When weight training, choosing the right shoe may help you break any personal records and improve performance.
When you go into the gym you will see a wide variety of shoes. From bright coloured Nike and Adidas shoes to old school Converses or Metcons and Nanos. This brings us to the point of this blog post, you would not pick a pair of rugby boots to go and play tennis. Shoes are built for set purposes and you should understand what your shoe can do for you and your training goals before you go to the gym to make sure you have the right one on.
Having A Stable Foot
Your foot is your foundation when performing any weightlifting movement. If your foot is not stable then you will not have a solid base to generate force and power for your movements. Even though your foot is very mobile it has the ability to be in a stable position by being in a neutral arched position. So your choice of footwear must integrate this foot position.
Barefoot Shoes
Firstly the barefoot shoe. These shoes provide the feeling of training barefoot but still offer some degree of support for your foot. The theory behind barefoot shoes is you are increasing the feedback your body is getting from the ground and also strengthening up the smaller muscles in your feet by making them work harder. Barefoot shoes also have a wide toe box and therefore allow your foot to have more space inside your shoe rather than being constricted. These are a good option for someone who wants to squat barefoot but has to wear shoes at their gym.
Flat Soled Shoes
If you compete in powerlifting, you will have seen some people rocking a pair of Chuck Taylors. They are terrible for running, but for squatting they are not too bad. The shoe has a 0mm drop from heel to forefoot. This is a big difference from a weightlifting shoe which can have a 20mm drop. If you have poor ankle mobility then these shoes will not offer you any help and if you have not fixed your ankle mobility before squatting or performing Olympic lifts then you may experience discomfort wearing these shoes and will not perform at your best. People who low bar squat may find these a good choice of shoe because you sit back into your hips more with this variation of squatting and therefore your knees will not have to move as far forward. A negative with these shoes is they have a narrow toe box meaning you will struggle to grip the floor as well.
Cross-Trainer Shoes
With CrossFit being a popular form of training, there is always going to be a shoe designed for that style of training. These shoes have good support at the heel and then a flexible forefoot design as well. The most common and popular kinds of cross-trainer shoes are Nike Metcons and Rebook Nanos.
They are both a good alternative to your normal running shoes and lifting shoes. Especially when you have a workout that combines all kinds of movements from box jumps, running, rowing machine and Olympic weightlifting. But if your goal is to just go for a run or just to squat and deadlift then these shoes are not the best option, they are built to be a good all-rounder.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to picking your shoe it should be chosen based on your personal goals. If you do have questions on what shoes might be best for you or issues with mobility when lifting and want to improve on this, then contact the clinic today on 0578678904, direct message us on Facebook or book now.
Yours in Health
The Lawlor Clinic: Spine & Sport, Portlaoise, Laois
This blog will cover a common myth of the squat. It is commonly thought by many that the knees should never go over the toes when squatting.
No one is certain where this originated from but it has become a common theme in the fitness industry and medical world.
But, is it really a dangerous thing to do? For Olympic weightlifters to be able to lift the most amount of weight during their clean, they must catch the barbell in a deep squat position. Then in order to remain upright with the bar secured on the chest, the knees of many lifters will move past their toes. So does this mean all weightlifters are placing their knees in harms-way when they get under the barbell?
When you squat poorly, the origin of the movement will commonly be from the ankles first. This means as the ankles move the knees are forced to hinge forwards. This creates a chain reaction of moving your weight onto the balls of the feet. This is called a knees first approach to squatting. Doing this in this way leads to greater shear forces on the knee joint and contributes to increased risk of injury and eventually to pain.
So because of this, it appears the issue is at the knee because that is where the site of pain is. So if you limit the amount of movement the knees have then this solves the problem. However, limiting the knees from moving only addresses the symptoms of the issue rather than the overall problem.
What to do?
Where the issue lies is your balance. This is because the knee is only a hinge joint. It will move due to what it is being dictated by at the hip and ankle. So we should be focusing on the hip and ankle joint when we squat.
During squatting we must have our centre of gravity over the middle of our foot. This is because our body can remain balanced and work effectively in producing speed and power. During a bodyweight squat, our centre of gravity is located around our belly button. When weight training, the barbell now becomes our centre of gravity.
So how do we correct for moving from the ankles first? It is important to sit back or push the hips back so we hinge from the hips in order the get the hips moving first and therefore allow us to descend into a deep squat. Doing so will limit the amount of pre-mature forward movement of the knees. So the centre of gravity will stay over the middle of their foot.
But this only works up until a point. In order to reach full depth in the squat there comes a time when the knees must eventually move forward. To stay balanced while we go deeper into a squat, our knees have to progress forwards of our toes, this will help us stay balanced. This is because to get to the full depth in the squat, the hips must be under the torso. This allows us to remain balanced and keep our chest upright.
The main point is that we should not be concerned when our knees move past our toes, not if.
If you suffer from knee pain and would like an examination and treatment to help relieve your symptoms and improve your movement patterns then contact the clinic today on 0578678904, direct message us on Facebook or book now.
Yours in Health
The Lawlor Clinic: Spine & Sport, Portlaoise, Laois
Currently, people will do anything to compete and perform at their best. When it comes down to game day, it is common for people to try and ignore their pain and then push through it. This goes back to the phrase we have been told from when we were young of ‘No pain, no gain’.
In the world today, no pain, no gain is frequently said and acted upon to cover up pain. We wrap our ankles and wrists before games, wear knee sleeves and take pain killers and use creams to get through training by keeping the pain at a low enough level in order to perform. Although this allows us to compete on a consistent basis but these temporary solutions for dealing with pain during competition and even training sessions have become regular occurrences for people during their routines.
So what can be the effects of pushing through pain?
Pain tells us that there may be injury occurring to the body. The type of pain can vary from sharp, stabbing or throbbing sensation. Pain can be muscular or you could be feeling it in a joint. It often occurs due to overuse, poor technique and inflammation. It is important to note that pain does not improve because of a proper warm-up or mobility work pre-session.
This is because pain is not a soreness. Whereas muscle soreness will almost always improve when you have done a throughout warmup. When your muscles are sore this is a natural part of training. So if you have done a warm-up and your pain improves it is most likely because you are just sore and can continue with training.
There are a few reasons why phishing through pain can be harmful. Firstly as mentioned earlier, pain can be a warning sign of a problem being caused for your body, similar to a check engine light on your dashboard. Although there may be times of pushing through pain to get a performance in, if it becomes part of your training routine it can be detrimental to your body and your progress. Continually ignoring pain is when injuries occur.
Pain also changes the way you move. This is because your body is trying to find a position where it is protected. But this can also affect your movement and therefore directly limit your mobility and diminish your strength. This is especially true for gym-goers when using a barbell. Because trying to push through the pain when you are lifting heavy will limit your development.
So do not ignore the signs with your body when it is in pain. Learn to embrace pain as a chance to fix your body so it can run for a long time safely.
If you suffer from pain and would like an examination and treatment to help relieve your symptoms and improve your movement patterns then contact the clinic today on 0578678904, direct message us on Facebook or book now.
Yours in Health
The Lawlor Clinic: Spine & Sport, Portlaoise, Laois
A lot of people get back pain but continue to either train through it or rest until the pain lessens only to get it again when they continue with the activity they were resting from. So this blog will cover the basics of back pain, the main ways that your training might be affecting it and how to prevent pain.
Your spine is not just a stack of bones piled on top of each other. It is more of a curved tower of small bones called vertebra, where each of these is separated by the bodies equivalent of a pillow, called a disc. The discs in between the vertebra provide support and create a cushioning effect when you are loading your back. Then your vertebra is connected by little joints called Facet joints. The purpose of these is to allow you to bend and twist through movements. All of these structures are held together and supported by different tissues. These are ligaments, muscles, fascia and joint capsules.
So what actually causes back pain when people are training or doing general movements at work or at home?
The simplest answer is that pain is the result of excessive stress or strain on the structures of your back. Pain is more commonly due to an accumulation of microtrauma rather than one actual event. Three main areas that can cause a build-up of microtrauma are:
Poor movement or technique
Excessive loading of the spine during training causing an increase in compression to the spine
Poor training programming or periodisation (not enough rest)
Your body is built to resist a certain amount of force before it fails and gets injured. Athletes who can safely push themselves to the point just before the limit will find a big increase in improving strength and performance. But pushing past this limit is where pain occurs and injuries occur.
In the day when we are moving, bending, twisting and also when we go to workout the spine is most efficient when stacked in a neutral position. Microtrauma occurs when the spine moves out of this neutral spine position.
For example when deadlifting with an excessively rounded back, or having a butt wink when squatting. Also, microtrauma can occur when you load your back excessively. This microtrauma builds up and then gets to the point we mentioned previously where pain occurs.
Often the point of pain at one part during a movement for example coming out of the hole of a squat and feeling a pop in the back or if you were just brushing your teeth in the morning and you felt your back give way. It is likely down to the movements you have done previously that then mean doing a simple thing causes pain in your back. So having proper form and managing your training loads are vital to keeping your back healthy and pain-free.
So if you are suffering from pain and would like treatment for it, or would like an assessment to see where your imbalances and potential injuries may originate from contact the clinic today on 0578678904, direct message us on Facebook or book now.
Yours in Health
The Lawlor Clinic: Spine & Sport, Portlaoise, Laois
In this blog we will cover ways to help your diet and understand what nutritional benefit some foods can play in helping you build a stronger immune system.
So here are some important areas of your diet to focus on and potentially increase:
Vitamin D: Over the past few years, the information around Vitamin D has greatly increased. Vitamin D has been shown to protect against respiratory diseases, flu development, depression and cardiac disease markers. But how can we increase our intake? Sun exposure is the best source of Vitamin D, but you can also find it in salmon, egg yolks, milk and cereals. But as we’re in Ireland it can be useful to supplement your diet with Vitamin D because of the weak strength of the sun and now winter is closing in. So a simple Vitamin D supplement from your local health store can be greatly beneficial to your health.
Protein: Protein can help your body build lean tissue and also help build antibodies. Protein is arguably the most important macronutrient for your immune system. Whether animal or plant-based, aim for the best quality available to you that you can afford. Recommended amounts are different for everyone due to body weight and the amount of activity you are doing.
Zinc: Zinc is very important to the immune system by effectively activating T-Cells. T-cells job is to attack infected cells and will help regulate your immune response. Ways to increase the amount of Zinc in your diet is to eat foods such as scallops and oysters. Also, high-quality whole grains are good food sources for Zinc.
Vitamin C: If you want a great micronutrient for an immune boost, Vitamin C will do that job for you. It’s a powerful antioxidant that can help your body produce lymphocytes and phagocytes. These are vital for your immune system to help protect you against infections. Where can you find Vitamin C? Citrus fruits, broccoli and bell peppers are great for this. But similar to the other Vitamins mentioned above it can be useful to supplement these in your diet as well.
Sleep: Sleep is one of the most important good habits you can develop. This is because it affects everything we do and how our body functions the next day. What do you do with your phone at night? Charge it. Otherwise, you are not going to be using it at its full capacity the next day. It is the same with your body. Give it the recharge it needs. To help increase your sleep try these tips:
Aim to get 7-9 hours of uninterrupted time in bed. Put your phone away before bed as this will help reduce distractions.
Stick to a consistent bedtime so your body gets used to going to bed at a certain time.
Precede bedtime with some deep breathing work to engage the parasympathetic nervous system which is the relaxing part of your nervous system.
These habits and diet tips might be basic, but that does not make it easy. Your day can change without you expecting it and throw a spanner in your new routine. But building good habits can provide you with some flexibility when your day gets out of control. So give these tips a go this week and see how you feel.
If you have any questions and want to improve your health from diet advice to decreasing aches and pains you may have contact the clinic today on 0578678904, direct message us on Facebook or book now.
Yours in Health
The Lawlor Clinic: Spine & Sport, Portlaoise, Laois
Do you sometimes feel a sharp, shooting pain travel down the back of your leg? Or sometimes a dull, ache or tingling and numbness? These symptoms might be down to a condition known as Sciatica. This blog post will help you understand what sciatica is and some ways to help this.
Commonly people attribute any pain in the leg to being Sciatica but this is only when it affects one of the specific nerves that runs directly down the back of your leg called the Sciatic nerve.
Symptoms of Sciatica
Symptoms are radiating pain that travels from the low back, through the buttock, and down the back of the leg. This is normally down one leg rather than two. Sometimes Sciatica can give other symptoms other than just leg pain, this can include:
● Numbness of the buttock, leg, or foot
● Tingling that radiates down the leg
● A burning sensation in the low back, buttock, or leg
● Lower body weakness
So how can we help your pain?
With Sciatica we do a number of tests in the clinic to rule in and out certain conditions and make the best plan of management moving forwards to help.
Methods we use in the clinic to help:
Soft tissue massage
Active release techniques
Chiropractic adjustments
Instrument assisted soft tissue massage
Laser therapy
Home rehabiliation exercises
Most cases of Sciatica are best managed with conservative care but is also important to keep active and moving while avoiding bed rest where possible. This will help with your recovery.
A Useful Exercise
Important exercises to do for Sciatica are nerve gliding exercises. The goal is to use these techniques to increase blood circulation, reduce the swelling that is around the nerve and get the nerve back to its natural movement. This will decrease symptoms once these areas are restored. Below is a link to an exercise for the Sciatic nerve. Start with 10 repetitions, gradually increase the stretch on the neck and the leg, don’t force the motion, it will gradually increase with each repetition. If this exercise increases your symptoms, then stop the exercise.
If you suffer from Sciatica and would like an examination and treatment to help relieve your symptoms then contact the clinic today on 0578678904, direct message us on Facebook or book now.
Yours in Health
The Lawlor Clinic: Spine & Sport, Portlaoise, Laois
People use a weightlifting belt in the gym when performing exercises such as squatting or deadlifting. You may have brought one or be thinking of buying one, but it is important to know how to use the belt correctly to help get the best out of your lift.
The most common fault is to just put it on as tight as physically possible as if you are wearing an 18th century corset. Some people wear the belt for their whole workout and some just for their maximum lifts in training. While some do not ever use one because they say their back and core is strong enough to not need one. But who is in the right?
The use of the belt comes when you actively pressurise into it to create extra stability for your back. If we are squatting and get under the bar it is crucial to take a big breath and brace our core to stop the bar from bending us over. Doing this will increase the pressure inside your abdominal cavity against the structures surrounding it so creating an increase in intra abdominal pressure. The weightlifting belt is an extra layer to help pressurise against to increase intra-abdominal pressure.
The way to think of this is to think of your abdominal cavity like a balloon. When you blow it up the pressure inside the balloon increases. If you put a bit of tape around the balloon to act as your core muscles and blow up the balloon, the balloon can only get to a certain diameter and then the pressure inside the balloon will increase against the tape. The weightlifting belt is similar to if you put a piece of gaffer tape around the balloon as well as the normal tape. Then if you blow the balloon up there is even more tension around the balloon and therefore the pressure inside can rise even more. Research shows that you can increase intra-abdominal pressure by 20-40% when wearing a belt in a heavy squat. But it is not enough to just wear the belt tight. The key is to breathe into the entire circumference of the belt and then pressurise against it.
So a belt combined with a correctly braced core is better than no belt foo increasing intraabdomincal pressure but it does not replace our core muscles.
In conclusion
So we know wearing a belt and pressuring against it correctly can help our lifts but one of the important things to not rely on the belt all the time.
It is crucial to lift without the belt for lighter weights so your body does not become reliant on the belt. It is merely a training aid but not a training necessity. Some lifters do not use a belt even for their max attempts but if you are going to wear a belt it is important to use it in the right way and not become reliant on it.
If you are training for a max lift or are a regular gym-goer and want some advice and treatment contact the clinic today on 0578678904, direct message us on Facebook or book now.
Yours in Health
The Lawlor Clinic: Spine & Sport, Portlaoise, Laois
For or any athlete or gym-goer, the ability to move pain-free and being mobile on the field is key to performance. Whether you play rugby, football, hurling and weightlifting, these all require muscle strength, flexibility, proper body mechanics and technique to prevent injury and perform your best.
Preventing Pain and Injury
People who are training consistently for a sport or activity are more likely to be stiff and sore after training or a match. This is especially relevant for those who participate in contact sports like rugby. In the clinic, we have a wide range of treatment options, which will help target your muscles and joints to gain more flexibility and decrease painful movement. This can help decrease the risk of injury because it encourages flexibility and movement so you have a better range of motion to throw, catch and run.
Restore Function
Many sports require repetitive motion that can lead to overuse injuries. This is because you need consistent practice at a certain skill to achieve accuracy and distance. This means muscles around the arm and shoulder can become injured. If the muscles and joints can become painful and inflamed you will start to limit the movement to protect the sore joint. While rest is helpful for repetitive motion injury, in the clinic with techniques such as massage therapy can restore normal function, relieve muscle spasms and pain quickly.
Enhance Performance
In the clinic, we will do a full functional screen to see where the body is not moving efficiently and help recognise where we can help improve your movement to help your sports performance.
Treatment methods we use in the clinic are:
Chiropractic adjustments
Mobilisation
Active Release Technique (ART)
Dry needling
Diet advice
Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS)
Laser therapy
If you have niggle or feel tight in certain areas and want to get it sorted, then contact the clinic for a full functional assessment to see where your imbalances are. To do this contact the clinic today on 0578678904, direct message us on Facebook or book now.
Yours in Health
The Lawlor Clinic: Spine & Sport, Portlaoise, Laois
Rugby is one of the most popular sports around today and is one of the toughest on the body. As many people who play rugby know, there are few areas of the body that can avoid getting hit or injured while playing because of how heavy of a contact sport it is. In this blog, we’re going to look at which injuries are the most common, and what actions you can take to avoid them.
Common injuries
It is common for players to get bruises or strains to the muscles when playing rugby. Almost half of rugby injuries are on the muscles but many can be avoided or prevented. So knowing the best ways to do this is crucial to your game management.
Another 25% of injuries are head injuries. With the main head injury being concussions.
Fractures are another common and more serious injury involved in rugby.
Also sprains such as ankle sprains (which are the most common) can occur at ligaments in various areas of the body for example the knee, shoulder and ankle
Risk factors?
Although the injuries mentioned above are the most common injuries in rugby, different people will be at risk in different ways. For example, children are more at risk of fractures than other age groups because bones still developing until you are in your 20’s.
Also, the role you play in the team has an effect on the risk of injury. Hookers and flankers are the most injured players on the team and put themselves in positions where they are more likely to get injured, this is especially relevant in tackling.
Injury prevention
So as we have covered there are many injuries you can pick up during rugby and it is common to think that this comes with the territory of playing the game. But you can reduce the risk of injury and therefore play more minutes on the pitch.
It has been shown that most rugby injuries take place right at the start of the season. This is because people have fallen out of their training routine and are suddenly going from 0 to 100 when returning to play. By doing this the muscles and ligaments are not fully prepared for being back and are at a greater risk of injury. The best thing to do in the offseason is to still train and keep your body at a good level of fitness so you are prepared for the return to the pitch.
Certain muscles and joints are at more risk of injury in certain positions. For example, backs are more likely to injure their knees because of being in a compromised position. If your body isn’t functioning correctly and is tight in certain areas then injuries are more likely to occur. This can occur because if you force the joints or muscles into positions they are not used to then they can be injured whereas if they were loose, mobile and stable, then they have less chance of injury. This is the area we focus on in the clinic. We do this by doing a full functional assessment and then explaining which areas of your body can be worked on to help improve performance and decrease the risk of injury.
If you want to know more about potential causes of injuries or get your pain sorted, then contact the clinic for a full functional assessment and treatment. Contact the clinic today on 0578678904, direct message us on Facebook or book now.
Yours in Health
The Lawlor Clinic: Spine & Sport, Portlaoise, Laois
Lots of people come into the clinic complaining of elbow pain. Commonly people have pain on the inside of the elbow and say it is down to overuse of the elbow after a long week or overtraining and the elbow has flared up because of it. But with pain on the inside of the elbow, it is not always down to overuse but down to misuse.
With elbow injuries, if you just look at the site of pain and blame the elbow for the cause of the problem you might be missing the root cause of the issue. This is because the muscles which are around your forearm attach onto you humerus which is the upper arm bone and this starts at the shoulder.
People spend a lot of time in a hunched over position with the arms turned inwards and therefore when you have to turn your arms out for example when you hold the bar squatting or doing barbell curls, if the movement is not coming from the shoulder then the movement has to come from the elbow. This creates stress at the elbow as it is not designed to overly rotate.
A lot of the time with elbow pain the thought process is to stretch out forearms. But this is treating the symptoms, not the cause. The root cause is often from being restricted in shoulder movement.
So, if you are having elbow pain or even if you are not you can try this quick test. Hold your hands out in front of you with your arms straight and turn your palms upwards. A lot of the time the you will see a difference from side to side with how much you can turn your palms upwards. You may also find you are compensating to get this movement from the wrists or feel stress through the elbow. If this is the case then helping your shoulder mobility will prevent pain from occurring or if you are in pain, be the resolving factor in your pain.
If you want to know more about potential causes of injuries or get your pain sorted, then contact the clinic for a full functional assessment to see where your imbalances are. To do this contact the clinic today on 0578678904, direct message us on Facebook or book now.
Yours in Health
The Lawlor Clinic: Spine & Sport, Portlaoise, Laois
