Hip pain is a common issue that can affect people of all ages and activity levels. Whether it’s caused by injury, overuse, or underlying conditions such as arthritis, hip pain can significantly impact a person’s quality of life. Fortunately, there are several non-invasive treatment options that can help get rid of your hip pain, including chiropractic care, active release techniques, and dry needling.
Chiropractic care uses hands-on techniques to manipulate the spine and other joints in the body to improve mobility and reduce pain. In the case of hip pain, we may perform adjustments to the pelvis, lower back, or other areas to help relieve pressure on the hip joint.
Dry needling is a technique that involves the insertion of thin needles into trigger points or knots in the muscles. This technique can help to release tension and improve blood flow to the affected area, leading to pain relief and improved function. Dry needling can be particularly effective for hip pain caused by overuse or muscle imbalances.
Active Release Techniques (ART) is a manual therapy that is used to treat soft tissue injuries and conditions. This technique involves the application of pressure to specific areas of the body while the patient performs specific movements. ART can help to break up scar tissue, release tension, and improve mobility in the affected area. For hip pain, ART can be used to address issues such as tight hip flexors, gluteal muscles, or the iliotibial band, which can all contribute to hip pain.
Chiropractic care, ART, and dry needling are all non-invasive treatment options that can help to alleviate hip pain.
If you need help with your pains or just want some advice feel free to contact the clinic today on 0578678904 or book now.
In the clinic, we often get questions about how to avoid injuries and manage low back or neck pain. This blog will cover the functional implications that a faulty breathing mechanism can have on your body.
Function vs Action
Muscles have both actions and functions. During a movement that muscle can be asked to do either of these and it is often a sliding scale between one and the other.
For example. If we choose your Gluteus Medius which is a muscle on the side of your hip that is commonly training by doing clamshells or hip abductions. For these exercises, your Gluteus Medius is being trained for its action. The action is abduction (lifting your leg out to the side) of the hip and external rotation. Because that muscle is not a very common movement you do day to day, let’s think about how the muscle moves when we are walking. The Gluteus Medius has the function of stabilising the lateral hip when you are walking. Meaning you can walk smoothly through your walking.
Definitions
Function: How muscles behave when we walk and breathe.
Action: How muscles behave when we move the origin to insertion.
So what happens when we look at breathing? We have to think about muscle functions rather than just actions to get the full benefit during your breath at the gym rather than just training the action of the following muscles.
Muscles of Inhalation
– Diaphram
– External Intercostals
Accessory Muscles of Inhalation
– Sternocleidomastoid
– Scalenes
– Pec Minor
A key thing to note is accessory muscles of inspiration are located around your neck and shoulder blade. This is why if we are breathing badly from the start and not using our diaphragm and abdominal muscles it is common to have neck and shoulder pain.
Muscles of Exhalation
Exhaling is a much more passive movement. But there are muscles that help assist it, this becomes more so the case when you are at full exhalation or forced exhalation.
Muscles of Exhalation
– Internal Intercostals
Accessory Muscles of Exhalation
– External Obliques
– Internal Obliques
– Rectus Abdominus
– Transerve Abdominus
– Quadratus Lumborum
These muscles are located around your lumbar spine.
How to help?
Below is an exercise to practice breathing in with a slight (10%) core contraction to help improve your breathing cycle.
If you are struggling with the exercise above, below is an exercise to practice breathing in through your stomach, you should feel your belly push up against your thighs.
Conclusion
So to go back to the opening paragraph of this blog. If we are spending more time in a high-stress, inhalation, stress-dominant state in both life and lifting it can lead to dysfunction and therefore pain.
In the clinic we assess both how you’re moving but also how you breathe and if you control your breathing. So if you have pain or just want to see if you can improve this aspect of your life then book yourself in for a full functional assessment. Contact the clinic today on 0578678904, direct message us on Facebook or book now.
Yours in Health
The Lawlor Clinic: Spine & Sport, Portlaoise, Laois
Recently in the clinic, we got asked if you should squat with your toes straight or turned out in the gym. This is a common question people ask themselves and understanding the link between both these squats will help you to produce a stronger squat and avoid injuries.
Toes Forward:
A squat is one of the main movements you do day to day, but then can also be used as an exercise. In the clinic when we screen patients and assess your squat the aim is to see the quality of your squat as a movement, rather than an exercise. Squatting with your feet pointing forwards is more challenging than with your feet pointing out.
To squat to a full depth with your feet pointing forwards you must have three things:
Good ankle mobility
Good hip mobility
Pelvic and core stability
Your balance will also play a role in this and if you are more dominant on one side or the other. With your toes pointed outwards it is easier to squat to depth with an upright chest.
If you have a poor bodyweight squat and you play sports this will impact movements such as jumping and then landing. A lot of the time knee injuries occur because people jump up and then have their knee cave inwards because of the lack of control they have through their entire lower limb. If you can pass a bodyweight squat with your toes pointing forwards then you can effectively work on jumping to build speed and power.
Toes out
Once you go into the gym and pick up a barbell you are squatting as an exercise rather than a movement. So there is a slight change in the pattern of movement. This means you will turn the feet out to give yourself a better base of support and will not challenge your mobility and balance to as much of a degree as a narrow stance toes forward squat.
When we squat deeper and turn out hips outwards you can get deeper into a squat.
This is why some athletes can squat deeper when they turn their toes out. By externally rotating the hips we can usually achieve a deeper and better-looking squat.
When our hips are turned outwards, the muscles on the inside of your leg which are called the Adductor muscles are lengthened, so in comparison to a narrow stance you will use your Adductors more when you have your feet turned outwards. Your adductors are useful in the standing up part of your squat. So strengthening them and using them more will help for a more efficient and effective way to move the barbell while in the gym.
Normally you should have your feet turned out somewhere between 10-30 degrees. Turning your feet out more can make your Glute and Hamsringmuscles less effective when performing the squat. Not everyone is the same so somewhere that feels comfortable for you will be likely best for producing a powerful and effective squat.
In conclusion:
If you can not perform a good bodyweight squat with your toes facing forwards then there is likely some mobility or stability issues to work on, if you correct these then you will have a more powerful and effective weighted squat in the gym with your toes turned further outwards.
If you would like a full functional assessment and find out what issues are limiting you in the gym, 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
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
With gyms opening up again and sports teams having training and matches, everyone will be getting much more active over the coming weeks. But after a long rest period, rushing back into training at full speed can cause an injury. So, if it is a casual round of golf or getting back into the gym here are some tips and advice to get performing safely.
Stretch
Before training, it is important to do a targeted warm-up before you start actively. This might not mean doing a 5-minute cycle before your gym session because instead, it will be beneficial to target to muscles you are training that day rather than just simply getting the heart rate up. For example, if you are going for a run you should focus on warming up your hips and legs. This can be done with exercises such as lunges and side shuffles. Then some hip mobilising exercises such as hip CARs which are attached below.
Fuel your body
Having the right food before a workout is vital to performing at a good intensity. This doesn’t mean consuming protein shake after protein shake but instead having a well-balanced meal before your workout and also throughout the day so you do not feel like you are crashing throughout the day.
Stay hydrated
Before and during your workout it is very important to stay hydrated. So if you know you will be training later you should make an effort to make sure you are hydrated before. You can also include natural electrolytes into your diet such as coconut water or pink Himalayan sea salt.
Be patient
After a long period of time off it is normal to have lost some of your strength or general physical fitness. So if you find it difficult to bench press what you used to or the number of reps has decreased don’t get discouraged. Set a goal to work to over the coming weeks and gradually increase your weights and sets. This will give you a great platform to get to where you were pre COVID and pugs beyond where you previously were.
If you have taken a break from the gym and you are feeling stiff or want to prevent a possible injury when you are back training 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
Chances are you know someone with a hamstring injury or have had one yourself. If you have had a hamstring injury you will know first hand they can be very difficult to get rid of. Also, you are faced with the problem that if you have a hamstring strain you have a very high chance of re-injuring the hamstring again.
But what are hamstring tears?
Class I: There are only a few muscle or tendon fibers are torn. You will usually have pain during or after activity which would be worse when sprinting. There may be a small amount of swelling and discomfort. Usually associated with minimal strength loss. You will likely be able to walk directly after the injury.
Class II: A partial tear of the fibers. You will usually have pain during activity which stops activity. There will be a significant loss of strength and a significant amount of pain. You will likely have some pain when walking.
Class III: This is when there is extensive tears to the muscle, you will usually have felt pain immediately and may have fallen to the ground. Your range of movement at 24 hours is usually significantly reduced with pain on walking. There is usually weakness in contraction.
Class IV: A complete rupture of the muscle/tendon. This will be associated with a huge loss of muscle function, often an inability to walk due to pain and massive bruising on the back of the thigh. This class can often be less painful than class III.
How to help
If you have suffered a low-grade strain of your hamstring, here are some explanations of exercises that you might find useful. If you have sustained what you think may be a grade 2 or above injury, it is recommended that you go see a medical practitioner for some hands on help and to effectively rehab the muscle.
A good exercise to start for a low grade hamstring strain is a bridge. Start by lying on your back with your knees bent. Drive your heels into the ground and imagine you’re about to get punched in the stomach (this will make sure your core is braced). Then drive your hips upwards and squeeze your butt muscles. You should then hold this postition for 5 seconds and then lower yourself to the starting position. If this is painful then STOP, you don’t want to over strain the tissues that are healing. 2-3 sets of 15 reps.
Also it is important to work on your balance. To do this, stand on one leg, then do a small hip hinge and attempt to hold this position for 10-20 seconds. Start with your eyes open and then once you are comfortable with this you can try doing it with your eyes shut which will make it much more challenging. Also, try to do this exercise barefoot. 2 sets of 5 holds.
If would suffer from recurrent hamstring issues, 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
Hip pain is very common in people who exercise regularly. But how can you help your hip pain and tight hips?
To prepare the body to be able to squat or lift weights pain-free, you should improve your sense of balance and general control single-legged.
Think about it, when was the last time you trained single leg exercises? I mean, really trained it? But it’s never too late to start incorporating it into your workout routine.
The hip airplane which was designed by Dr. Stuart McGill with the aim of being an active flexibilty exercise deals with both balance and general control head-on so will seriously challenge you to perform it equally side to side.
Therefore, the hip airplane will test and improve the stability of the muscles in and around your hip.
Even people who can squat huge amounts of weight can struggle with this and it will lead to injury. This is because of progressively causing micro-trauma to your tissues because you don’t have the functional stability around your hip. So, people of all athletic ability can benefit from training single movements.
So why is the hip airplane so important for the squatting movement pattern?
When you squat you femur’s are in an abducted position (so they’re pointing out) with your feet also out in relation to your pelvis. Your pelvis is the stable point around which your femurs will move and rotate in their socket.
So to recreate this movement but to work on stability rather than strength you can use the hip airplane. This is because instead of having your foot out to the side and your pelvis in neutral, the foot is now directly underneath your body and you will deviate the pelvis.
How to do the hip airplane
Firstly do the exercise barefoot to activate the small muscles in your foot which will help create a stable structure from the ground up.
Starting position: Then go onto one leg and bring your front leg upwards to 90 degrees.
Then bend your torso forward so it is over your leg in contact with the ground, do this while kicking your back leg behind you.
Keep your trail leg straight.
(If you know common weightlifting movements then this is very similar to the single leg roman deadlift or RDL).
Then slowly bring your belly button towards your leg in contact with the ground and then out to the side. Then return back to the starting position.
Aim: Practice quality of the movement with good form. But as a rough guide aim for 1-2 sets of 10-20 repetitions. But this exercise is all about control so even if you can only do 3 to start. Slowly build up from there.
As you do this exercise more and more you will get better at balance and your steering ability in rotation. As you improve you can start leaning further forward to make the exercise harder.
If would like a full functional assessment and to get some tips and feedback on your exercises, 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
