Getting people out of pain is one of the main jobs in our sports massage clinic in Moorgate, we see clients from the surrounding areas such as Bank, Old Steet, Spiltalfields but also from other parts of London. Client referrals to Peta are common due to her reputation for fixing problems often those left unresolved after the allotted time covered by a medical aid with the physio.
The July clinic has been busy and already by mid-month we've had our fill of interesting cases. I (Peta) am off work due to an "overdone it" cold from riding the XDUROWales (google it), so have taken the opportunity while I am out of clinic to pop up some info on the work we have done as the next month is going to be crazy for me as I prepare for my main race of the year, a 1,700km off road race in Kyrgyzstan (I had to google it too).
Sports Massage treatments
Here are some of the things we got to treat this month at our sports massage clinic in Moorgate:
Hip bursitis: after a double hip arthroscopy and 6 months of physio, this client still suffers from bursitis. After identifying the underlying structural issues, Peta highlighted how the clients standing posture was loading up the wrong areas, offered a better way to stand and gave remedial exercises to take the load off the bursa.
Ultra-marathon runner: we prepped an ultra-marathon runner for his upcoming race. His legs were tired and heavy, so we put a little life back into them. A text from the client on Monday confirms he pulled off a PB in his ultra-marathon, always rewarding to hear.
Etape du Tour: this past weekend was the Etape in France, where they open up a stage of the Tour de France to us mere mortals. Peta’s ridden the Etape 6 times so knows the demands of the day. This week we were lucky to offer sports massage to those London riders competing in the event. Most riders were just after a good sports massage to put new life back into their legs, but there were a few with lower back pain and tight hamstrings who needed some myofascial release to get their muscles working better for the event.
Tough Mudder: the Tough Mudder events are coming up, so there are some preparing for these events. One of our clients injured his shoulder playing football, we treated it as best we could given it was an acute shoulder injury and sent him off with some advice on how to test his shoulder before the event to decide whether it was wise to participate or not.
JP Morgan challenge: with many city firms putting forward teams for the JP Morgan challenge, we saw loads of runners preparing for the race, some novice runners with calf pain and ITB pain to experienced runners needing to freshen up their legs for the race.
Neurological damage: one of the interesting cases Peta is working on currently is a post cancer-treatment client with degeneration of nerves into the feet, affecting balance and resulting in some muscle wastage in the calves. Peta is using techniques from the “fascial fitness” programme to help maintain regular movement through the feet and ankles. The client suffers locked ankle joint with no plantar or dorsi flexion, and toes which are forgetting their job. Peta is using myofascial release and proprioception exercises to restore more normal function. After the first treatment there is a marked improvement in ankle mobility and how the feet are working, the toes are starting to move again too. This is such rewarding work and great to see someone regain confidence when walking.
Record breaking butterfly relay swim across Lake Geneva: Peta is working with an existing client, a endurance swimmer (10Km plus events) to prepare for a swim across Lake Geneva. This is 71km in length and 8 swimmers are hoping to set the relay record. They’ll be swimming for an hour at a time. That’s a tonne of work for the muscles to do and we’re helping keep everything in check before the event.
The remainder of the clinic was some of our standard sports massage and myofascial treatments for clients working at a desk. The usual neck pain, back pain, tight hips and tight hamstrings. We also treated some tight calf muscles for someone coming back into running and two long distance swimmers who are regular clients are preparing for some upcoming events. One doing a 14km swim and the other attempting a relay record of swimming butterfly across Lake Geneva. if any other exciting stuff crops up I'll be sure to add it to this report.