By Errol Lim, Physiotherapist
Over the past year, we have developed a very strong relationship with Kaz Muddell , principal of Mind Body Motion Fitness Solutions (MBMFS). She is not just your regular personal trainer. Kaz is more of a fitness and personal health coach who has a knack of motivating her clients and achieving their desired goals. Apart from fitness coaching involving personal and group sessions, the MBMFS team have had their own running club for some time now and this year, they asked us to be involved.
Rachael Butterworth, our senior physiotherapist, spoke last weekend at an injury prevention seminar for MBMFS running club members. Thanks to Kaz, we have had a resounding response to the introduction of our Running Performance Screen.
It may be a cliché, but “prevention is better than cure”. The aim of the screen is to identify risk of injury.
Our exercise physiologists carry out the performance screen (worksheet shown below) which typically incorporates a body composition scan. Once we know where one’s deficits are, we can then start to prescribe appropriate management in the form of physiotherapy, massage therapy and/or exercise prescription specific to the client’s goal.
Focused therapists and motivated clients working on the appropriate areas will reduce risk of injury.
There is nothing worse than getting close to your peak exercise volumes and getting injured. Worse still, is getting injured while thinking you have done the appropriate rehabilitation and having that injury rear its ugly head again the following season.
The worksheet shown below may look a little confusing if you are not a health practitioner but hopefully you can appreciate the detail.
We have placed much collaborative thought amongst our physiotherapists and exercise physiologists in developing it. It incorporates Functional Movement System screening as well as fundamental functional tests specific to runners.
Let me know what you think. The screen is dynamic and we will be making improvements to it as new research is presented.
Do the hard yards early. Get screened, identify risk, seek help and reduce risk of injury. Running should hopefully be more enjoyable.