Runners
quite frequently suffer from reoccurring strains, cramps, spasms in their
calves and hamstrings. Sometimes you can fix it with massage and stretching
exercises but what if it keeps coming back and causes problems in your
training? Or even worse hinders your running performance?
Well it
could be due to a tight sciatic nerve! If a muscle stretches or cramps to the
point where it feels like it is going to tear, it is most probably neutrally tight.
This is a protective mechanism the body follows to allow us to realise that
something has gone wrong. Pain is a warning system that a tissue is going to be
damaged if we don’t do something about it. This is why neurological tightness
happens. If we start mobilising the nerves, then this can help release tension
in the muscles and will reduce the risk of injury.
Tight
calves also cause pronation. If there is limited dorsiflexion at the ankle
joint it has to come from somewhere else, for example the sub-talar joint. This
can also cause shin pain, Achilles pain and knee pain. So by moving the sciatic
nerve and releasing the calves through some self-myofascial release can help
prevent all this from occurring. Foam rolling the calves is good, but sometimes
to get the neural tension, it is better to hold a tender spot and relax on it
for a minute or so until the pain dissipates.
For
those of you who cramp up in your hamstrings, it has been proven that releasing
your plantar fascia can help. If this fascia becomes rigid, it can release the
connective tissue further up the body. Think of the body’s fascia as a train
track, if one part of the track is broken, the other bits won’t work
efficiently and the train will crash! The muscles have a strong connective
tissue called fascia that (I like to think of it as very thick skin!), that is
a network all the way from your head to your toes. So if you have thick skin in
the foot this will limit the amount of movement you have not only in your
hamstrings but your calf too. It is all linked! A way of releasing your plantar
fascia off is using a hard ball and standing on it. You can also release the
hamstrings too in the same way. I usually hold the ball into a tender area of
the muscle and hold the pressure until the pain subsides, then I move onto
another trigger point.
So here it
is, some good tips on how to release the neural tension from your calves and
hamstrings by mobilising the sciatic nerve and doing some self-myofascial
release. The body is very complex, so if this doesn’t work for you, it may be
due to a biomechanical issue involved in your running technique. For example, a
rotated pelvis can cause all sorts of problems with the upper and lower body.
It is always best to get help when picking up an injury as us Sports Therapists
can do all the necessary assessments involved in the gait cycle and functional
movements. So if you are in pain, do not ignore it, book in to see a Sports
Therapist and get pain free now!
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| Hands on Therapy that gets Results |
