottle of water, it helped. It took a few months, but eventually it cleared up. The treadmill had to go!

I stopped running for a few years, until my daughter got into an athletics competition at school, and wanted to join a club. Off we went to Nuneaton Harriers, and from there I discovered a love of running outdoors. Add to that a commitment to do a Race for Life at the company I used to work for, and my running future was set. Every Tuesday and Thursday evening, myself and my daughter went off to the Harriers and whilst she sprinted on the track, I trundled around Nuneaton with my group. I completed quite a few 5K races, then went up to 10K's, followed by The Great North Run.

As the miles went up, so did the niggles, and I have spent many an hour, and many pounds, on various couches/tables of varying professionals, having my own muscles and fascia pulled, pushed and pummelled, along with other forms of torture! Among the list of things to sort out over the years were - IT band problems, achillies tendonitis, tight calf muscles and a suspected cracked tibia resulting from hypermobility in my ankles, knees and hips.

Trying to get the right shoes is a key thing to keeping your feet/knees/legs/hips in good alignment and minimising the possibility of injury. A good specialist running shop should be able to help you with that. Also don't do the same thing over and over again. Don't run every day, go and do something different on very other day.

I know exactly what it is like to have a good sports massage, and I also know what it is like to have a bad one too (I've had the lot). Sports massage is not about digging into peoples muscles to cause pain. It is about feeling the muscle, locating the problem areas and treating that area. The muscle must be warm and flexible first, then the pain will be minimised. I can't say that it doesn't hurt, as it does a bit, but I try to keep my treatments as painless as possible.

I can empathise with your pains, chances are I have had them, and that is what brought me into the field of sports massage. It is fascinating to know how the body works, and how to help it mend. I love my job, and hope that I can help you too on your active journey to whatever goal you may have.

Julie

Sports Therapy Graduate from Worcester University