By In Touch Physiotherapy Exercise • Injury prevention • Muscles • Sport performance • Sports injuries 0 Comments

Calf Strains

The soleus and gastrocnemius muscles make up the calf complex or ‘baby cow’ as it’s sometimes called. Calf strains are quite a common injury that we see in the clinic. These can occur during sprinting (such as running after a loose ball in soccer), during a strong push or drive movement (such as scrumming in Rugby), and also due to jumping and landing (such as in netball or basketball). Small grade 1 strains take 10-21 days to settle down, grade 2 injuries about 3-5 weeks and bigger grade 3 with muscle retraction (common) can take closer to 8 weeks to recover.

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By In Touch Physiotherapy Exercise • Injury prevention • Muscles • News • Physiotherapy tips • Running • Short and long-term pain • Sport performance • Sports injuries 0 Comments

Calf strengthening – 5 good reasons why ?

shutterstock_328172750Calf strengthening is not only a common denominator in alot of lower limb rehabilitation programs, but also plays an important role in lower limb biomechanics, as well as a key aspect of injury prevention.

Here are five good reasons why calf strengthening is important.

  1. The calf helps with shock absorption on landing, in both running and jumping sports.
  2. The calf plays a role in forward and vertical propulsion with running and jumping sports respectively, hence strengthening will assist with power and performance.
  3. Calf strengthening is an important component of injury rehabilitation for a number of injuries directly related to the calf such as achilles tendon issues, calf muscle tears, or ankle sprains.
  4. Calf strengthening plays a major role in lower limb biomechanics, and is a common exercise when doing rehabilitation for knee, hip and lower back injuries. Increasing strength in the calf can assist in offloading the injured area.
  5. Calf strengthening helps to prevent achilles tendon issues and calf muscle tears, where fatigue and lack of strength may be a contributing factor to injury.

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By In Touch Physiotherapy Exercise • Injury prevention • Muscles • News • Physiotherapy tips • Short and long-term pain • Sport performance • Sports injuries • tendon • Uncategorized • Yoga 0 Comments

Pilates or Yoga – which one would be best for my injury recovery?

singapore-physio-pilatesAs physios it is common to get asked by clients what the difference is between pilates and yoga and would either be of benefit or detrimental to their injury and rehabilitation. With the popularity of both yoga and pilates in today’s society, people often want to know what the difference is?

Yoga involves a series of poses that create a stretch for your muscles and joints, and may either be sustained stretches or more flowing in nature between poses, creating more of a dynamic stretch. Read more

By In Touch Physiotherapy Exercise • Injury prevention • Muscles • News • Physiotherapy tips • Running • Short and long-term pain • Sport performance • Sports injuries 0 Comments

Are your calves tightening up from running ?

shutterstock_110888123Do you find your calves always stiffen/tighten with running? Let’s take a look at some potential reasons behind why the calf muscles get stressed.

1) Overload of the muscle due to inadequate muscle strength and power in the lower limbs.

Decreased lower limb strength can lead to the overload of the calf during the push-off phase of running. Our gluteal and quadriceps muscles play an important role in propelling ourselves forward. Without strength and endurance in these muscles, the calf muscle can become the sole driver of propulsion, hence can become fatigued and tired. Consideration also needs to be given to the calf itself in terms of strength and endurance, to handle the load placed upon it in running.

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