Category: Exercise

Vertical Jump

Posted on Exercise

How to dunk:

Are you a basketball player wanting to improve your vertical jump ability? An increased vertical jump can allow you to block more shots, get more steals, score better around the rim and even dunk. Players are generally either two foot jumpers (such as Donovan Mitchell) or one foot jumpers ( Russell Westbrook). While you can take off of either one or two feet in a game, identifying your preference and ability taking off of 1 or 2 feet can affect how you train your jumping ability.

Firstly it is necessary to identify the different factors which may affect your jumping ability. Factors affecting your vertical leap include the following:
– Balance
– Calf power
– Quadriceps power
– Gluteal power
– Core strength
– Low back extensor power
– Coordination

Once the above factors have been assessed along with any injury history and your individual play style an exercise program can be made to increase your vertical leap.

Simply jumping as high as you can over and over again isn’t going to be the most effective way of helping you jump higher.
The following exercises, in conjunction with exercises designed to correct any deficiencies in the above factors can help you jump higher and perform better:

Different methods for improving your vertical jump include:

  • Resistance training
  • Resisted jumping (Argus, Gill, Keogh, Blazevich and Hopkins, 2011) – Using elastic bands weigh you down whilst jumping
  • Box jumps (Argus, Gill, Keogh, Blazevich and Hopkins, 2011)
  • Warming up using exercises such as split squats before a game (Bishop, Tarant, Jarvis and Turner, 2017)

If you want to improve your play and start jumping higher book in with our friendly staff today! We are conveniently located at South Yarra, Footscray, and Balwyn. You may call 0401 865 333 or drop an email at info@capitalphysiotherapy.com.au.

Get Back to Exercise

Posted on Education, Exercise

Are you looking to get back to being active? Increasing your physical activity can be a great way to lose weight, build fitness and improve your overall health. However, returning to sport or physical activity after a long period of rest or trying out a new sport can come with its own risks. Both returning to sport after rest and performing a new can place you at an increased risk of injury (St Pierre and Sannes, 2001).  Typically sports involving eccentric, or lengthening, movements such as running or soccer (Falvo and Bloomer, 2005) are activities which may place you most at risk of injury.

In order to avoid injury or recover properly following an injury it is important to undertake an individualised and gradual strengthening program which will allow you to get fitter, get stronger and avoid injuries.

The type and intensity of the exercise you do is important and depends on what facilities you have access too. Running, walking, boxing, team sport, rock climbing, dancing or a combination of any of these are great ways to start getting back to getting active and each come with their own strength and fitness demands. 

At Capital Physiotherapy we offer both in room physio consultations to treat any injuries you may have as well as offering Pilates classes. Our Pilates classes are a great way to return to exercising with supervised and individualised exercise programs devised and supervised by our qualified physiotherapists. Pilates has been shown to improve both flexibility and muscular endurance (Kloubec, 2010) and can be targeted at meeting the demands of what you love to do.

If you’re looking to get back to exercise or have recently suffered an injury, be sure to get in contact with our team here at Capital Physiotherapy. We are conveniently located at South Yarra, Footscray, and Hawthorn (Formerly at Balwyn). You may call 0401 865 333 or drop an email at info@capitalphysiotherapy.com.au.

Tips On Continuing With An Exercise Program

Posted on Education, Exercise

As physiotherapists, we highly promote exercise as a form of therapy to keep your body strong and healthy. Really, there should be no restrictions to what type of exercise you do as long as you remain within your skill level. This can range from your gym based exercise to a group fitness class to dancing on your own. As much as it is beneficial to exercise, many would agree it is difficult to start and even more difficult to sustain. The right exercise to engage in is definitely based on individual preferences. So, how do we find which form of exercise is right for you?

Keep it fun

The truth is, not everyone likes to exercise. Exercise requires work, takes time and just isn’t fun for everyone. This point is really important for those who don’t like “exercise”. If you are able to view “exercise” as an entertainment, it wouldn’t even be considered “exercise” anymore. It would be just like watching a good show on the tele. Easy enough right? However, if the show is boring, you would stop watching it. This means you have to find the right show to continue to watch it for a long time. Same with exercise; if the exercising like a drag, the likelihood of continuing drops significantly. So go experiment with dancing, team sport, gym activities, you name it. Make sure it’s something you enjoy.

Bring a friend, or even friends

It makes it that much more entertaining if you exercise with a friend. Bringing a motivated individual also increase your own motivation. This is definitely true if you make it into a competition. Within the gym, you can’t expect to jump from 10kg squat to 30kg within a week. This needs to build up. And if you miss a day, you are giving your friend an advantage. This level of competition motivates people to continue your program. Not just the competition aspect, it’s simply more fun to chat to someone about the things you are doing. So bring a friend to fuel that motivation. It’s good fun and healthy for all of you.

Get some advice

For some people, there is that fear of starting exercise for because you’ve never been before. If you fall under this category, it’s helpful to get started with a bit of guidance. You can definitely turn to someone who has more experience in the field of exercise, including personal trainers, specific sport instructors and even friends who have a bit more experience with exercise. For other barriers to exercise like you’ve hurt yourself doing exercise or unsure if your injuries has healed enough to continue, it might be a good idea to consult with a physiotherapist to make sure you are healed and strong enough to continue the specific exercise.

At capital physiotherapy, we strongly promote exercise as a form of treatment for rehabilitation, recovery, strengthening, injury prevention and entertainment. If you are seeking advice on safety of exercise, come down to get a thorough assessment and some recommendations. We are conveniently located in Balwyn, Footscray and South Yarra so send us an email at info@capitalphysiotherapy.com.au and lets get you on track with your goals.

New to Trampoline – Here’s Some Warm-up Tips for Newbie Flyers

Posted on Education, Exercise

Bouncing around on the trampoline is extremely fun for both children and adults. In our previous blog, we’ve discussed the benefits of trampoline as a form of exercise. As much as it is a great way to exercise, it can be a difficult to get started if you have no idea what you are doing. Here some warm up tips keep you safe and help boost your confidence.

1) Joint Warm up

Like all forms of exercise, warming up is essential to prep the body for exercise and prevent injury. Jumping around on the trampoline is a whole body exercise, so make sure do specific rotation warm ups for all the joints of your body including neck rotations, shoulder rotations, hip rotations, knee rotations and ankle rotations. 

2) Overall Warm up

As good as joint rotations are, these examples unlikely to cause you to break a sweat. A good indication that you’ve done a good warm up is if you are sweating by the end of it. Make sure you include overall warm ups activities including running on the spot, high knees, bouncing on the spot, mountain climbers and squats. 

3) Trampoline Warm up

Now that you’re nice and warm, it’s good to lightly bounce on the trampoline before attempting any tricks at all. I would recommend bouncing side to side from one leg to the other to get your body use to the sense of the rebound the trampoline will give you. After that, next step is to get a bit more height. With the height, do simple movements with the feet including opening and closing the hips, tucking in the hips and butt kicks to get use to how your body will move in midair.

This warm up is a nice progression from a static position to get onto the trampoline. Warming up is likely the easiest thing to do before any activity to prevent injury. With that said, it doesn’t complete protect you from injury. It’s normal to get a bit of muscle soreness the first few days after bouncing. However, if it lingers from longer than that it might be worthwhile to get a second opinion from a physiotherapist.

Physiotherapist are movement specialist who are experienced with various types of injuries. At Capital Physiotherapy, our friendly physios complete a thorough analysis of your pain and will recommend various rehabilitation protocol to strengthen muscles and joints that are involved to relieve your pain and also reduce the likelihood of the injury reoccurring.

If you’ve got any issues preventing you from flying on the trampoline, drop by or contact us by phone or email. We are convenient located in Footscray, South Yarra or Balwyn, make an appointment today at info@capitalphysiotherapy.com.au to set up a program best suited for you.

Preparing for Snowboarding

Posted on Education, Exercise

With the snow season just around the corner, you might be thinking now is the time to start a snow sport. Snowboarding seems really cool; why not jump into that? How hard can it be to jump on a board and slide down the slopes? Like in most sports, there is a minimum level of fitness required to safely start a new activity. Sliding down a snowy slope seems easy enough, but there’s a lot more components of fitness it requires. So before you start, here’s a few exercises you might want to practice before strapping up the snowboard boots.

Balance + Coordination

The most obvious component of fitness for this sport is balance. Your balance has to be pretty good to be able to stay upright on a board that slips and slides along with going down a slope at top speeds. To test your balance, try balancing on bosu ball. If you find you’re wobbling a lot, time to start training your balance by trying to be a still as possible on the bosu ball.

Once standing still on bosu becomes quite easy, time to do some dynamic movement on the bosu. Snowboarding is definitely a dynamic balance sport, therefore you’ll need to add in some movements to challenge your balance on the bosu. This causes the balance component on a bosu ball to transfer better into snowboarding. The next step on the bosu ball is doing squat on it. This will really challenge your balance. You’ll find you can pick up snowboarding a lot quicker if you can do these well.

Core + Glutes

For specific strengthening, you want to be targeting your core and glutes. The balance and coordination exercises mentioned above will definitely work your core and glutes. But if they are simply not strong enough or doesn’t know when to work, you’ll benefit from exercises to isolate the muscle group. Bridges and planks are good examples of simple exercise to start of strengthening your core.

When you find the bridge and planks getting a bit easy, time to build it into a standing position. Progressing these exercises into crab walks and squats is a great way to go. Many people feel everything in the legs when completing these exercises. Ideal, the core and glutes should be working as well thus make sure you feel in the core and glutes when completing these exercises.

If you’re having trouble getting started, it would be a good idea to get a human movement expert to take a look and give some advice. Physiotherapists are experts in this field and can get you started on what your should be working on, estimate when is a good time to start and answer any inquiries you have regarding starting snowboarding.

At Capital Physiotherapy, we have friendly physiotherapists who are familiar with balance, coordination, core and gluteal strengthening protocols. You are unique and likely require a specific exercise to target the proper muscle group; each program will be adjusted to target what you need to perform well at your hobby. If you need any guidance towards getting started, book an appointment at one of our clinics conveniently located at South Yarra, Hawthorn (Formerly at Balwyn) and Footscray by sending an email at info@capitalphysiotherapy.com.au.

Freestyle Trampoline – A Fun Way To Exercise

Posted on Exercise

Jumping around on a trampoline is probably as close to flying as we can get without extremely sophisticated equipment. With just a few springs and a durable platform, you can easily soar over 3 meters high. As long as you stay within your skill level and mind others safety, this activity is a relatively safe past time and great way to workout. Along with all the fun, it can target many fitness components at the same time.

Power:

The most obvious development would be development of power, specifically in the lower limbs. It might seem as if the trampoline may be doing most of the work, but if you want to rise higher than anyone else, better put some force with the jump. The more force you use to propel yourself up, the greater development of power you with acquire especially in the calves.

Coordination and body awareness:

You‘ve probably seen gymnasts do some crazy flips mid-air and gracefully land exactly where they began. Some can refer to this as technique and skills, I prefer to call it body awareness and coordination. To be able to perform such tumbles in the air requires much training to develop body awareness in the air. Once you get the sense of where you are in the air, it takes even more practice to be able to coordinate your limbs and trunk to complete a basic 360 spin and land on the same spot.  

Cardiovascular:

Having lots of fun bouncing around also means you lose track of time. You can easily reach a good 30 minutes of bouncing and not even realize it. By the time you do notice, your likely sweating bullets, your lower limbs are pretty sore and your 

breathing is heavy. All these are signs that you’ve tapped into your cardiovascular system. What better way to get the cardio going than having fun bouncing around?

Freestyle trampoline is a great way to have fun and exercise. If you are having trouble getting motivated to start exercising, give bouncing a shot and see if you enjoy it. On the flip side, sometimes it’s a bit overwhelming when the person on the next trampoline is doing crazy twirls while you haven’t the slightest idea of how to coordinate each bounce. If bouncing you would really like to be able to do in the future, a physiotherapist will be able to start you off with some advice and exercises.

At Capital physiotherapy, we have movement specialist that can help reduce the risk of injury during your bouncing session. We perform thorough assessment to identify the missing component in your fitness and then develop the best individualized plan to target which ever component you are need improvement: ie. balance, body awareness, coordination and cardiovascular fitness.

We are located in Footscray, Balwyn and South Yarra. If you’ve got any enquiries with beginning new exercises or just want to improve your performance, contact us at info@capitalphysiotherapy.com.au or 0401 865 333 to get one of our friendly physios to give you a few suggestions.

 

Click! Snap! Pop! Dancers Hip

Posted on Exercise

So you’ve been dancing for a while, everything is going great. Gradually, you’ve noticed there is a clicking sensation during some of the bigger movements. It doesn’t hurt or anything, so it’s probably nothing to worry about. A few months down the track, the clicking is getting more apparent and now there is pain associated with it. What’s going on?

What might be happening is a tendon flicking over a bone. No pain happens immediately because minimal irritation is occurring between the bone and tendon. However, when the tendon becomes stronger and the dance movement becomes bigger, the tendon can rub on each other stronger and that’s when the pain begins.

Dancers hip, also known as snapping hip syndrome, is characterized by a flicking or snapping sensation when the hip is in motion, especially during end range movements. A couple of muscles could be the possible culprit for this condition. If you’re getting the flicking sensation on the inside of your hip, its likely the iliopsoas tendon that’s flicking over one of the bony parts of your pelvis. If the snapping is felt on the outside of the hip, its likely the iliotibial band (IT band) flicking over the big bone on your upper leg.

Generally speaking, this condition occurs with repetitive movement of the hip. Lots and lots of big movement of the hip would cause some muscles to tighten up which may contribute to the clicking sensation. If you feel like the muscles on the inside and outside of the hip feels really stiff, try some of these stretches out and see if it helps with your hip.

Stretches are important to settle down the pain to be able to continue what you love. However, you would likely require a strengthen protocol to build a stable core/gluteal to prevent the symptoms from reoccurring. More information regarding the gluteal and core strengthening can be found in our previous post at:

https://www.capitalphysiotherapy.com.au/kim-k-workout-get-dream-bottom/

https://www.capitalphysiotherapy.com.au/importance-of-core-strengthstability/

If that hip is still giving you some annoyance, it would be worthwhile to get it checked up by a physiotherapist. Physiotherapist are movement experts who have plenty of experience with hip issues and we love seeing people return to what they love doing the most.

Whether it is dancers hip or any hip conditions, Capital Physiotherapy has experienced physiotherapist who are familiar with hip assessments. If your hips don’t seem to be performing to your standards, call us at 0401 865 333 or drop by one our clinics at Balwyn, Footscray or South Yarra and one of our friendly Physiotherapist will gladly take a look. We’ll provide you with an individualised plan to get you back to dancing safely and effectively!

Physiotherapy and Sciatica

Posted on Exercise, Physiotherapy

The term sciatica is becoming commonly used. Some use it to describe lower back pain that radiates down the leg, other believe it starts that the bottom muscle and tingles to the back of the heel. What exactly is this sciatica thing?

What is Sciatica?

A quick anatomy lesson, there is a long nerve that runs from your back all the way down to the heel called the sciatic nerve. Nerves carry sensations such as pain and touch from the muscles and skin. Sciatica is a broad term used to describe any pressure placed onto this nerve which may causes numbness, tingling, pain and/or paresthesia along the lines of where the nerve innervates. Various parts of the body can cause these symptoms not limited to tight muscles, inflammation and disc bulge.

Am I at risk of getting Sciatica?

Sciatic is seen more often between the age of 30 and 50. Some occupations may be more prone to this condition as well, especially ones that involve heavy lifting and twisting and also prolonged hours of sitting.

How do I fix Sciatica?

Unfortunately, this is not a simple answer because it depends on where is the sciatic nerve getting pushed. You probably want to see a physiotherapist for a better analysis, but try some of these stretches to see if it relieves your symptoms for now:

Lumbar Rocks
Cat Camel
Child’s Pose
Piriformis Stretch

Again, do see a physiotherapist for a full diagnosis for a complete treatment plan. If you are near Balwyn, South Yarra or Footscray, drop by Capital physiotherapy to see one of our friendly physiotherapists who are experienced with treating Sciatica.

Exercises for Back Pain Relief

Posted on Exercise, Lower Back Pain

One in 6 Australians experiences lower back pain at some stage in life.  Symptoms of lower back pain can be debilitating – pain can remain localised in the lower back and in some cases can refer down the legs.  It also restricts movements which then affect work and simple activities of daily living such as putting shoes on, sitting and pulling pants up etc.

Despite pain with movement, exercises are recommended over rest.  Avoid prolonged sitting or standing as remaining in stationery positions tends to disengage muscles that are essential to provide stability to your back.  Keep it moving help relieve pain and assists in the recovery. Here are some gentle exercises that can provide some relief to your back pain:

  Hip flexor stretch

  • Hip flexors are commonly tight for those who sits a lot as it remains in a shortened position when sitting.  Tight hip flexor can contribute to back pain as it attaches to the spine.
  • By performing this stretch as in the picture, you’ll feel tension at the front of the back leg. Push your hips forward to deepen the stretch.
  • Hold for at least 30secs.  Do 3-5 times on each side daily.

Glutes stretch

  • This stretch targets the gluteal muscles and can easily be done when in the office or commuting on the train
  • Sit with one leg crossed, lean forward and gently press the knee of the crossed leg down. You’ll feel a stretch on the side of the hip.

Cat and camel

  • This exercise aims to gently get your back moving
  • Start on your hands and knees.  Make sure your hands are under your shoulders and your knees are directly under your hips.
  • Slowly drop your stomach down and then gently arch your back up.
  • Do 10 times every morning and night

Bridging

  • This exercise strengthens hip muscles that tends to be switched off when sitting for long.
  • Start by lying down with knees bent. Making sure hips, knees and ankles are in line.
  • Lift hips up and lower down with control
  • Do 15-20 per set and 2-3 sets daily.

Pelvic tilt

  • This exercise targets your core muscles which assists in providing stability for your back
  • Prepare by setting up the same as the last exercise.
  • Tuck your tailbone in to flatten the curve on your back, hold for 5-10 secs then relax. You should feel your tummy muscles contracting.
  • Do 5-10 secs hold for 10 times every day

Walking

Although simple, walking is one of the dynamic exercises that is effective in engaging many different muscles. It is also a low impact exercise that can replace running or other high intensity when you have back pain.

If you are suffering from back pain, physios at capital physiotherapy can assess, diagnose and provide you with the right exercises to relieve pain and get your back moving.  Capital physiotherapy is also passionate at injury prevention, so give us a call if you would like more exercises and strategies to prevent recurring lower back pain.

Images from http://www.legacyneuro.com/fitness-friday-maintain-healthy-back/

https://www.bidmc.org/about-bidmc/blogs/wellness-insight-landing/sports-medicine-and-fitness/hip-flexor-stretch

https://www.besthealthmag.ca/best-you/stretching/seated-glute-stretch/

https://goodexerciseguide.com/the-exercises/bridging-exercise/

https://www.gaiam.com/blogs/discover/how-to-be-more-mindful-just-by-breathing-and-walking

Sports Physio – When do I Stretch, Before or After Exercising?

Posted on Exercise

Stretches improves flexibility, which is an essential component of movement and exercises. But should we stretch before or after a workout? The short answer is to do stretch before AND after activities. Meanwhile, we shall think a little more about WHAT stretches to do and WHY.

Our bodies require flexibility for movement to occur efficiently.  Imagine wearing super tight jeans when you have to chase after a bus.  The jeans are limiting your range of motion and hence no matter how hard you try to take big strides you won’t go too far too fast.  Having flexibility means that your muscles can work more efficiently during sports or exercises.

Amongst the many different ways to stretch, static and dynamic ones are the most commonly used. Take our hamstring muscles as an example. To perform a dynamic stretch, we swing the leg back and forth across the entire available range of motion.

Dynamic stretch has been shown to improve muscle power, sprints and jumps when performed prior to exercises. It is therefore a good idea to include dynamic stretches in your warm up to prime for sports performance.

On the other hand, a static stretch is to hold the muscle in a lengthened position for 30seconds.

Static stretch is great as part of the cool down post sports or workout in order to maintain or increase flexibility.

 

For more ideas of stretching, have a look at this sports physio video (https://youtu.be/HNeTehBImAs) on Capital Physiotherapy YouTube channel. Or if you have any questions, feel free to ask our team at Capital physiotherapy, South Yarra.