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00:00:01
Daniel Lawrence - Physio and Education Director at Rocktape
59 Plays4 years ago
Dan is a Physio and is Educational Director at Rocktape.
We thought we would do this one with your questions about products in the market at the moment so listen to find out more about:
Foam rolling - The Science | Common mistakes | Their use for fitness & more.
Massage sticks.
Massage guns.
Taping | Cupping and more!
Connect with Dan and the Rocktape team on:
Dans You Tube channel - The Physio Channel.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Episode Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to episode 36 of the UK sports chat podcast. In today's episode, I speak with Daniel Lawrence. Dan is a physio and is also the educational director at RockTape. We thought we would do this one with your questions rather than ours. And we did this about products in the market at the moment. So listen to find out more about
Exploring Therapy Tools
00:00:21
Speaker
foam rolling, the science, common mistakes, use for fitness and more, massage sticks, massage guns, taping, cupping and loads more. So it was really interesting. Check out both the Rock, Tape and Dan's YouTube channel as well. His YouTube channel is called the Physio channel. Enjoy. Please comment on our social channels. We'd love to get some feedback on the podcast. And if you get a moment, please leave us a review.
00:00:46
Speaker
Have a great rest of your week and see you on next week's episode.
Dan Lawrence's Professional Journey
00:00:51
Speaker
Welcome, Dan. Thanks for coming on the UK Run Chat podcast. Thank you, Joe. It's a pleasure to be here and I'm looking forward to having a chat and hopefully you have some questions for me. Yeah, I certainly do. So as I said in the intro, you're a physio and you're also the educational director at RockTape. Do you just want to start off by telling us what do you do in your role?
00:01:18
Speaker
Yes, certainly. Well, as a physiotherapist and the education director for rock tape,
00:01:25
Speaker
I tend to bring together my clinical experience with the teaching elements that we have alongside the product ranges at RockTape.
Cupping: Techniques & Benefits
00:01:38
Speaker
So just last night, for example, I was teaching about rock pods, which are a form of myofascial cupping. And I'm delivering the syllabus, but also leaning on my clinical experiences of using those products as well. And historically,
00:01:55
Speaker
for the last 10 years we've been teaching a lot of taping courses and that has very strong links with the running community as many runners have either been taped or taped themselves because that's something that that's possible to do you can tape your own knee or your own Achilles tendon for example so that's another course that we teach and we have other courses too but
00:02:19
Speaker
For the runners, I think it's probably the taping and perhaps some of our vibration therapy products that would that will be of most interest to them. And as I say, my role is to either educate other professionals how to use these products for their patients or to provide education through various platforms such as YouTube videos, for example, on how members of the public and
00:02:46
Speaker
amateur sports people can use these products to help manage their own aches and pains as they're going through their recreational or training programs. Great, okay. So bear in mind what I thought would be a good way of hosting this podcast interview was to actually go out to the community and get their questions on the products.
00:03:13
Speaker
And we've had a few come in. You mentioned rock pods there when you were just on that introduction. So what is cupping for those who don't know what it is and what does it do and how do you treat someone with it?
00:03:30
Speaker
Yes, okay great, that's a brilliant starting point. So cupping has been around for thousands of years, it's certainly not new, but it's really had a bit of a renaissance recently and that's probably because athletes like the swimmer Michael Phelps were seen with these circular marks over their shoulders etc in the last Olympics.
00:03:54
Speaker
and it got a lot of people interested and many therapists have realised that cupping is being done in professional sport and it just raised awareness of it and therefore other people, athletes also wanted to try the treatment as well. What it does, Joe, is basically it creates a vacuum
00:04:18
Speaker
creates a vacuum underneath the cup that lifts the skin, it creates a feeling of pulling and tension on the skin which is usually very therapeutic feeling and it can then be used to deliver a massage style treatment but the difference is that with massage and other treatment approaches
00:04:40
Speaker
that it's usually about compression. So if you think last time you had a deep tissue massage, there was an element of compression into your calf muscle or into your thighs as the therapist was compressing in in order to move and manipulate the soft tissue. Whereas with cupping, instead of compressing, we can decompress, we can lift the skin. And that's a very unique experience to actually have the skin lifted and then mobilized around.
00:05:08
Speaker
really a very therapeutic and enjoyable thing to have done if you've got some aches and pains, whether they're from general training or you're dealing with an acute injury or of course more persistent and chronic conditions as well. So it just opens up a whole new way of treating people with decompression rather than the traditional compression.
00:05:33
Speaker
And is that something that people can do themselves then? Or do they need to come to a physio? Yeah, so traditional cupping often involves cutting of the skin and the drawing out of blood within the cup. That's traditional cupping or what's called wet cupping and otherwise known as hejama.
00:05:56
Speaker
But that's not what we teach. And that's not what a lot of modern cupping education systems really teach or go through on their courses. We teach dry cupping, which is very simply the cup applied to the skin, no damage to the skin, and just a standard massage and mobilization. And for that reason, it is possible to
00:06:20
Speaker
teach the patient how to use that and how to apply that themselves so if somebody had a sore knee for example they can have a couple of cups silicone rubber cups very easily applied no suction pumps are needed or anything like that put them on each side of the knee and then they've got two soft tissue massage handles that they can then move around and mobilize the tissue around their knee
00:06:43
Speaker
providing a therapeutic experience and being very helpful. And that can apply to other areas of the body. It's particularly good for tennis elbow because that's obviously easy to reach. Just pop one onto your arm and you can mobilize and massage there, as well as further down the body, like the calf muscles, for example, which are typically sore with runners. So whereas a runner who's experiencing some tension or soreness in their calf region, probably
00:07:11
Speaker
defaults to the use of foam rollers or massage sticks, well the cupping is another perhaps more advanced and novel way of providing a self-massage for that region and it can really give a feeling of a deep tissue manipulation, a deep tissue massage, again without that necessity to
00:07:35
Speaker
overly compressed, which can sometimes be associated with discomfort if you're having a sore muscle jabbed by yourself or by a therapist. So again, yeah, a unique experience and you can self-cup. It's not something that's done that commonly and that often, but it is something which is becoming more prevalent in the industry. Yeah.
Foam Rolling: Features & Techniques
00:08:01
Speaker
It's interesting that you say that that's
00:08:04
Speaker
a bit more advanced as well compared to that. Yeah, I think that it's not difficult, Joe, it's not difficult at all, but somebody could grab a foam roller and use that themselves without really having any training.
00:08:24
Speaker
They could be taught to use it in a more effective way, but you can grab a roller off the shelf and you pretty quickly work out what to do. You might see a picture or something and then give it a go.
00:08:36
Speaker
Whereas with the cupping, you're going to need a little bit more understanding. You're going to need a little bit of instruction, whether that's from a video or a bit of instruction from your therapist as well, just to give you the confidence to be able to use it. Some people, if they have something which they're not used to and they haven't seen before, well, they might be a bit reticent about using it in the first place. But with a bit of
00:09:01
Speaker
bit of knowledge and a bit of demonstration. People are usually, you know, happy and confident to go ahead and use it. Cool. She mentioned foam rollers there. We had a bit of flood of foam roller questions. Have we? Really? Foam rollers, $2.99 from Aldi or $29.99 from X-Shop. What's the difference, aside from the cost? Well,
00:09:29
Speaker
foam rollers come in all different shapes and sizes you've got I suppose at the cheaper end of the spectrum you've got basically rolls of foam which look like they might have been lifted from from you know a tv packaging or something like that you know what I mean it's just it doesn't look like a fit bit of fitness equipment so you've got those at the lower end of the spectrum and at the higher end of the spectrum you've got the vibrating rollers
00:09:57
Speaker
battery powered vibrating rollers, possibly even ones that connect to your smartphone. I know there's a couple that do that. So that's at the higher end of the market and you're going to pay more for one of the vibrating rollers and obviously you're going to pay a lot less for one of the phone rollers.
00:10:16
Speaker
and then you can look at the size and texture you know if you've got a really large foam roller well that might not be suitable for you if you're mobilizing your thoracic spine for example but if you've got another example might be a foam roller which has spikes on it you can have some that have these kind of um
00:10:37
Speaker
knobbly bits on to create an increased increased pressure into the tissue and well some people might like that they might feel that it's you know really doing something and providing a very very definite sensory input whereas others might find that it's just unnecessarily torturous. So I would I would be like obviously if it's really cheap you want to just check but it's robust enough which it might be but you want to just check that
00:11:06
Speaker
And then you just want to think about other things other than the price, like how big it is, how soft it is, and all of these features just to make sure that you like it and that it's suitable for you.
00:11:19
Speaker
OK, so we've had two kind of similar questions. So one is, are foam rollers effective or are they a placebo? And a second, which was a comment saying, haven't they been shown to be ineffective? From what I gather, there's strong evidence that whilst they feel good, they don't end up necessarily speed up recovery. What do foam rollers
00:11:43
Speaker
do please Dan and of course and a follow-up question that we've actually asked as well was what is the best way to use a foam roller and you know so that I know how do you know if your foam roller ring even if that's a word correctly yeah yeah okay so foam rollers um
00:12:05
Speaker
People often get caught up in the specifics of the foam roller design and whether there's any evidence for it or not. I think if we step away from foam rollers for a moment and just look at massage, your basic hands-on massage, nothing specific, not a certain type of massage, but a kind of standard sports massage, if you will.
00:12:29
Speaker
Now, there's many elements that go alongside a massage that are more psychological elements. You've got the whole experience of looking after yourself, of spending time with a therapist, of giving yourself some time to relax, of that whole environment before actually somebody puts their hands on. So there's that whole therapeutic environment that goes alongside a massage. But the actual massage itself is the physical delivery of various levels of pressure
00:12:59
Speaker
So all a foam roller is, is a self massage. It's just physical delivery of various levels of, of pressure. And you're using the foam roller to, you know, to, to do that for you. So it's a self massage or self myofascial release. You can, you know, argue about which name is the most appropriate, but the same way that you may rub a sore muscle with your hands, I'm sure we've all
00:13:26
Speaker
All done that, rubbed the sore area with our hands and we may have grabbed a rolling pin and done a self massage with that. Well, if you've ever rubbed yourself with your hands and then sort of used something else, like a rolling pin to rub over your thigh, well, that's a form of rolling. And then you've just gone and bought a piece of specialist equipment to do that. Getting a bit more scientific though, if you've got sore muscles from intense training,
00:13:56
Speaker
then you've got an increase in sensitivity. So you touch an area and it's sore. There's no specific injury there, but it's just sore. It's just an increase in sensitivity over your thighs or over your calf muscles, for example. Now, if you apply a moderate level of input, a moderate level of force, therapeutically and over a sustained period of time, that sensitivity should reduce
00:14:26
Speaker
that reduction might be quite short-lived and transient, but that sensitivity should reduce. It's the same as if you were to visit a massage therapist and they find the sore bit and they press on the sore bit and it hurts, but then after a while it desensitizes and it becomes a bit less sore and you leave feeling a bit freer and a bit more mobile and less tender. It's the same thing with the rollers. You can use them to
00:14:54
Speaker
therapeutically work over those sensitive areas just to desensitize them and make them less sore and less sensitive. Whether that speeds up recovery or not is debatable, but
00:15:08
Speaker
you know, if you're feeling less sore after doing a careful foam rolling session, then your recovery might just feel a bit easier and be a nicer experience if you're going to be sore for a shorter duration of time or you're going to just be less sore whilst you're recovering. So your recovery physiologically might not speed up, but it just might not be such an uncomfortable experience for you as you're going through the natural recovery process. So that's just a summary on those questions.
00:15:39
Speaker
Joe, then did you ask that the last point was about how to use a foam roller? Yeah. So the question is written locally, how do you know if your foam roller ring, if that's even a term correctly, so for how much pressure for how long? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Uh, if we start with the common mistake that people might make,
00:16:04
Speaker
For example, if you take the lateral leg, the ITB iliotibial band, it's been historically quite common for people to put all of their body weight down through the roller whilst lying on their side and rolling their ITB with great discomfort
00:16:29
Speaker
and almost the kind of heroic level of pain where people feel that it feels better after they've done it. Well, is it a case of it feels better after they've done it or is it a case of it just feels better when they stop doing it because it hurts a lot? And I think there is an element of desensitization there as we discussed before, but the sort of benefit
00:16:55
Speaker
but not the risk so much, but the pain benefit ratio is not generally in people's favor. So they're causing themself a lot of discomfort rolling the ITB and then getting a bit of benefit from it. However, they could get the same benefits without causing themselves that level of discomfort. So that brings me on to answer how you might use the foam roller in the best way. Well, with the ITB, for example, if you were to
00:17:25
Speaker
roll off the ITB and roll the lateral thigh and over the lateral hamstrings, well then you're rolling over muscle and muscle is like obviously softer and much more responsive and much faster to change in terms of sensitivity and muscle tone.
00:17:46
Speaker
not much is going to change over the ITB when you're rolling it. So it's going to be more comfortable and more effective to roll just slightly in front of and slightly behind the ITB and then of course to get up into the glutes because the top of the ITB is connected to the glutes. So working on the glutes can have an influence over the potential tension through the ITB.
00:18:08
Speaker
that's going to be more comfortable, more effective and lead to a better outcome because you don't have to go through that unnecessary pain to achieve that. If you're rolling for recovery, you generally want to do it slowly and with a therapeutic level of pressure. So if there's a lot of pressure and it's causing a lot of discomfort, then you're probably causing yourself pain unnecessarily.
00:18:37
Speaker
If you roll too fast, it has often more of a stimulatory effect. So rolling slower gives the nervous system a chance to relax and bring about changes which would lead to reductions in muscle tone. Again, I'll just compare it to a massage. If you're having a post-event massage, you're going to have some slow relaxation, sorry, slow relaxing techniques.
00:19:03
Speaker
whereas if you're having a pre-event massage it tends to be a lot a lot faster and something to kind of stimulate and gee up the tissues before you go out and take part in your event. So foam rolling afterwards and foam rolling through recovery should be slow with a therapeutic level of pressure and that's likely to lead to the the best effects. You could just massage yourself with your hands, we all know that's
00:19:28
Speaker
that's possible but just doesn't quite feel right it's sort of difficult to do. I think having the added leverage and biomechanical benefit of using something which rolls and which you can just you know place your leg on top of and take advantage of just you know natural gravity and weight etc can be can provide a much more a much more therapeutic experience for patients. I'm a fan as well of those I mentioned rolling pins but
00:19:55
Speaker
of course you can get ones that are a bit more purposely made, those massage sticks. I'm a fan of those massage sticks because I find that they're just a little bit more, what's the word, practical.
00:20:10
Speaker
more practical to use you know you don't have to try and adjust your body weight as you're lying on top of them you can just sit in the chair or whatever and just you know use them quite quite easily um over over the body so i'm a fan of the the massage sticks as well as the as well as the rollers but you'll find a foam roller or some kind of roller because they're not all made of foam in in pretty much uh
00:20:34
Speaker
every physiotherapy clinic and sports therapy clinic, you'll find one. It's just like a piece of furniture which just needs to
00:20:42
Speaker
needs to be there and they are they're just again just a self-massage tool. I think people probably over-analyze them but it's just a way of giving yourself you know that quick bit of self-massage if required. I could talk a bit more about those but I'll stop there otherwise we'll have a whole podcast with me talking about the same role. It's good we get you know we get asked these these questions regularly so this is something that we'll be able to
00:21:11
Speaker
keep sharing because you know it's a common question and they must you have a little bit of a marmite opinion some people do some people you know that's why we've had those questions that i've just asked you but they're um if they're a staple in every physio's room then that tells you something doesn't it yes so the other thing i was going to say is they're not just for what we've been discussing um
00:21:36
Speaker
you can place them underneath the mid spine, the thoracic spine, and then you can use them as a pivot point for mobilisations. So they're fantastic for self-mobilisation, and I'd often teach patients that. And then it's not so much a foam roller, it's just a fulcrum point, a pivot point for them to use. And again, just a quick bit of versatile equipment which they can use to achieve that.
00:22:03
Speaker
And yeah, better than anything else, I can think of really to help mobilize the thoracic spine. You can try cushions and pillows, but of course by their very nature, they're softer so they don't provide that more solid pivot point that a foam roller would. So yeah, they're useful for that, which is different than the self massage application and also because they
00:22:23
Speaker
because they roll you can use them for stretching and for fitness workouts as well because they roll away from you so you can use them for stretching out through the lateral line of latissimus dorsi and you can use them different sizes for you know stretching out around the calf region etc
00:22:46
Speaker
So yeah, they can be used not just for the foam rolling but for the fact that they roll and they move and movement's always helpful in any therapeutic setting and the fact they provide that pivot point for mobilizing of the spine. So that's another reason why you find them in physioclinics.
Massage Tools: Sticks & Guns
00:23:03
Speaker
You mentioned massage sticks.
00:23:06
Speaker
So we got asked how to use them and are they better or worse than a foam roller? I'm guessing they're an additional tool then from what you're saying for that self massage rather than being better or worse.
00:23:18
Speaker
Yeah, they're very much the same, aren't they? You see, you're relying on the fact that they roll in order to move up and down the body. Often if you have a foam roller on the floor, you might sometimes wish that you could, you know, pick it up and move it with your hands, which is sort of hard to do. So then you think, well, if it had something through the middle, then I could roll it myself. And then that, well, that's, then you've got a massage stick.
00:23:40
Speaker
So they're very similar. I suppose you could use a massage stick as a roller on the floor. It's rolled, so you could still pop your limb on and use it in that way. Yeah, so they're very similar. You couldn't use a massage stick for mobilizing the spine, though. And you couldn't use it so much as a roller for fitness and stretches and movements.
00:24:09
Speaker
But yeah, I don't think you've been greedy if you had both. I think you'd make use of both. If you were using one, you'd likely make use of the other. And I think if you're only going to have one, well, I probably go for the foam roller for the reasons I've stated it can be used for those other things apart from foam rolling. But yeah, a massage stick is a handy little thing to have around. What about massage guns?
00:24:35
Speaker
Massage guns. And how and when would you use a massage gun effectively? Yes, they are the new, they're very in vogue on the market at the moment. As you know, we work with the company in the UK called Flow Sports Tech.
00:24:57
Speaker
who make two fantastic massage guns, the Flow Pro and the Flow Mini. Even the Flow Mini is really robust enough to use in most clinical settings. And the Flow Pro is a very, very impressive device. The thing with the Flows is they're quiet because the earlier massage guns were very noisy. And I even saw an attachment for a Black & Decker Jigsaw.
00:25:25
Speaker
a massage attachment for a Black and Decca jigsaw, which I thought was quite ingenuity, but also pretty dangerous, pretty dangerous. So it's good to see that a lot of products in the industry now are curating massage guns, which are
00:25:48
Speaker
designed for human use from the get go, rather than just modifications of something from home base, which was always a concern.
00:25:57
Speaker
The thing with the noise, of course, is the noise is not therapeutic. It's not therapeutic to hear a mechanical jigsaw noise. That just automatically makes you feel a bit tense and less relaxed, so that wasn't helpful. But now they're quieter, particularly the Flow Pro, and many are very quiet machines. They make a very relaxing noise, almost like
00:26:19
Speaker
I've got one of those noises they put on YouTube to, is it SMR or something? You know, you can play the YouTube videos where there's just like a low level noise of somebody tinkering in their garage or a lawnmower and it goes on for hours and it's got like millions of views. Yeah, you know the ones I mean, Joe. So you can make water trickling ones as well, don't you? Yes, the water trickling and that sort of thing. So it makes a noise which I can imagine somebody would make highly popular.
00:26:47
Speaker
like audio video out of. So then it actually comes down to the mechanics of what's happening. Often they're referred to as vibration.
00:26:58
Speaker
But what they are is actually most of them are percussion. The difference between vibration and percussion is the amplitude of how much the head moves in and out. So with percussion, it's a little bit more movement than with vibration. It's less movement. So typically the massage guns are percussion guns, which is just a more vigorous form of vibration.
00:27:23
Speaker
and they have become popular once again because they provide a very definite and often vigorous self-massage for the individual. And I suppose over the last year, where people have typically had very much restricted access to sports therapists, et cetera, and to medical care, to NHS physiotherapists,
00:27:49
Speaker
then things like this have really been very helpful for people to treat aches and pains whether that's from sitting at the laptop for too long and just having some tension around the shoulders or of course from you know from more athletic endeavors. So the vibration if delivered correctly and what I mean by that is if the individual uses it correctly and doesn't try and jab it into themselves with too much force or put it into a bony area
00:28:16
Speaker
if used correctly can be very therapeutic can lead to rather rapid reductions in sensitivity so sore areas can then become a lot less sore very quickly muscle tone can feel like it's changed the perception of tension can change very quickly and it can be very useful for
00:28:39
Speaker
you know, for those, for those things. So again, it's a form of self massage. It's very, very, very unique and definitive in its delivery with the vibration is a very, you know, unique feeling that a lot of people really like some people, of course, don't like they, you know, they find it too vigorous or just don't enjoy the experience, but a lot of people find it very, very helpful. And the results it can get are very quick.
00:29:06
Speaker
which is very helpful for the individual, but also they're very popular in clinic as well. A lot of therapists are now using them in clinic because they're helpful, but also because the patient's really like them as well. And if the patient's having a good therapeutic experience, well, that's just a fantastic starting point for any therapeutic intervention really. So yeah.
00:29:33
Speaker
Okay. There's, sorry, Joe, go on. So the, so that's the tip of someone has one then and they're using it at home is to aim for muscle, not bony areas and let the gun do the work. Don't be jabbing into yourself. I think you said, so just let it, let it do its job. Is that right? Yes, yes, absolutely. Those two things are really important and, um, you're going to get the results quite quickly with it. So you don't need to sit there for like, you know, a whole, um,
00:30:02
Speaker
whole episode of EastEnders or something with the gun jabbed into you. Literally we're talking, we're talking like a matter of seconds to get the results that you need. So often 10 to 20 seconds and it's going to be, you know, you're going to get the results that you need and maybe do a little bit more, but don't, you know, don't, don't sit there using it for, for ages. Yeah. Okay.
The Role of Taping in Therapy
00:30:28
Speaker
Tape. We had a couple of questions on tape. So, um,
00:30:33
Speaker
And they were mainly about how to apply and if you apply them incorrectly, is that worse than using it? But do you want to start with why people use tape while it's applied before we do that?
00:30:47
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, okay. Tape, well, tape's been very popular now for a number of years. The kinesiology tape was actually invented in the 1970s, so it's not as new as people might think. But it's a very helpful and versatile treatment medium that can be used by therapists and also by people that can use them directly themselves. Now, we've been using
00:31:09
Speaker
various supports, whether it's a simple tuber grip or more, you know, more supportive neoprene supports. We've been using those without question for 50, 60 years at least. And then when tape comes along, what it does is it offers the same
00:31:31
Speaker
sensory input and neurological feeling of support that that tubal rips and neoprene supports do but it doesn't come with the same restrictions that that joint supports often give the physical restrictions of of movement and just that little bit of extra support around a muscle or around a joint
00:31:56
Speaker
People often feel that that gives them more confidence to move, reduces pain. And from a therapeutic point of view, it sends more sensory input, more information up to the brain. And whenever we have an increase in information up to the brain about a certain area of our body, it helps us to move and to control that area of the body a little bit better and improve the motor control. So it's classically used
00:32:24
Speaker
Well, all over the place, to be fair, certainly Achilles tendons, knees, lower backs. It's been found to be very helpful for individuals suffering from arthritis related pain in the knees. It's very helpful on the lower back, for example. If we take the lower back as an example.
00:32:42
Speaker
When you have lower back pain, I've certainly had a few episodes, not too much. Have you, Joe, have you had some lower back pain? I've had sciatica, yeah, and my right knee, I'm up to five operations now. So as you're saying, I'm thinking, oh, I've got my knee, I haven't there.
00:33:01
Speaker
Yes, yeah, absolutely. Sciatica is a horrible, horrible thing to have. So on the lower back, if the listeners are thinking or remembering when they had some back pain and your back hurts, you don't move it very much. It feels tight, but also you're cautious about moving it. Now, when you apply some tape to the area,
00:33:23
Speaker
it just helps it feel a little bit more supported, it dampens down the sensitivity and the pain a little bit, just makes people a bit more willing to move their back a little bit and if they're willing to move their back a little bit it starts to unlock that negative cycle of pain and lack of movement and fear of movement.
00:33:41
Speaker
And once people are able to move a little bit, they can then move a little bit more, starts to become a little less sensitive and less painful. And then that can lead to more comfort during a normal day, but also start to progress out of that pain and stiffness cycle and more towards a therapeutic movement and analgesic response as well. So it can just help the individual to
00:34:12
Speaker
not just to experience less pain, but to start on a more therapeutic movement-based journey. And with reference to knees, so whether it's pain from osteoarthritis or like yourself, Joe, whether it's from five operations, regardless of what those operations are, most rehab professionals would probably tell you that it's a very good idea to work on the strength
00:34:39
Speaker
and motor control around your knee and that involves you know consciously doing exercises but you're not going to be that happy doing the exercises if your knee is feeling unstable or if your knee is painful or if you're just naturally apprehensive about loading the knee and going about doing some resistance training. So with the application of a bit of tape
00:35:04
Speaker
you often feel a bit more supported. There's that increased sensory input to the brain, so the brain's able to modulate and control the movement around the knee a little bit more. And if you're just a little bit more confident to move the knee, then you're going to be happier doing your rehab. And then it's the rehab that makes the difference, not the tape. The tape just allows people to either start that journey earlier or
00:35:32
Speaker
enjoy it a little bit better as they get started and you know the the natural body's adaptation to strength thing can then take over so people often if they have a good experience of tape they they think is it magic is there some kind of secret ingredient laced into the tape or something like that well
00:35:51
Speaker
It's really them, and it's really the individual or patient that's achieved what they've achieved. The tape has just given them a little nudge in the right direction to bring about these changes, breaking down not just the physical elements, but sometimes psychological barriers as well. Lots of people are often
00:36:12
Speaker
fearful of movement if they've had an experience of pain, fearful of loading the knee or fearful of bending the lower back for example, fearful of putting some load through their Achilles tendons for rehab purposes and if we can just
00:36:27
Speaker
if we can just do something therapeutic for them and tape is that potential thing that we can do that's therapeutic, then alongside everything, not just the taping, alongside the confidence that they have in the therapist, alongside the experience they have in the clinic and experience of doing something which they thought might be a problem and it wasn't a problem, so doing some calf raises and realizing that that was okay and didn't cause an aggravation, all of that packaged together means the patient can leave
00:36:56
Speaker
the clinic and leave that treatment setting with a plan and a confidence to go about that plan leading to those longer term changes. And that's one of the key things that we teach on our courses with regards to taping, Joe, is that it's all part of
00:37:15
Speaker
all part of a grand plan, it's not just a case of, oh, that hurts, put tape on it. Oh, that's a bit sore, put tape on it. It's all part of making everything fit in for the patient and their longer term success rather than just taping sore bits. So thinking about that, what would you say to somebody who gets recommended, say they've got a sore knee, for example, and they've got a race coming up and they haven't used it before, but they hear about tape.
00:37:45
Speaker
And then, and they go and they wear some for the day. Is that the right way to be using it then? Or was that, should they not be doing that? Yeah, that particular example is okay. I see your point there about using it when they're not used to it, especially in a competitive situation. So that might not be ideal as a concept, but the specific example you gave of taping the knee, like the worst that's going to happen
00:38:12
Speaker
is the tape. Well, if they don't get on with the tape, then they can just pull it off. They don't even necessarily have to stop running. They could just pull the tape off and
00:38:22
Speaker
you know, put it in their pocket. Don't do any littering. Give it to somebody at the water station. I'm sure they'll be thrilled to receive some sweaty, hairy tape that's been pulled off a knee. But yeah, as a specific example, Joe, I think taping the knee for a race is something that people could try and, you know, as I say, worst case scenario is they just have to take it off. But of course, you can put tape on incorrectly. Sometimes that can cause discomfort.
00:38:51
Speaker
or making the issue feel worse, but also if it's not put on correctly, it's more likely that it's going to fall off and take falling off halfway through a race might.
00:39:02
Speaker
you know, might be, might be just something that, you know, that you don't need, especially if you're, you know, you're doing well, and something starts flapping around your leg, and it's this bit of tape, and it's stuck in your shoe, and you've got to, you know, you've got to kind of slow down or stop to sort it out, that that wouldn't be ideal. And that might be because it wasn't wasn't put on correctly, and hasn't adhered to the skin properly. So that that sort of scenario wouldn't wouldn't be ideal. So yeah, I mean, it is it is safe and versatile. So in many cases,
00:39:31
Speaker
people can just try the tape out, but their experience is likely to be much more positive if they have a little bit of know-how to understand how to apply it and how to get the best use out of it. Yeah, great. A question, there wasn't strictly about a product from a community member. What was, what do I need to look for on a physio's website to know
Evaluating Physiotherapy & Alternative Therapies
00:40:00
Speaker
they've had the right training and are qualified and insured to look after me properly, please. Is there a stamp of approval? Well, that's a good question. Specifically for, okay, so where do we start there? There's different professionals who would all be qualified to help somebody with sports injuries and other types of injuries too.
00:40:27
Speaker
So in the UK, and I hope I cover most places here, but you've got osteopaths, you've got chiropractors, and you've got chartered physiotherapists. And then you have sports therapists, and alongside that sports massage and massage therapists, etc. The osteopaths, the chiropractors and the physiotherapists have
00:40:53
Speaker
specific professional bodies, organizations or councils, which look after their members. So if you're looking on a physio osteo-chiros website, you should see that they have a professional registration with the relevant body, that should be quite clear. Otherwise, they wouldn't technically or legally be allowed to call themselves by that profession. If you're looking at a massage or sports therapist, there are
00:41:23
Speaker
There are bodies out there which look after those groups and there's organizations such as the Sports Massage Association, Sports Therapy Association, Sports Therapy Organization, the Society of Sports Therapists, and there's
00:41:49
Speaker
there's a few more, I think, besides, but they're the key ones that I'm aware of. So you can look to see if the individual has, you know, is registered with those with any of those bodies. But if the question was specific to a physiotherapy, well, if somebody is a chartered physiotherapist, then that that means they've met a certain level of training, they've got it, you know, they've gone through the training process. And it also means that they
00:42:18
Speaker
have to abide by a professional code of conduct. And within that, you should feel safe with them. Thank you. Off-pitched with this one, bubble bath products are often labeled as muscle therapy. Is there any set science behind these? Do you recommend them? So we often see things like epsom salts recommended, that kind of thing. What are your thoughts?
00:42:48
Speaker
Yeah the Epsom salts if you have a bath with like jets in you shouldn't use those because they can they're salt aren't they so they can rust the internal mechanisms so there's just a quick tip for your listeners who've invested in a in a jet bath to ease their aching muscles that they shouldn't use the Epsom salts because they're going to they're going to avoid the warranty and cause the bath to rust. So after that
00:43:13
Speaker
I kind of run out of useful knowledge as far as the baths go. We all know that heat can be therapeutic. Over the pandemic, there's been an increased interest in the opposite to heat. There's been increased interest in ice baths and cold water swimming, et cetera, of which there is science behind that in terms of, again,
00:43:42
Speaker
recovery and desensitization, etc. I haven't mentioned on my YouTube channel, it's called the Physio channel.
00:43:52
Speaker
On the Physio channel, one of my videos, which is quite popular, is a video on ice baths. And it explains a little bit about the science behind ice baths and cold water swimming, as well as some of the dangers of jumping into a freezing cold sea. So that's been quite a popular video. So to avoid digressing too much, I'd encourage people to have a look at that video on cold immersion and ice baths. Yeah, great. Last one.
00:44:23
Speaker
One that we could talk for hours on, I'm sure. Stretching. There's a lot of opposing opinions about whether we need to do it and if so, when, before, after. That was the comment on the thread. Yeah. Yeah, of course. Well, as a physiotherapist, I tend to use stretching or advocate stretching
00:44:52
Speaker
only for individuals when it's necessary. So just speaking very kind of in lay terms, if something feels tight
00:45:02
Speaker
and it doesn't usually and it's tight because of you know you're stiff from sitting down too long or it's tight because you've been training hard if something feels tight it's probably a good idea to stretch it in order to just try and maintain what you've passed as the normal mobility around around that region so around the spine or around the knee or around the hip for example. If something doesn't feel tight then it's questionable as to
00:45:33
Speaker
why you would need to stretch it. If you take the hamstrings, for example, then, sorry, Jay. Where was I? I'll start again. If you take the hamstrings, for example, I know a lot of people have wanted to stretch the hamstrings. But the thing is, when you stretch the hamstrings with a simple static stretch, what you're likely doing is just
00:46:02
Speaker
you know, reducing the sensitivity of the stretch reflex, giving yourself a little bit more range of motion. But unless you use that flexibility, it's just going to go back to normal again, and it's not going to really achieve much. So the way to actually try and lengthen muscles, if that's what you want to do, is not through just basic strength, basic stretching, it's through actually through strengthening. It's through strengthening the muscles into the end of range,
00:46:31
Speaker
through strengthening the muscles into that stretch position. And that's where you actually have a chance of literally structurally building upon and allowing lengthening of the muscle. But that's not going to happen overnight. That happens through a concerted training effort. As for basic stretching, if it feels tight, then give it a stretch. But don't waste too much time on stretching if things don't feel too tight. From a science point of view,
00:47:02
Speaker
It's known that if you spend a good amount of time doing static stretching before you go and perform or train or compete, then it's likely that it will reduce the speed of contraction of the muscle, which doesn't tend to be very helpful. And if you're in an event where you need
00:47:23
Speaker
that fast contraction speeds and good muscle tone, then trying to reduce muscle contraction speed and reduce muscle tone just before you go and compete doesn't really make sense. So I would avoid excessive stretching before anything intense or competitive. And I would save stretching for afterwards. And I would focus on areas which feel tight and which feel better after you've stretched them, for example.
00:47:53
Speaker
One more specific example if I may, Joe. Sorry, I know I've been going on for a bit. It's great. If people have Achilles tendinopathy, people have Achilles tendinopathy, it's often advised or people are often suggested to people that they stretch the Achilles tendon. And I just wanted to get across to the listeners that if you have an Achilles tendonitis issue,
00:48:19
Speaker
Stretching it isn't usually the way to go. It's not usually going to help. What often helps is actually loading, putting some strain through it, doing some static calf raise exercises, for example. That's likely to make a difference, whereas stretching
00:48:37
Speaker
often doesn't help and not saying it could be detrimental but if you're doing stretching instead of strengthening well then your rehab would be detrimental because you'd be spending the time doing the doing the wrong things. That being said if you do some calf raises for your Achilles tendon rehabilitation and afterwards you your calf muscles feel a bit tight then by all means do a bit of stretching to help you know alleviate that tension and to make them feel a bit better and a bit freer
00:49:06
Speaker
But spending ages stretching and stretching and stretching often is not that helpful. In rehab settings, strengthening is usually much better and much more evidence-based. Very interesting. Thank you very much, Dan. We've covered a lot. Thanks for
00:49:29
Speaker
Thanks for fielding all those questions from the community.
Conclusion & Resources
00:49:34
Speaker
So you mentioned your YouTube channel. Do you just want to give us your YouTube or your social channels, RockTape, et cetera, where people can find out more as well about some of the products we've been speaking about so they can connect with you?
00:49:50
Speaker
Yes, certainly. So we've been talking about the rock tape products. So on social media, you can look us up under rock tape UK. If it's on Instagram, for example, it's rock tape underscore UK. And we've got a lot of self instructional videos for people to use tape on our rock tape UK YouTube channel. So anybody who's looking for self taping advice, I'd point them towards the rock tape UK YouTube channel. My
00:50:18
Speaker
Personal social media is the physio channel. So I'll be on Instagram under the physio channel. But my main platform, Joe, is YouTube, where I've got information and instructional videos for either for professionals, I have some as well for the patients and for athletes. And that's the physio channel on YouTube, where there's some longer form information videos, which people watch on a regular basis.
00:50:48
Speaker
and we'll share those in the notes. Dan, thanks ever so much for your time and for coming on and sharing your knowledge. It's been great. Thank you, Joe. I just think I need to go and do some research on Epsom salts and double baths now. So I feel I let you down on that question. No, no, we got thrown some curve balls. Brilliant. Thank you. Thank you, Joe. Take care. Bye.