SPACE - THE PREMIER SPORTS INJURY & PHYSIO CLINIC

Supercharge your brain-here's how! With Exercise!

2012-02-24T10:19:00.000Z

Want to improve your brain's memory & thought processing?
Japanese researchers have shown that whilst Brain Glycogen levels reduce with exercise, they can be boosted immediately on resting & feeding!

To levels that exceed that of resting brains and continued exercise maintains these levels!

The Journal of Physiology published an article last year from researchers at the university of Tsukuba which had two sets of rats with one group whom were involved in a treadmill running programme, the other whom had stationary treadmills.The tested the levels of glycogen in the brains of the rats during & after exercise.

Journal of Physiology2011 Jul 1;589(Pt 13):3383-93. Epub 2011 Apr 26

Brain Glycogen is seen as being a critical energy source for brain activity. It has been hypothesised that during prolonged exhaustive exercise, a state of hypoglycaemia exists where there is inadequate glucose from the blood, in addition to reductions in muscular glycogen levels.

The levels were noticeably less in certain portions of the brain governing thinking,memory & movement such as the frontal cortex & hippocampus.

However, when researchers studied the rats after a single bout of exercise as well as regular moderate-intesity running (4 weeks).

After the single bout of exercise group, the rats were able to rest & feed: brain levels of glycogen were measured to have actually were elevated beyond the pre-exercise levels as well as when exhausted! This was particularly so in the frontal cortex & hippocampus by as much a 60%! These unusually high levels were restored to normal levels within 24 hours.

However, if rats continued with an exercise regime over 4 weeks this form of glycogen 'superadaptation' became the new norm compared to sedentary animals. Again areas critical to learning & memory in the pre frontal cortex & hippocampus were especially marked-this is a striking finding that encourages author Dr Hideaki Soya to suggest that "it is tempting to suggest that increased storage & utility of brain glycogen in the cortex and hippocampus might be involved in the development of a better, sharper brain."

SO another great reason for reaching for the bananas, yoghurts & milk after any form of run or training that renders you exhausted, or tired for a prolonged period! It could be ideal for a supercompensation strategy for your brain!

Journal of Physiology 590.3 (2012) pp 607–616

Food for thought for your brain? A Mediterranean Diet may be healthy for your brain as well as your body!

2012-02-16T19:22:00.001Z

When patients want to make a change in their body composition our hearts at SPACE sing! Ross today helped an athlete who wants to shift from 15% body fat to between 8-12%, and this change in training by increasing fatburner type of exercise after conditioning sessions was met positively, as was the discussion surrounding lifestyle & especially diet.

The walk home past a local chip shop revealed 4 teenagers in school blazers munching from chip boxes which caused a more familiar form of 'heart sink' as I passed.

A change in diet has been acknowledged to have a host of health benefits, as would a dose of exercise (I cannot comment on the teens' physical workouts, just a snapshot of their food intake). A recent study has backed up the physical exercise aspect, but also linked activity to an increased likelihood of participants having an enriched diet of fresh vegetables, fruit, lean proteins, whole grains & healthy monosaturated fats from olive oil & nuts with less emphasis on saturated fats & red meat.

This is very much the Mediterranean style of diet, frequently linked to lower incidence & risk of heart disease, diabetes & cancer. However a study in the Archives of Neurology Vol 69, No 2, February 2012 ( Arch Neurol. 2012;69(2):251-256) also has suggested an association with a decreased chance of damage to the small vessels of the brain.

Just under a thousand participants with a mean age of 72 had their diets studied via a food questionnaire before undergoing a MRI Scan which measured white matter hyperintensity volumes. This gives an indication of small vessel damage within the brain, and is often associated with diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), strokes & dementia. Whilst some damage is part of the ageing process, those participants whose diet was more related to the typical Mediterranean version demonstrated lower incidence of white matter hyperintensity volume.

from Womens' Heart Foundation womensheart.org

More men appeared to stick to this form of diet interestingly, as well as that finding alluded to earlier that the physically active were also more likely to enjoy these type of foods.

The researchers in this Northern Manhattan study concluded that the overall diet rather than specifics within it, was of key importance, and that the ratio of monosaturated fat to saturated fat may be a key determinant to the levels of white matter hyperintensity volume.

Perhaps there's more to the olive oil salad dressing on your greens & fresh fruit platter than merely a faddy substitute for your red meat & missing out on your family bar of chocolate?

Scottish Sporting Triumph - SPACE Success!

2012-02-14T22:49:00.001Z

The first phrase may be one we don’t see too often, but the second is one we are all accustomed to seeing, hearing, and even passing onto friends.

In Luxembourg last month, both of these came true in the form of the Scottish Mens Scottish Volleyball Team triumphing in the Novotel Cup.

This blog essentially has SPACE Physio Kenny Watt reflecting on a short but successful campaign. You may also read about it on the Scottish Volleyball Association website here:

Scottish Volleyball Association report or in the Edinburgh Evening News here: Evening News article.

"The Cup is a 4 team invitational competition established for women in 1987 and men in 2005. The Scottish men first competed in 2005 (3^rd), then as GB in 2008 and 2009 finishing 4^th and 3^rd respectively. In 2010 and 2011 competing as an “independent” Scotland again we finished 4^th and 3^rd with 2011 being my first attendance with the team. In there were some good performances but what shows is a slightly disappointing history of results. Being a small nation (with a football obsession and a history of chronic underfunding of more minority sports) volleyball is not played by a large number of people unlike on mainland Europe where it is has some of the highest participation numbers of any team sport. Taking this into consideration we still produce a number of very good players, a few of who now play professionally abroad, as well some individuals in the GB programme pushing towards London this summer. Our international calendar on top of the Novotel Cup consists of a qualifying competition for the European Small Nations championships then hopefully, all going well, the Championships themselves later in the year. I have been involved with the team as physio for two years, and in that time, as always when working with teams, there are highs and lows but unquestionably winning the Novotel Cup last week has to be the one of the National team’s highest highs.

Armed with a huge hotel room, the physio clinic was setup, with the equipment beautifully laid out along the windowsill, the plinth raised in the middle of the room and the laptop gracing the players and I with what many of you will know from being in SPACE when my ipod is plugged in, fabulous music. At times the clinic consisted of one player on the plinth being treated, two lying on the bed with Dry needles protruding from them and another using the foam roller in preparation for his treatment next. Here I have to say that without the learning experience I have had at SPACE over the last 6 months under the tutelage of Stephen, these different combinations of treatments dragged from an ever expanding “toolbox” of skills, would not have been possible, so any success has to be largely attributed to them.

The competition this year consisted of Luxembourg, England, Denmark and ourselves in a round robin competition. We began with a resounding 3-0 win over Denmark, then narrowly lost 3-2 to the hosts before beating the auld enemy 3-2 in our final game. This left us needing Denmark to beat Luxembourg in the penultimate game; any other result would give the hosts the trophy. Sure enough the Danes brought home the bacon and the stands were deathly silent expect for our section filled with the boys, the Scotland Women’s team and the coaches going absolutely nuts.

The awards ceremony was a little of a blur except for the moment when you all stand arm in arm singing the national anthem towards a spot lit Saltire, trophy in hand. And the trophy was to go in hand as in the post celebration team huddle I was awarded the trophy and told that if it hadn’t been for my work half the team would not have been able to stay fit throughout the three days. To say it was one of my proudest physio moments would be an understatement.

So the first ever Novotel Cup won by a Scottish team now sits proudly in my flat, but will soon find its way to SPACE where it probably belongs: a symbol of Scottish and SPACE success."

Dan Parks retires from Scotland International Team - another good man lost

2012-02-07T23:58:00.001Z

Tuesday 7th February. A meeting in the week that Scotland take on Wales in the RBS 6 Nations. So far, so normal. Sure, we've just been beaten by England by a score, but most players will have been shocked by the emotional tearful announcement from Daniel Arthur Parks that he was to retire with immediate effect.

With best wishes to the team, he was gone to the stands whilst the team trained, photos made their way to newspaper websites shortly afterwards, and the twittersphere & blogs were filled with the usual mixture of the positive comments, the negative abuse, and the downright naive or ignorant. Standard fare really for someone deemed the most 'marmite' (shouldn't that be 'vegemite' tweeted one wag) player of modern times: love him or hate him, he was frequetly discussed in pubs & water coolers.
Scottish Rugby Press Release & Andy Nicol comment on retirement on BBC

He was first selected in 2004 by another maligned Australian, Matt Williams, initially as a substitute for three games before forcing his way into the team to finish up the 2004 championship against Ireland where he typically nailed a drop goal-the first of his 17 that constitute a Scottish record. He remains the Celtic League's highest points scorer of all time, and states that he will continue playing for his club.

Dan Parks & Chris Cusiter
celebrate in Dublin, 2010

However players & management reflected on the memorable moments of his career which, whilst containing some 'rocky times' had some fabulous highlights, especially at the 2007 World Cup in France when he was voted Scotland's Most Valuable Player by the players themselves, and the year 2010, either on the Argentina tour or collecting 3 man of the match performances in four 6 Nations games that year, ultimately followed up by a terrific victory over South Africa.

A top bloke off the field with infectious laughter, enthusiasm & no little skill on the table tennis table, he will be sorely missed as a sports' nut with particular interest in rugby league (his Australian imitation of NRL commentary during the recent World Cup was spectacular) & NFL (we discussed the recent season of College American Football as well as the well-hyped Super Bowl just last week).

Look at how good a sport he was here in this classic piece of April Fool's tomfoollery with the BBC: Scotland punished for laser cheat.

With the recent passing from Scotland colours of Nathan Hines & Chris Paterson (Chris Paterson retires) Scotland has lost much experience on the pitch, and much character off the field.

I personally will miss all three.

Six Nations to The Superbowl

2012-02-05T19:30:00.000Z

This weekend has been the opening weekend for the rugby 6 Nations Championship, but Superbowl XLVI is also taking place in Indianapolis.

Throw in the start of the Stobart Super League rugby league as well in Europe, then it all makes for cracking viewing for spectators of oval ball sports.

Here's the home page for the Greatest Show on Earth (that's the rugby by the way, friends from the Americas...) RBS 6 Nations Championship & today we witnessed a cracking game from Dublin, which you can see here if you are in the UK: Ireland v Wales 5th Feb 2012.

For all your Superbowl facts & figures go with this: Superbowl 2012 & the feeling across USA as I saw it last week read Superbowl fever in USA.

Super League's opening weekend also coincided with these other great events, and rugby league broke new ground with its first fixture to be played out on artificial turf: Widnes v Wakefield 1st match on artificial turf.

Finally it was great to see Scotland's most capped international in the dressers after the defeat to England yesterday. He arrived for a special presentation from the team to him to mark his retirement from the international game.

For a personal reflection on his career see here: Reflection on Chris Paterson's career.

The Joys of Urban Running

2012-01-28T23:58:00.000Z

I love urban running! Not for long you understand, but the sheer pleasure of taking off out of a hotel & exploring the locale is a real joy that has come late to me.

In Dallas on Day One I asked where the locals ran. Not so much was her response, they all got cars here. However she did recommend I ran around the parking lot several times as it was 'pretty big'.

Well the beauty of the breaking day in Dallas just meant a trip to the top floor gym was simply not acceptable, and the grass verges proved an unusual and challenging route near but not on the freeway.

I strapped on the Nike Free Runners, and with a rare spring in my step took off. Now I don't run for long, but neither would I say I 'jog'. As Vern Gambetta would say, "why train yourself to run slow?". (Check out Vern here)
So I like to get some hip extension to my running gait, and a pace that leaves me 'peching' as we would say in Glasgow as a student with the cardiac Rehab class. After 18 months I am thoroughly in love with running in minimalist shoes: sure, check the debate out (Natural Running Debate-view from the front row & Barefoot Running Protagonists spar online) but my personal pleasure in urban running has definitely been enhanced by the use of minimalist shoes.

Some folks take urban running pretty seriously-I recall seeing in Belgium last year the Running Guided Tour which I figure was a brilliant device: it is a concept that offers runners who travel for leisure or business the opportunity to discver & learn about the history & landmarks of a city with a local running Guide.

Check them out for details for their global operations:

www.globalrunningtours.com

Wherever and however far you run, just enjoy it!

I love urban running. Just not for too long in one go!

Super Bowl Fever hits US

2012-01-27T13:53:00.000Z

1 in 5 men would miss a wedding or a funeral to watch the SuperBowl!

Some watch just for the ads!

Half a million hits on Matther Broderick's youtube 10 second rumoured return as Ferris Bueller!

Who wouldn't watch for the commercials whether it's for the return of an Eighties celluloid hero, or with the return of polar bears for a renowned soft drink company currently confirmed for a return to the screens of millions?

A couponcabin.com survey found that 21% would swerve the nuptials of a close friend or family member, 20% the funeral of a loved on! 19% would miss the birth of their child! The survey was conducted online in the USA by Harris Interactive of 2625 adults which is a reasonable number in science terms at least: just think of the questions that could be asked & hypotheses proved with that form of study population!

1 in 5 men would miss funeral or wedding for Superbowl article

Of the 47% of respondents planning to watch the game NEXT SUNDAY 37% of respondents would watch the NFL season's finale Superbowl just for the half time adverts! In this category it's women who lead the way, although they lag behind the males within the 1/3rd of the group whom have bet on the outcome of a Superbowl in the past!

The 10 second Mattew Broderick clip has already cranked up almost a half million hits in under 20 hours with no word on whom has posted this, just a promise to reveal on Feb 5th...

It is prompting much analysis in the media however...

analysis of chuckachucka2012 youtube video

Entertainment Tonight's take on Ferris Bueller return

Breakfast tv may be no guide to the state of a nation, but Superbowl fever appears to be gripping over a week before the actual game on Sunday February 5th! This SPACE blog has previously noted how sport can get a bit too serious for its own good (SPACE Blog Aug 2011 'Is sport taking itself too seriously'?), but the pre-game fever in the US almost rivals the obsessiveness that overwhelmed New Zealand during the last Rugby World Cup.

Even statistically, we can say most of us will just look forward to the match itself (and the half time show, obviously...Madonna confirmed in December by the way Super Bowl Half Time Act confirmed ).

Relationships between NFL Combine Measures

2012-01-19T10:16:00.000Z

Superbowl fever is in the air: Divisional Championships this weekend to decide the finalists!

How do the rookies (newcomers) get noticed & rated against one another? What is the science that pits one College star against another?

Every year the National Football League (NFL) decamps to Indianapolis for a week in February. Athletes attend by invitation only, and are put through their physical & mental paces in front of coaches, scouts & general managers. The tests are standardised to ensure that there is a more scientifically based series of challenges that has evolved into a media frenzy from more humble origins in 1977. The implications of this showcase event is that performance in the 'Combine' affects perception, draft status, salary & ultimately a player's career: implications based on measureable size, speed & strength.

Tests include:
40 Yard Dash
Bench Press (225lb reps)
Vertical Jump
Broad Jump
20 Yard Shuttle
60 Yard Shuttle
3 Cone Drill
Position Specific Drills
Cybex Testing
Wonderlix Test

The teams are then allowed 60interviews in 15 minute intervals in addition to physical baseline measures, a drug screening & an injury evaluation.

A recent study investigated the relationship between the athletic skills measured at the Combine. The study population was measured from draftees from 2005-09.

Sprint times & change of direction ability tests & the three cone drill were nearly perfectly correlated, suggesting similar skills are being measured. The Jump Testing scores were more strongly associated with longer sprint distances suggesting mechanisms such as the stretch-shortening cycle which may be more important at maximal or near-maximal speeds.

However, there were weaker correlations between change of direction ability with sprinting & jumping suggesting less association & independent motor skills. Bench Press performance is positively correlated with outcomes in all running drills & inversely correlated with jump abilities. The authors have therefore intimated that upper body strength may be of little benefit to these tasks. They conclude that whilst the 3 cone drill or a single shuttle drill may be deemed sufficient as a measure of change of direction ability. Independent motor skills need to be measured with another battery of tests.

Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research (1): 226-231, 2012

Exercise changes fat in the body - compelling new hormonal evidence for running!

2012-01-16T00:51:00.001Z

Researchers from Harvard Medical School & the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have shown that exercise can produce a hormone in the body that can lessen the susceptibility to obesity and diabetes and other health issues.

Mouse & human muscle tissue was tested, with the scientists charting how muscles cells can communicate with other cells in the body - particularly fat cells - and alter the biochemistry of the body after exercising.

PGC1-Alpha is produced in muscles both during and after exercise. It appears that this is what produces many of the benefits of exercise, but it was the Harvard study group that identified a novel process occuring to a membrane protein known as Fndc5 which spikes in expression with this increase in PCG1-Alpha. The protein breaks apart, and the novelty turned out to be a previously unidentified hormone which is secreted as Irisin.

LV = Lipid Vacuole

This hormone acts on white adipose (fat) cells, turning a development of brown-fat-like cells. Brown fat is more physiologically desirable than inert white fat calls, as they require energy & use oxygen: they burn calories! That this also happens to the deep fat around the organs is also important in health. Until 2009, the assumed logic was that brown fat was in far greater quantities in babies than adults, but now it appears that irisin (potentially exercise-induced irisin) can be seen in older humans.

Brown Fat Cell

Furthermore, rodent studies that have shown that irisin injected into white fat cells do indeed turn brown, and that glucose-tolerance was improved despite a high-fat diet. Human study participants whom volunteered for a jogging programme demonstrated higher levels of irisin after the programme finished than beforehand.

In summary, Irisin is thus induced with exercise and is shown in both mice & humans. Even mildly increased irisin blood hormone levels can cause an increase in energy expenditure with no associated changes in movement or food intake. This results in improvements in obesity & appears also to maintain glucose homeostasis with the implications for diabetes in humans.

Key message? Physical activity increases irisin levels in healthy people & changes fat cells from white to brown as a result.
Exercise: All Good!

Here are some details:

A PGC1-α-dependent myokine that drives brown-fat-like development of white fat and thermogenesis

Pontus Boström,

Jun Wu,

Mark P. Jedrychowski,

Anisha Korde,

Li Ye,

James C. Lo,

Kyle A. Rasbach,

Elisabeth Almer Boström,

Jang Hyun Choi,

Jonathan Z. Long,

Shingo Kajimura,

Maria Cristina Zingaretti,

Hua Tu,

& Bruce M. Spiegelman

Nature

(2012)

doi:10.1038/nature10777

Received: 14 August 2011
Accepted: 13 December 2011
Published online: 11 January 2012

New Fascia Information Published

2012-01-13T11:06:00.001Z

There has been much written in this blog on fascia / connective tissue - be prepared for even more!

Meeting up with the Fascial Fitness group in Munich last weekend really fired my imagination, and from the correspondence also those from across Germany too!

The Research Group has just showed that the water content of fascial tissues (usually around 68%) decreases during tensional loading and that this fluid extrusion is associated with a decrease of tissue stiffness (i.e. the so called ‘tissue creep’). This is revealed in a new paper just published.

During a subsequent resting period new water is soaked up again by the tissue and the fascia regains its initial mechanical resilience. Possibly similar changes in fascial properties may happen during yoga stretches, sport/exercise induced tissue strain, or in some of the fascia oriented manual therapies.

Interestingly, when the tensional loading is strong enough and the subsequent resting period long enough, then a ‘supercompensation’ can be observed, in which a temporary hydration increase occurs as well as stiffness increase beyond the initial values.
The authors speculates that similar temporary ‘strain hardening’ effects may play a role during some sports activities as well as in occupational medicine.

Strain hardening of fascia: Static stretching of dense fibrous connective tissues can induce a temporary stiffness increase accompanied by enhanced matrix hydration.
Schleip, Duerselen, Vleeming, Naylor, Lehmann-Horn, Zorn, Jaeger, Klingler.

J Bodyw Mov Ther 16: 94-100 (2012)

Free Fulltext Version of this paper

Munchen: Glad to be Back!

2012-01-09T13:32:00.000Z

Munich, Germany. In January.

Thermometer hovers above zero, and snow periodically falls.

The meeting of minds inside BodyBliss (www.bodybliss.de) near to the University included luminaries from the German worlds of Pilates, Rolfing & Research such as Robert Schleip & Divo Muller.

Under discussion was fitness of the connective tissue, material we have already described within this blog as fascia.

Check out for more information the following:
Fascinating Fascia
MELT this Winter
& the Dynamic Chiropractic article It's the Fascia Stupid!

The health of the connective tissue, and the influence of nutrition, fluids & exercise all loomed large over the weekend as methods of movement were shared, and the potential for further explanation & understanding for specific groups thoroughly investigated.

Skype conversations were had to Canada with Sports Chiropractor Walter Kesnick, and to Denmark where the acclaimed author & structural integrator Tom Myers (Tom Myers, Anatomy Trains) was teaching alongside our friend & colleague Stanley Rosenberg.

The upshot should be an exciting one for patients & athletes within SPACE as well as wider afield-expect some exercise that you may not have previously been asked to perform! There is certainly room for experimentation as the knowledge base grows, and hopefully SPACE will have a small part of that!

Auf wiedersehen Munchen - es war großartig!

Ich komme wieder!

Happy New Year from SPACE - US and EUROPE!!!

2012-01-05T22:38:00.000Z

All the best to all our patients from all the staff at SPACE!

Now recovered from the revelry of Edinburgh's Hogmanay in Princes' Street, we are ll now committed to helping you making the most of 2012: let's play!

Watch out for changes to the roster at SPACE early this year.

Some immediate upskilling or travel required for some: trips to Europe early this January for Kenny (to Luxembourg) & Stephen (Munich) whilst Gordon Mackay returns from East Coast US & Sharon from Arizona; all back into SPACE Central in the next week.

Kenny is operating as physio to Scottish Mens' Volleyball whilst Stephen heads to meet with Robert Schleip at his Rolfing Institute in Munich (see our link to the Fascia Blog from 2011 Fascinating Fascia )to discuss Fascial Fitness and some updates on the wonderful world of fascia prior to the 2rd International Congress which occurs later in the year in Vancouver.

Stick with us this year, read the blog, follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, engage online or by email or phone!

Let's play 2012!

Dateline Changes but Strong Links for Samoa with Scotland Forever

2011-12-31T16:09:00.000Z

What links Samoa to Scotland: the South Seas & South Edinburgh?

Also, how has Samoa seen the first of the New Year for the first time in 119 years? How did it lose the 30th of December 2011 forever?
What happens to babies born overnight-what's their date of birth?

The main rationale is enhancing trade links with their principle partners of Asia and Australasia rather than North America - which was the reason for bringing themselves into the time zone with the US at the end of the 19th Century in the first place.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi told Radio New Zealand that this drastic move would lead to significant improvements in trade and tourism. "No longer shall we have people ringing us up from New Zealand and Australia thinking it is Monday when we are closing our eyes and praying at churches."

Fittingly a Hogmanay walk across to Swanston Village on the south side of Edinburgh under the shadow of the Pentlands brought us to the cottage where author Robert Louis Stevenson spend many summers from 1867 despite being raised in Heriot Row close to the SPACE Clinics centre in Edinburgh's West End.

He is the strongest link between the two great countries of Scotland & Samoa.
Despite ill-health that dogged him whilst living in Scotland & England, he wrote his three most famous works here: 'Treasure Island', 'Kidnapped' & 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'.

Stevenson chartered the yacht Casco in 1888, and set sail from San Franscisco for Hawaii & Pacific Islands. In 1890 Stevenson purchased a tract of 400 acres in Upolu in Samoa, and established himself upon his estate in the village of Vailima. He had the name Tusitala or 'teller of tales' bestowed upon him by the Samoans, and his influence was considerable, as he was consulted for advice and he became involved in local politics and publicising the conditions established by the officers dispatched by the colonial leaders.

He died of a cerebral haemorrhage aged 44. The local Samoans surrounded his body with a watch-guard during the night and carried it upon their shoulders to nearby Mount Vaea where he was buried overlooking the sea.

Our final postscript to link these countries together is rugby, the sport popular in both. In June 2012 the two will play against one another for the first time in an official test match in Samoa, although SPACE Directors Gregor Townsend & Stephen Mutch were both present for the last tour there in 1993: Gregor as a player, and Stephen as a wide-eyed spectator! Expect more tales in the coming months on this blog as the tour to the South Seas draws nearer.

Something else to watch out for in 2012!
Happy New Year to you all from SPACE : staff, patients & readers.

Bounce : How Champions Are Made - Matthew Syed

2011-12-29T10:32:00.001Z

More requests for book reading this Festive Season?

How about Bounce by ex-international table tennis player with two Olympic Games behind him, & now a respected Times journalist, Matthew Syed?

He is known to be a writer of authority & clarity, and here he focuses on how natural talent requires 'purposeful' or meaningful practice to be fully realised. Syed weaves various tales through the book from across the world.

There are acknowledged nods to Malcolm Gladwell, Geoff Colvin & Dan Coyle, but in addition there is a section on belief & 'doublethink' explaining how sports' stars must have no doubt about winning to be optimally effective.

In addition to discussing the relevance of anticipation and pattern recognition in elites or novices, this power of beliefs was expanded upon recently by Syed at UKSEM in London. Effort should be encouraged other the praising of pure talent itself to facilitate appropriate 'Growth mindset'.

The synthesis of ideas based on Gladwell, Coyle & Colvin makes for fascinating reading: this is witnessed by the fact past-Clinic physio Olli Finlay & I have picked over its themes; the book was passed around players at the recent Rugby World Cup; and a number of athletes & patients have been discussing it within SPACE Clinic in Edinburgh this past year.

Perhaps that does not make it a 'must-buy' in itself, but it does demonstrate a width of literatary interest in the one text and the subject matter: is talent overrated?

The Talent Code - Daniel Coyle

2011-12-27T01:28:00.000Z

Book tokens? Money stashed in Christmas cards on the mantlepiece? Sales sales sales?
Unsure on good reads, but wanting suggestions?

We'll offer up a couple of options based on recent meetings/discussions that have had their topics reflected on these pages over 2011.

First up is based around the neurophysiology of learning and the identification of talent, and thereby discussing of the nurture versus nature debate.

'The Talent Code' was written by journalist Daniel Coyle several years ago. He visited nine of the world's talent hothouses that have produced amounts of talented individuals disproportional to the size of the venue examining behavioural and environmental .aspects including values, anatomy & family background.

Coyle found a pattern to skill acquisition for them all - from baseball in Caribbean to music camps of New York State. Myelin is the root of all talent and the fundemental mechanisms through which the architecture of the brain responds & changes as it acquires skill through meaningful practice can be utilised even in adulthood & certainly with the next generation of children:the electrochemistry of the brain actually gets thicker.

Myelin is a partially fatty tissue that wraps electrical tissue in the brain much like electrical tape preventing a leakage of voltage. Myelin is no longer considered to be inert, but it actually grows with practice proportional to the number of hours practised.

There are echoes of Malcolm Gladwell in the necessity for reinforcement and the drive for meaningful practice, although Coyle discusses fun and unconciously developed awesomeness.

Gladwell's consideration of the '10,000' hours rule, readily achieved through 20 hours a week of meaningful practice for 10 years, is reinforced by Coyle who stated recently at UKSEM in London that this 'Golden Thread' of training for their craft is essential, and that practice is seriously undervalued.

At certain moments learning velocity increases, and this is where the concept of 'Reach' is best seen, as mistakes are not errors but identifications of appropriate information made on the edge of their ability. These considerations really fascinate, and call into question the suitability of 'Competitive Dad' on the sidelines of schools & clubs across Britain every weekend where mistakes are frowned upon by coaches & parents alike, athletes and players fearful of error-making.

There are ways of maximising reachfulness, and we may discuss these in a blog in 2012.

Daniel Coyle can also be found online at thetalentcode.com

Chris Paterson Retires - A Personal Reflection as rugby's most-capped International Scotsman goes out at the top

2011-12-22T08:25:00.003Z

The phone rang.

Scotland's all-time record point scorer was on the other end.

" I will soon be an ex-internationalist Steevo".

Chris Paterson, Nathan Hines after England (RWC), Auckland 2011

Some YouTube Highlights follow in this blog:

Christopher Douglas Paterson was at the other end from the SPACE Clinics hotline.
Having just recently played in all 4 games at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, Chris was preparing to call time on his international career, and this was a courtesy call to say cheerily that a press conference had been called & that he was going to officially retire, but he did want this to be the first time I found out.

We go back a long way.

I was present at Chris' first 'professional' appearance in any jersey, when I was working for Scottish Rugby as a rehab physio at the tail end of the nineties.

Chris prior to RWC Team Announcement,
Museum of Scotland

I was covering for another legend of the game, physio Bob Stewart, and deputising for him with the Glasgow Caledonians ProTeam in one of my first matches as physio: he was simply immense in so many games and on Day One showed an inkling of what was to come even then as a youngster-something seen at Gala when winning the Scottish Cup & Melrose 7s titles in the same season alongside another great friend of mine in rugby, Nathan Hines. He also impressed in a World Cup 'selection' fixture at St Boswells, memorable not only for Chris easing his way into the international aide but Jesse Rae standing fully dressed and armed as a Clansman at the side of the pitch all too close to the medics!

Barely 12 months after that G-Cals debut, I watched from the stands as he took his international bow in 1999 at the Rugby World Cup against Spain, & was present at his (& Nathan's) last one as England narrowly defeated Scotland in Auckland barely 3 months ago.

Ruptured Gun, Cardiff 2008

Of course there were injuries along the way, a ruptured bicep in Cardiff years before the lacerated kidney. Helping him from the filed that day we had no idea the injury was so severe, on that Day of Days, his 100th, and the unfortunate Thom Evans' last.
Also the 2008 cheekbone injury against South Africa when I was immediately onfield after a clash with the Springbok Openside Juan Smith & he was instant in his assessment that the cheekbone had fractured as it had previously against South Africa years earlier. He never had the best of luck against the 'Boks-he has been left with a residual injury in the hamstring from 2006, as well as the metal plate within the cheek!

One personal memory?

Prior to application of 'White Tape'

Possibly off-field, with hotel nonsense and the Wall of Weird or the Caption Competition?

Probably though, it's rocking up before each game, lifting a 4" otherwise fairly useless roll of the least adhesive athletic tape that no-one else uses, looking up with a grin whilst the remainder of the squad are strapped with coloured kinesiotape, waterproof brown or white zinc oxide & the array of silicon pads, and says:
"that's my tape, I'll just do myself, it may be all just in the head, but I'll just tape myself"
& then he does so in the corner of the changing room.

Wherever we are.
All in the head?
They say that's where top sport is won & lost.

Chris' final matchday booth

Thanks for the memories Mosscat.

Sidney Crosby Concussion vexes (Ice) Hockey fans at both ends of 2011

2011-12-20T10:36:00.000Z

Concussion in sport has been a HUGE topic this year-not least on SpaceClinics Blog!

See Derek Boogard - Brain Going Bad

Dangers of heading a football causing similar effects to concussion

Rugby Players need their heads examined

Concussion Controversy in Top American Sport

Ex NFL Players Sue for CONCUSSION-RELATED INJURIES

Now the pin-up of National Hockey League (NHL) in North America, Sidney Crosby has taken an extended leave from the game for the 2nd time in 2011 since experiencing what the Globe & Mail described as "two slight on-ice collisions" left him feeling 'less than 100%'.

He complained of headaches, which has resulted in his missing the last 5 games: earlier in the year he had blows to the head in successive matches resulting in the diagnosis of concussion, and he missed matches from January 5th to November 21st. (USA Today injured lists & ESPN NHL)

He is not the only one missing from action in NHL of late. (Report on the Injured from NHL)

Claude Giroux (aged just 23) took a blow to the head accidentally by a teammate, and will not play this week, and the Philadelphia Flyers captain Chris Pronger, as well as rookie Brayden Schenn are additionally suffering concussion-like symptoms and missing festive matches.

There is neurocognitive testing within the NHL to check for recovery: indeed Crosby passed such a test (ImPACT) but as this is not sensitive enough to be but one of a battery of assessment tools, he remains sidelined & is on the Injured List.

There is widespread recognition of the fact the Pittsburgh Penguins organisation is putting player welfare ahead of matchtime, (No surprise Crosby trudges back to sidelines say concussion experts & Globe & Mail report on Crosby sitting out) but as the anniversary of the first direct blow to Crosby's head is almost upon us - New Year's Day outdoor fixture - then there will inevitably be another round of introspection if there is no hint of improvement in his condition.

Sport & Music - A truly uplifting combination!

2011-12-17T15:22:00.000Z

Television programme making can be occasionally uplifting-

whether or not segments are filmed in European zoos rather than the Antarctic.

Magazine programme Football Focus on BBC this morning provided some great images of the iconic & legendary Eighties Manchester band The Smiths as it broadcast a live programme from Salford Lads Club.

Shots from the 'video' (something Morrissey & the band largely declined from having anything to do with) are interspersed with cuts from presenter Dan Walker, and some of the regular studio guests.

Couple this with fresh respect for Joey Barton (who later speaks of his idolisation of Morrissey & The Smiths in the programme) this is BBC at its best, and a brilliant marriage of sport & music: truly uplifting!

WATCH: Joey Barton professes love for Morrissey & The Smiths

MELT this Winter - in SPACE (Edinburgh) for the good of your health!

2011-12-12T08:34:00.000Z

This Winter you too could find yourself aiming to 'Melt' as art of your SPACE treatment!

MELT is an acronym for "Myofascial Energetic Length Technique", and is a 'neurofascial' technique developed in the US by Sue Hitzman. Sue is a somatic-movement educator and manual therapist from New York City. The patent-pending method brings your body back to a more ideal state by directly enhancing body awareness, rehydrating connective tissue, and quieting the nervous system.

Last year in NYC both Stephen & Olli FInlay, then of the clinic, experienced MELT in her home town clinic, and could see and feel a difference – Sue suggests that her patients have seen, over time, a transformation in how their body looks and feels.

As Sue states:

"The foundation of MELT rests in the science, treatment techniques, and pioneering research of a variety of hands-on modalities, including Leon Chaitow's and Judith DeLany's Neuromuscular Therapy, John Upledger'sCraniosacral Therapy, Ida Rolf's Structural Integration, Bruno Chikly's Lymph Drainage Therapy, and Jean-Pierre Barral's Visceral Manipulation.

Over the past decade, the research into connective tissue, pelvic and spinal stability, sensory motor learning, and neuroscience has expanded exponentially. Sue has partnered, collaborated, and studied with the world's most renowned educators and researchers in these fields of human science, including Robert Schleip, Jean-Claude Guimberteau, Tom Myers, Diane Lee, Elaine DeBeauport, and Gil Hedley."

So that's the science-what abut the claimed benefits?

MELT creates a strong, flexible body that maintains its upright posture for life.

MELT improves:

flexibility & mobility
posture
the results of exercise
range of motion
sleep & digestion
overall well-being

MELT reduces:

aches & pains
wrinkles & cellulite
tension & cellulite
headaches
risk of injury

But how does MELT actually work?

We all know that day-to-day living creates tension within our bodies. Physical stressors & constraints to movement range from sitting at a desk to running a marathon. Carrying children and heavy bags creates tension that Sue suggests gets 'trapped' within our tissues, as does even the gentlest form of exercise. Emotional, mental, and environmental stressors such as processed foods, medications, environmental toxins, and daily worries all build tension in the body.

You may have read of the fascial layers of tissue, and the move in various parts of the world (inlcuding Dalry Road, Edinburgh!) to expose these constraints to motion, and encouraging free active exercise as a means to providing a more pleasurable & flow to activity & movement.

New science reveals that this “stuck stress” is literally trapped in this connective, or fascial tissue, which surrounds every joint, muscle, nerve, bone, and organ. Unaddressed trapped stress causes connective tissue dehydration and cellular damage. This creates a domino effect that begins with aches and stiffness and leads to common health issues such as neck and low back pain, headaches, insomnia, digestive problems, and injury.

Our soft fascial or connective tissue needs to be well hydrated and free to move, thus allowing our bodies to function at a more optimal level. MELT is a breakthrough technique that keeps our connective tissue and nervous system in good condition. It rejuvenates tissue hydration and relieves the tension of day-to-day life that gets trapped in our bodies.

Check the website here: www.meltmethod.com & check her Blog out on the Blog Roll (Right of this Blog)

Foam Rollers or MELT balls can be used as means to assist our treatment. Some of the approaches to the MELT MEthod have been integrated into SPACE treatment sessions, with an order of the exclusive MELT balls being due in the New Year, so YOU too can experience the feeling of MELT right through the Winter!

Exercise boosts the Brain - for all ages! Science FACT!

2011-12-07T13:02:00.002Z

A Dublin Research Group have managed to demonstrate that brain function can be enhanced with exercise. Essentially a face-matching task was performed twice with one as a baseline. Half of the study group were then sat quietly before retesting, whilst the other half sat on a bike at increasing levels of speed until exhaustion. The researchers noted an improvement in face-matching as images flashed across the computer screen in only one group: the Exercise Group.

Molecular model of the methylated
BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) gene (yellow and red)
on a strand of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)

Blood testing demonstrated that higher levels of the protein brain-deroved neutrophic factor (BDNF) were present in the Exercise Group, but not in the Quiet Group. This protein promotes the health of existing nerve cells, encourages the growth of new ones, and thus this proliferation is potentially a function of this cognitive enhancement post-exercise.

Brazilian scientists have recently recorded similar findings of BDNF concentration elevations in rats, with sedentary older rats who had run for five minutes per day for five weeks performing almost as well as significantly younger rats on rodent memory tests. Structural changes and a decrease in the volume of the hippocampus are linked to ageing, but this demonstration of potential 'reversal' of memory function may be an important boost to exercise-induced hippocampus change.

A depression of BDNF could been seen as a predictor of reduction of skilled task performance in elderly humans if this September paper in Translational Psychiatry is to be believed:
BDNF Polymorphism Linked to Decline in Skilled Task Performance
In this study of 144 pilots over 40 years of age, a minimum of three annual visits for a computer cockpit simulation demonstrated a reduction of the skilled task over the test period. Some of the group had a genetic tendency towards lower BDNF levels, and this group lost their ability to perform the skilled task at almost double the rate of those without the genetic variation.

This is a link to the complete article by Griffin et al:
Physiology & Behavior Volume 104, Issue 5, 24 October 2011, Pages 934-941

So ageing may demonstrate that skilled task performance may be linked to the protein BDNF. However the recent animal & human studies suggest that an upregulation of BDNF through exercise could at least slow the reversal of skilled task performance & the changes in structure and volume of the hippocampus.

NHL's Derek Boogard - A Brain "Going Bad" - another case of Sporting C.T.E.

2011-12-06T11:05:00.001Z

Another sportsman has suffered from a disease of the brain that has been linked to repeated blows to the head. One of the best known 'fighters' on the National Hockey League (NHL) circuit, Derek Boogard died in May of this year.

His brain was examined at the Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy by Dr Ann Mckee, a neuropathologist and one of the co-directors of the Center. She coined the phrase "his brain was going bad" and suggested to the family that had he lived he would have would have rapidly plunged into middle-age dementia.

It is reported in widespread media across the US (e.g. NY Times Dec 5th 2011 ). Unlike some of the other cases highlighted in this SPACE blog earlier this year (ex-players sue NFL over concussion ) & ( More Concussion Controversy in top American Sport ) Derek Boogard died aged just 28, and although in mid-career, his brain exposed an advanced degree of the brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (C.T.E.) which is recognised as a close relative of Alzheimer's Disease.

It can only be diagnosed posthumously, & has been found in almost two dozen American Footballers and a couple of ice hockey players.

A high-profile enforcer with the Minnesota Wild & the New York Rangers, he accrued almost 600 minutes in penalties. He was found by his brothers on May 13th this year, and had died of an overdose.

Repeated blows to the head in sports such as boxing & Gridiron have been suggestive of being causative. Symptoms include memory loss, impulsiveness, mood swings, and can lead to addiction, despair and suicidal tendencies. Once the disease process commences, it continues to progress.

Dr McKee has reviewed over 80 cases of former athletes, and noted the brown spots near the outer surface of the brain which reveals C.T.E. The National Hockey League (NHL) has not accepted any link between the sport & CTE: this stance was also taken by the National Football League (NFL) initially, before ultimately accepting the peer-reviewed findings of the Center- the NFL now donates funds to underwrite further research.

The NFL formed a concussion-prevention programme in 1997, although it was not until very recently (2010) that blindside hits to the head were banned. Earlier this year any player suspected of having experienced a concussion were required to be examined in a "quiet" room away from the ice, a significant change in treatment protocol. The NHL's high profile Pittsburgh Penguins player, Sidney Crosby, spent most of 2011 out of the game having suffered two blows to the head at just four days apart.

On-ice fighting is still permitted and seen by fans as an apparently quintessential aspect of the sport.

Read this from a web piece entitled 'Why Real Men Watch Hockey' by Alvin Chang (Why Real Men Watch Hockey)

"This sport allows hard, physical contact, and confrontation is part of the culture. In football, you protect your quarterback with an offensive line, and sometimes your backs. In basketball, you protect your star player by... well, you don’t. But in hockey, you protect your stars with enforcers. You employ players to intimidate the opposing team from going after your skill guys. When the opponent gets too rough, you send in the muscle and you might see a fight. In fact, there is an entire website dedicated to recording hockey fights called, you guessed it, hockeyfights.com. Is it exciting? Yes. Should this continue to be a part of hockey culture? That’s up for debate, especially with the spate of concussions and the death of three enforcers this summer."

But another of the Center's co-directors, Chris Nowinski, has concerns as he watches the crowds standing & cheering enthusistically as players trade blows on the ice, musing
"does ice hockey trade money for brain cells"
and ultimately player health?

Natural Running Roundtable Debate 2011 : View from the Front Row - now YOU can read it!

2011-12-04T21:51:00.000Z

Finally! Here's the Roundtable discussion from UKSEM as heard from the Front Row at the Excel in London on Friday 25th November.

(from left) Ross Tucker, Dan Lieberman, Matthias Marquardt,
Benno Nigg, Simon Bartold, Dan Howell

Simon Bartold & Dan Howell in deep discussion

This is a faithful transcription of what was heard. All three and a half thousand words of it.

The Experts involved in this discussion were:

(DH) Professor Daniel Lieberman, Evolutionary Biologst, Harvard University

(BN) Professor Benno Nigg, Biomechanics Professor, University of Calgary

(MM) Matthias Marquardt, Natural Running Coach & Physician

(SB) Simon Bartold, Australian Podiatrist & ASICS Global Research Consultant

(DH) Professor Dan Howell, the ‘barefoot professor’ of Anatomy, Liberty University

(RT) Ross Tucker, PhD, Self-Employed Consultant in Sport Science including SA Rugby & adidas

Other abbreviations:

BF = Barefoot

FF = Forefoot

RF = Rearfoot

GRF = Ground Reaction Force

TA = Tendo Achilles

Tib Ant = Tibialis Anterior

Tib Post = Tibialis Posterior

Opening Question:

"If a runner picks up a magazine or newspaper, they are seeing the following statement: 'Shoes are evil. They do not help, they may even cause injury. Barefoot running is natural, and will help prevent injury, and therefore everyone should be encouraged to run barefoot'. Do you buy or sell this concept?"

Discussion on Advantages & Disadvantages

Advantages of:

BF –

We don’t wear gloves on the hands all the time (DH)

SHOD –

Protection & Performance (SB)

NEITHER –

We don’t know – no evidence for either (BN)

BOTH –

Protection is advantage for SHOD running on streets (MM) but natural surfaces like grass, golf courses useful as advantage for BF for strengthening feet (MM)

CHANGE THE QUESTON –

BF running as natural as breastfeeding (DL) & this debate demos how out of touch with our bodies we are & we have done some things what we are not evolved to do (cereal in cardboard box/air travel/antibiotics) so the question should be about being human?

How will the debate evolve in the future?

(SB)

· How do we do the research is the key issue? (SB)

· "If I were to design an experiment to test barefoot running, where a group of runners will do 45 minutes of barefoot running, would my University's Ethics Committee approve that research?".

(RT) Response: The answer of course, is no, unless they didn't know any better, because we know that 45 minutes of barefoot running in a population of shod runners is guaranteed to cause injury!

· If Protocol going to be previously SHOD runners 45/60 x3 week BF for 6/52 –will not get through ethics commitees

· Simon Russell study had exclusions that make it shaky data

(BN)

· 2 Questions

- FF landing & RF landing

- BF running & shod running

· Internal forces are important – Internal Forces for FF landing & RF landing are THE SAME

· FF loading TA but RF landing Tib Ant loaded

· Difference internal active impact forces during landing & midstance are 4-5x bigger

· If forces are the reason for injury in running then the active phase of the ground contact is important rather than landing forces

(DL)

· Injuries are multifactorial

· We still don’t understand what causes most running injuries.

· What happens on impact for BR is that it hurts! Therefore some mechanism possibly stopping the runner from hurting may be present but not proven even literature is divided

· Running Form may not land on heel as this form of running is seen by the body as having different signal to rear foot landing which may intuitively not be

· Bone becomes stiffer at higher rates of loading (Hysteresis) therefore when energy is lost as light, heat or movement during fast rate of loading it may be more injurious as the movement that occurs as result of this may be an aspect of injury in running

· It is a complex area! No one solution. But it is more than how you land, and running involves posture, cadence and form-this needs to be addressed as to how you use the body when running not just landing

· We have learned about diet, and just as we have applied this evolutionary logic , then the current null hypothesis *that everyone in the world wears shoes and this is the normal situation disprove the use of shoes* may need to be addressed for the right study question to be asked

(MM)

· The researchers have the job to find the solution for running injury problems

· Never going to be the one solution

· Always the same Question: Does it help, will it not help?

· Evolution of the debate has gone through three phases:

- 30 years ago: cushioning was the hot topic

- 20 years ago: medial posts

- Now: Natural running?

(DH)

· Null Hypothesis is key-natural versus ‘normal’, nobody is ‘normal’

· 2 people in the panel said : “we need shoes” (& they were wearing shoes) – this is the ‘World View’ opinion

· DH however has been spending 95% of past 6 years without shoes

· DH does not believe those speakers need shoes

Is natural always better?

If you have an infection you need (unnatural) antibiotics, so is the ‘natural’ viewpoint about barefoot walking valid?

· does not walk with hands & does not listen with his eyes therefore some of these comparisons made by panellists are spurious

(DL)

· Humans are adapted to walking BF.

· Calluses are basically all you need – these are the form of adaptation required

· 30-40000 years old shoes have been found but archaeological records alas don’t always have shoes which don’t survive

· Hunter Gatherers will often make simple sandals out of animal skin

· The Tarahumara Indians were the tribe of runners described by Chris MacDougall in ‘Born to Run’ but they would wear simple shoes

· Shoes are therefore ‘normal’ as well as being BF!

On what individual basis would Podiatrists prescribe footwear?

(SB)

· Motion control or Cushioning main difference between running shoes

· This does not recognise the individual variability in runners

· Prescription however takes away the individual as it is an imposition by the practitioner

· The reason that runners get injured us the same repetitive load pattern

· 60% of runners get injured

BUT 85 % of badminton players get injured

Therefore humans get injured!

· Irene Davis demonstrated greater acceleration forces on FF strikers

Did we evolve to be Barefoot?

(Dh) yes

(SB) no

(DL) yes

Discuss the Biomechanics of running

(DL)

· HS involves far higher effective mass with exchange of momentum (although not the entire body coming to dead stop)and data since the 80s shows a higher effective ass on RF strike, although some RF strikers have a higher effective mass than some others, and some of the body comes to a stop, but not all

(BN)

· Effective Mass is our baby (University of Calgary) & something you can measure-it can be calculated

· Quantify the GRF when we cannot measure it

· Effected mass multiplied by the acceleration of the tibia you get the effective mass – nothing to do with the loading of the joints

· The joint loading needs the wobbling mass model (published in the Journal of Biomechanics) and has the wobbling masses move out of phase with the bone and can be calculated to estimate forces

· What is the benefit to discuss effective mass in the running debate - there is none?

· The GRF has been measured – use inverse dynamics and calculate up the body

(DL)

· Effective Mass is about GRF and nothing less (just base physics)

· But what is the effect of this? We have much to earn. From Newton’s third law that for every force there is an equal and opposite force this is important.

· Also the wobbling mass question is around what will occur as this happens?

(BN)

· The impact peak in GRF was not present anymore in experiments at hip in running

(DL)

· Strong studies with tibial acceleration forces & GRF

· GRF and forces in the head have also been published demo different data sets with some asking of the shockwave to GRF

(SB)

· Concerned that people can access the website and get an unfair analogy of a static model that is communicated to the public (from the Dan Lieberman website)

(DL)

Honest faith effort to make open an analogy to help people understand complex mechanics

(MM)

· Tried to sort some of his own problems by running BF, which sorted some problems out.

· Also damaging to feet is when there are stones on the pathway, or concrete or rocks lying around, or getting cold in the snow!

1. More of the debate could be about what is in the shoes that makes BF runners not want to use them
Cushioning

2. Medial Support

3. Thick midsole & unflexible – or deep flex groove instead that brings the shod runner closer to natural?

4. Heel RAISE – the higher the raise, the greater the pelvis tilt & the biomechanical effect on the bend of the knee on hitting the ground

(DH)

· Agree that walking & running is complicated from biomechanical perspective.

· If walking & running is so complicated then why add an alteration device to the shoe to make unnatural (and generally negative) changes –all day and every day – this widens the debate

· Why run BF for 30-40 minutes but you walk around in shoes which you have spent the recent past in?

· What about the daily routine?

· AT least 50 miles walk as a form of rehabilitation

· Toe springs/arch supports should not be used.

· There ARE times for shoes –like running in certain terrains and conditions,

· How can we build a shoe that assists and segments the natural foot/form?

(BN)

From the start:

· Impact forces are dangerous – cushioning required to cushion these forces.

· Went out to prove that.

· Impact force peaks are always about the same. Irrelevant whether shod or BF.

· When you run faster the impact forces increase.

· When you run a certain speed they are about the same:

· Therefore impact forces are not necessarily the issue-otherwise faster runners would have injuries as a result of the impact forces being higher.

BUT

· The marketing argument of cushioning is flawed and there have been no studies published : these demonstrate impact forces and higher loading rates do not show conclusively that there are more injuries due to impact forces

· If you know where you land you adjust immediately and adjust resonance and are less injured than if you don’t know where you land

(MM)

Would anyone take a shoe for marathon without concrete?

(DL)

If there is no impact peak then it does after what the surface is made of but how rough it is?

I there a cost to running softly n hard ground?

(BN)(DL)

Yes there is –particularly under fatigue.

Cirque de Soleil

30% of actors not able to participate in their productions.

Surface was built with a very compliant surface –land on beam the suface was hard, between the beams it would deform by about 2cm.

The young actors were being injured-they did not where they woud land and preacivate their muscle therefore not prepared to dampen high vibrations so they had high vibrations and had injuries at the insertions.

Smooth and hard surface was created-three weeks later the injury rate was down to 2 to 2.5 % (which was more normal rate) and the actors had employed muscle tuning to dampen down the vibration

(SB)

· 1981 first questioned study on the cushioning yet footwear companies still putting these into their shoes & still putting anti-pronation devices into footwear(which don’t work anyway)

· Alchemy for shoe company: These minimalist shoes would be a lighter shoe in a protective package

Where’s the research into supporting SHOD or BF running or minimalist footwear reducing injury?

(BN)

· Effect in principle were same for minimalist shoes

· Concept was different for the three shoes with some study data into reduction of injury:

- MBT bulky shoe

- Adidas feet you wear inside of shoe

- Nike Free mimics the foot

· Many different strategies and concepts

· 2 tear study double blind with basketball players had a reduction of 30% injuries

(SB)

· Clincians NOW could be well advised to look at:

- Minimalist footwear

- Change running form

- Some BF running

- Change your training plans

· Question for clinicians is “what is the problem with the runner in front of them-higher up the body what is occurring?”

(DL)

· The form is much more important than the foot?

· How do you run?

· How does the shoe affect the foot when you run?

· Running should be seen as a skill.

· Forget the foot & shoe, what about the form and how it’s taught?

· Some of the proprioception from the foot is blocked even in minimalist footwear-this may be an advantage of BF running even as a useful way of ‘relearning’ how to run even if it is not all the time

(MM)

Leaving the shoe behind as a tiny part of the debate – other aspects of the debate are:

· Athleticism

· Training Regime

· Running Technique

· Motion Analysis

· What happens in the pelvis & spine & the shank?

BUT

· Same discussion again as there is no evidence either!

· Difficulty when faced with runners as to what advice could be proffered?

Questions from the Audience?

Overstriding

(DL)

· BF runners will not FF strike the whole time but the key detail is high moments around the ankle hypothesising TA & calf strains, therefore the advice that landing with less of an overstride & with the foot more under the knee and hip may be more beneficial but there is less understanding of this form of running

Any research into non-natural running styles?

(DH)

· If you want to graduate into minimalist shoe then start with BF natural running.

· Are injuries from people who don’t land the way they feel most comfortable and instead get injured by

· Don’t start on grass

· Start on pavement BF doing what you feel is natural! What your body feels is natural.

· DH feels that in the transition from trainer to minimal you are still not striking the ground. If BF, the skin is tender and will make you slow down which gives you information on the strike and the skin then adapts quickly over weeks, muscles adapting over months & bones adapt over years. This is a better form of natural running.

Vibrams as a progressive move towards BF running?

(SB)

· There is no definition of form for minimalist or even transition.

· Congratulates DL on the transition advice on the previously critised website!

· There is some risk as no one knows how long the transition will take.

· Also some care required from a manufacturing perspective as material response has made certain thing much more possible with a lighter more minimalist shoe by SH’s definition of function

(MM)

· Experience in Germany with many years of running and coaching experiences

· Start transition through walking then 10/60 running maximum to start with

· Commence on the grass then move onto asphalt/concrete

What about starting on uneven ground for NM adaptation as means for transition?

(DL)

· The risk is repetition of exactly the same running on a consistent surface such as asphalt or concrete

· It is possible for Trail Running in a city = running along the Thames this am by DL!

· Treadmill - Every step is exactly the same which is likely to be injurious?

Best runners in the world? Should we look at these runners as the poster boys for long distance running and do they do mostly midfoot or forefoot stance?

(SB)

· Statement is untrue. Mixture of runners are in world’s elite!

· If speed is the key then then a FF or MF contact but land under your COG is more likely to be beneficial.

· If injuries are the key then need to look at the indivisual and their athleticism and form.

· (BN)

· 83% is the number of Mid or FF who land in a marathon group of 10000 in a typical marathon.

(debated by MM & host)

· Pete Larsson has suggested this is not the case (runblogger.com)

· Japanese study has determined the back of the heel is advantageous.

· Optimal strike is different for different styles-can be measured on treadmill

(DL)

· Don’t be too concerned about the elite runners-analogy, would eb watching what the supermodels.

· We have evolved to make animals gallop

· Elite just distorts the issue – why would we worry about efficiency? Many people are running (for fitness) to lose energy & NOT be too energy efficient

· Elite end is just 1% of all runners

(SB)

· Not everyone wants to be an elite runner

· Cyclists don’t overanalyse unlike the running community

The ABC Of Running – can you explain to (MM)?

(MM)

· This is a traditional part of the German training process and the traditional name for technical moves

· Co-ordination training

· Core Stability

· Flexibility

· Stretching

· Technical Training (the ‘ABC’)

Is it just a question of function as to whether some people function better in BF environment or Shod one?

(BN)

· In process of measuring different muscles around ankle to join to strengthen them

· BF running or Shod running uses ‘about the same muscles’

· Running with lateral side shuffling –double muscle activity and double training effect of these muscles – so need forward actions AS WELL as lateral motions

(DL)

· We evolved to be hunter-gatherers rather than sitting all day long then exercising in the gym!

· Just doing running as our only form of exercise is also abnormal

· Evolution gives us a balanced perspective

· We have grown up in an abnormal environment

· “Mismatch hypothesis”

· 25% pes planus

· 33% myopoic

Aren’t your feet just always cold when BF?

(DH)

· Adatation.

· Your feet adapt to different temperatures.

· Shoe is a tool ( for deep cold) and personally DH choose a moccasin with no insole as his footwear of choice for protection

· BF studies could be seen like a study of piano players habitually wearing gloves to play piano having a small section removing these gloves to play

(MM)

· 15 years ago attempted to be BF but could not adapt fully to cold

· Also felt cycling without shoes difficult to manage

(DL)

· Evolved to walk BF in tropical conditions, not to run BF in New England or Winter in England

(DH)

· If he (DH) is to get people to be BF 50% of the time he appreciates that he needs to be BF 90% of the time

(SB)

· 50% of the population of Western Society with Diabetes Mellitus – this is a risk for BF running

(DH)

· Warning about Late stage Diabetes Mellitus when unable to feel the surface

· Going BF if they can feel the ground it improves the circulation

(MM)

· Stressed that in Diabetes Mellitus then BF running should not be recommended recognising that with 1^st contact with ground there a sensory function about that ground reaction moment

(SB)

· In agreement with that statement

(DH)

· Perhaps this might be a situation where shoes are used, but the BF population has examples where Diabetes Mellitus has been ‘improved’ with BF

(DL)

· Adult onset Diabetes Mellitus should not be happening today but occurs with diets we are not adapted to & with too little exercise is the problem: running & exercise should be encouraged

RT thanked all of the speakers as he brought the Roundtable Discussion to a close & directed them to the media lounge.

Barefoot Running - the Online Discussion Continues

2011-12-03T13:59:00.001Z

So the online discussion following the UKSEM 'Barefoot Running' Roundtable continues.

Here is a sample of the responses to Ross Tucker's blog after his hosting of the debate (see yesterday's SPACE Blog for details on blogs from some of the protagonists Barefoot Running Blogs ) & a video clip demonstrating barefoot and minimalist-shod runners at the NYC Barefoot Run.

Filmed at 300 frames per second, note on the video the variation in foot strike patterns demonstrating that there are not necessarily consistent styles of running when exercising barefoot or with shoes.

Simon Bartold has commented on the Ross Tucker Blog:

Hi Ross.. nice precis of the debate. If I might just make a few comments that I think may have been missed. The first is that it was not ASICS that were concerned so much about hostilities, although of course they knew this had to be managed, but rather the conference management, and in particular Lieberman. I was actually told 12 hours before the debate that he had insisted on including a 6th speaker, his friend and barefoot coach Lee Saxby, because he was concerned the barefoot argument had been highjacked by ASICS. Given the composition of the panel and your own presence, this seemed highly inappropriate, and smacked of insecurities of his own "theories". If you are going to work in the kitchen, at some point one has to take the heat.

You made the comment " But it led to an argument, because I think Simon Berthold misunderstood the point of the analogy. He had printed off Lieberman's website explaining barefoot running and adamantly criticised Lieberman's explanation. "

I think that is a pity, because I understand the analogy exactly. The point I was making is that Lieberman says in his webpage that the" foot and leg come to a dead stop". It is there for all to read. Sorry, at heal strike the foot and leg do not come to a dead stop, and the problem I have with this is that people read his site and naturally assume that if he says it it is gospel, (a little like the Nature article, but that is another debate). What he says is taking a rigid model of the foot and leg and failing to understand he is applying it to a dynamic system. At the very worst, this is a very clumbsy description. At the most distal link in the kinetic chain, how can the foot and leg come to a dead stop during heel striking? (remember, these are his words, on his website, for all to see and misunderstand)  Does he clarify anywhere the duration in ms of this static configuration?. It just is not logical or indeed correct. Furthermore, using the 'effective mass" theory, a thoery that as Benno Nigg pointed out he, Benno, develpoed int he mid 90's, is applying a static theory to real dynamic function, and is making no recognition that the magnitude of GRF's is multifactorial, and 'effective mass" does not seem to be a major contributing factor. Benno stated this in the course of the debate. What Lieberman needs to be talking about are 1. torque/moments of each joint. It is simple - the torque/moment at the knee joint drops a bit when the forefoot is loaded, but the torque/moment at the ankle increases a lot 2. shock at the tibia.. previous studies, including one by Irene Davis herself, have shown that people who FF strike have INCREASED tibial shock. This is thought to be because of a couple of mechanisms, including increased knee stiffness ( the knee angle does not change as much when FF striking) and an increase in GRF. Here is an excerpt directly from one of Irene's papers

“The greater peak acceleration in the FFS (forefoot strike) may also be related to peak forces. On average, the FFS pattern resulted in greater vertical GRF (ground reaction force) peaks by 16% of body weight, or an average force difference of 104 Newtons. Previous studies have also reported greater peak vertical GRFs with an FFS pattern (McClay & Manal, 1995b; Oakley & Pratt, 1988). This difference was significant and most likely contributed to the greater amount of tibial acceleration in the FFS pattern. Finally, it is important to note that the heel pad of the foot provides an additional mechanism of shock attenuation in the RFS vs. the FFS. The smaller peak acceleration values of the RFS (rearfoot strike) and greater vertical GRF force peaks in the FFS pattern may be due, in part, to the ability of the heel pad to absorb a substantial amount of energy (Valiant & Cavanagh, 1985).

Liebermans website also states 'the change in the velocity of the effective mass does not differ significantly between a heel strike and a forefoot strike" .. this is using an overly simplistic undergraduate physics to explain an extremely complex biomechanical phenomenon. How can the change in velocity be equal?? The different landing patterns will enable different amounts of motion at impact. Therefore,  subsequent kinematics will be different. I undersatnd his website should not include complex biomechanical theory, but he is using it to justify his own views on barefoot running and forefoot strike, and these veiw are not accurate. I also challenge the importance and relevance of this focus on the primary impact transient Fz1. Shorten (2011) has publish a paper entitled (and concluding), the "heel impact' force peak is neither "heel' nor 'impact' and does not quantify shoe cushioning effects (Footwear Science, 3,1:41-58). This paper implies the 'impact transient' is not actually measuring impact. it is far too contaminated by low frequency forces which have nothing to do with the accelerations occuring in response to ground contact.

This is why Irene Davis found that tibial accelerations ( a DIRECT measurement of impact transients/forces), was INCREASED when forefoot striking. Lieberman's core argument for saying barefoot running is superior (impact forces) is fatally flawed, and in actuality is the opposite. Impact forces are INCREASED when running with a forefoot strike!

I hope this does not sound like a winge, but I believe I do have a rudimentary grasp of the issues at hand, and my only concern is that if someone, especially someone with the influence of Daniel Lieberman, is going to go into print on a website people will read and beleive, he need to report the issues accurately and not make them fit his own personal theory.

Pete Larson is a College Professor who has run 5 marathons.
He blogs intelligently on Runblogger.com & also contributed to the debate thus:

I've just published a paper on foot strike patterns in marathoners. This was a mostly recreational population, but approximately 90% contact first on the heel (this was filmed at 300fps, so quite fast), and heel striking frequency increases from mile 6 to mile 20. Almost all were wearing traditional shoes (it was 2009, before minimalist really took off).

From NYC Barefoot Run

Obviously we don't have data on center of pressure or loading since it was a road race, but when looking just at contact I cannot imagine that anything even approaching 80% forefoot strikers is possible unless maybe you are looking at an elite track race. Nobody has published numbers like that. Now in my video from the NYC barefoot run, I'd say 80% midfoot or forefoot is a reasonable estimate, but have not tallied the data yet.

Remember, more of this topic to come

with the precis of the UKSEM debate coming soon on this blog!

The Barefoot Running Debate - Getting People Hot Under the Collar

2011-12-02T11:52:00.000Z

London, November 2011 @UKSEM : one of the eagerly anticipated sessions was a debate between five experts appointed by the UKSEM Committee to spend 90 minutes discussing 'Natural Running'.

The 'host', Ross Tucker, from the University of Cape Town, and also a Consultant to adidas, steered the experts in a number of directions on anthropology, running form & shoe-wearing as a lifestyle choice.

Tucker, Lieberman, Marquardt, Nigg, Barthold, Howell

The other experts were Daniel Lieberman (Evolutionary Biologist, Harvard University), Benno Nigg (Biomechanist, University of Calgary), Matthias Marquardt (Natural Running Coach & Physician), Simon Barthold (Australian Podiatrist & ASICS Global Research Consultant) & 'the barefoot professor' Dan Howell (Anatomy Professor, Liberty University USA).

The debate was passionate, and at times heated. There were voices of reason just as there were accusations & quotations from rival websites.

However, elements of the discussion have spilled out into cyberspace.
This past week has seen a couple of the protagonists reflecting & discussing their parts in the session in the safety of their own blogs.

Read Ross Tucker from 'inside' the debate here:
Ross Tucker Blogging from 'inside' the Barefoot Running Roundtable
This provoked this stormy response from Dan Howell:
Dan Howell Blogs about being Misrepresented

www.theedinburghphysiospace.blogspot.com will publish the conversation as it occurred in a transcript form later on this weekend. You can then make your own minds up!

Heading a football can cause similar damage to concussion

2011-11-30T11:00:00.001Z

Following our earlier blogs on head injuries, "Rugby players needing their heads examined" (15/11/11) Rugby Players Need Their Heads Examined, and "Concussion in American Sport" (23/8/11) More Concussion Controversy in Top American Sport, & " Ex-Players Sue NFL over Concussion-Related Injuries" (19/8/11) Ex-Players Sue NFL over Concussion-Related Injuries the BBC ran this interesting and timely article looking at the potential impact of heading footballs on brain injury.

BBC Article - Too many headers can cause brain damage

The article raises again the issue of the premature and high profile death of former West Bromwich Albion and England Footballer Jeff Astle in 2002, who some readers may remember fondly as the guy who sang Karaoke at the end of the BBC's Fantasy Football League show, presented by David Baddiel and Frank Skinner in the 1990's. The article is based around a recent research paper by Dr Michael Lipton of the Montefiore Medical Center, University Hospital for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Read Fibertrak-lipton article

The article suggests that heading a football 1000+ a year can cause patterns of damage (using a brain scan known as diffusion tensor imaging) similar to that seen in patients with concussion.
The suggestion is that whilst heading a football as a one off event is unlikely to cause significant brain/neurological damage, the cumulative effect of repeated minor traumas causes, "...a cascade of responses that can lead to degeneration of brain cells."

This was evident in study volunteers who headed the football frequently performing worse on cognitive, verbal memory and reaction time tests to those who headed footballs less frequently.

The results of this study are interesting given the potential financial, training and playing ramifications to football, with Jeff Astle's family having already sought legal compensation for the neurological problems and premature death of their relative.

1000 headers a year whilst initially sounding a lot, in fact equates to only 2.75 headers per day.

Clearly the potential risks identified in the current paper need to be clarified and recommendations made to those who play/train frequently.

Before recreational footballers panic however, there is currently ongoing debate on this area with the results of numerous studies being equivocal. The article identifies an expert in the field of football related head injury, Dr Andrew Rutherford from the School of Psychology at Keele University who has been researching the possible damage caused by heading for several years. Dr Rutherford is reportedly unconvinced by the current research so far.

A study by the American Academy of Pediatrics' Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness Executive Committee was reported in the February 2010 issue of the journal Pediatrics. The results of the study in Pediatrics is consistent with anecdotal evidence reported by William P. Meehan III, MD, Director of the Sport Concussion Clinic in the Division of Sports Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston, and author of the book, Kids, Sports, and Concussion.

"Since opening the Sports Concussion Clinic in November 2008, we have cared for nearly a thousand patients with concussions," Dr. Meehan writes. "Only a few have reported sustaining their concussions from purposeful heading of the ball. All of them were children."

Preventing head injuries

While concluding that "the contribution of purposeful 'heading' of the soccer ball to both acute and potential long-term concussive effects, such as cognitive disfunction, seems less controversial today than previously," the authors of the Pediatrics study nevertheless felt that efforts to reduce potential injury from heading the soccer ball were still warranted.

These were the recommendations of the Panel:

Delayed teaching of heading. The panel recommended that heading of the ball only be taught when the child is old enough to learn proper technique and has developed coordinated use of his or her head, neck, and trunk to properly contract the neck muscles and contact the ball with the forehead. In doing so, it noted that the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO), with 650,000 participants, does not teach purposeful heading to players under age 10.
Use of age-appropriate balls. "Although proper technique is foremost in reducing the risk of concussion from heading the ball," the study says, "it is also imperative that soccer balls be water-resistant, sized appropriately for age, and not hyperinflated; and
Strict rules enforcement. Citing statistics that foul play has been associated with a significant number of contact-related injuries, with girls' (11.9%) and boys' (11.4%) soccer just behind girls' basketball (14%) as the sports with the highest rates of such injuries, most of which were concussions or other head/facial injuries, the panel joined in the consensus recommendation of experts that proper rules enforcement and limitation of violent contact, with officials controlling the physicality of the game and emphasizing safe play with respect for one's opponents, could play a significant role in reducing contact injuries in soccer.

There are also many potentially influencing factors to be considered. Weights of footballs whilst having reduced dramatically since the 1960/70's playing days of Jeff Astle, still differ between the amateur and professional game, as do ball speeds, which average 34mph in the amateur game and more than double that at professional level. The current article does not identify the level of ability or balls used in the study.

Additionally the study was far from extensive with only 32 subjects used and a risk of too much power being attributed to the results of one study does exist. What the article succeeds in doing however is raising again the issue of brain injury in sport, and the very real requirement for further research in this area.

Voodoo Sport Science? Just because it's measurable doesn't mean it's meaningful!

2011-11-29T20:17:00.000Z

The United Kingdom Sports & Exercise Medicine (UKSEM) Conference for 2011 was on at the ExCel Conference & Exhibition Centre in London in the last week of November.

This blog will continue to bring some of the edited highlights of the four days of lectures, discussions & workshops with some of the key personnel involved in various aspects of sport and physical exercise for the physically active populations worldwide.

Vern Gambetta at UKSEM, November 2011

One such expert was the acclaimed coach, Vern Gambetta, who speaks from decades of personal experience, as well as from sports science theory.

For more information and background on Vern read this blog post from a month ago, or his own blogging which we continue to feature in the right column of this blog.

Vern Gambetta in Glasgow OCT 2011 SpaceClinics Blog

Vern continues to preach that Functional Training should develop athleticism: that is the ability to perform the athletic movements of running, jumping, throwing & lifting with sound technique. These should, he continues, be performed at optimum speed with precision, style & grace.

His aim for UKSEM was to establish whether modern coaching was an art or a science.

His coaching eye is important, and he urges coaches to develop this whilst avoiding the 'confirmation bias' that can be present in physios or doctors who see what they expect to see, not what actually occurs in front of them.

Sports' science can aid and assist a good coach who needs to know how to communicate with athletes and grow with them. As the art of coaching is learned the technology becomes even more useful. The support team are also to be encouraged to check their egos in before giving potentially key feedback independent of the coach-but must ensure and respect that just because it's measurable doesn't mean it's meaningful. Testing & monitoring has to be systematic but also for good reason. Food for thought?

And a view of stats.

"Statistics " Vern states, "are like a ladies in bikinis:

what they reveal is appealing, but what they hides is vital"

Vern went on to offer practical advice, and stated Four Key Points in making information presentable and useful to the coach:

Keep information simple
Make it understandable
Ensure it's reliable
Make the results available

There are areas of contemporary sporting practice which Vern struggles to hide his contempt for, and these are what he ranks as voodoo sport science as this piece has been titled:

These are, in no particular order of scorn:

Cryotherapy - chambers or baths
Pitchside Vibration Machines
Bananas for matchday anti-cramping

However, all told, Vern figures that in coaching, art & science can make The Difference!

Just as long as the scientists are on tap, not on top!

WINNING - what is more important : skill or character? Hard wiring the brain for success

2011-11-28T09:56:00.000Z

What makes winners? Are they born, or made?
What are the important traits that characterise winners?
With the Olympic Games in London in 2012 this is focussing minds in British sport.
The UK Sports & Exercise Medicine Conference in London last week threw up many themes, one of which was based around skills & talent.

But another thread was that of character, and whether that was key to producing not only champions in sport, but also in life itself.

As the Rugby Football Union washes the dirtiest of linen in public and the passing of someone almost universally liked within the highly strung, highly competitive world of English Professional football, this past week has seen sport hold a mirror up to itself and society too with the term 'character' reflecting both negatively and positively.

One of the greatest of the presentations last week at the ExCel London was one by John Neal, on 'More important than winning'. A pyscho-physiologist with over 2 decades of experience in the military & elite sport he now consults to UK Sport and pro rugby union, and his key expertise lies in personal performance & motivation.
In summary, he suggested that those with character but less skill will win more often than more highly skilled individuals. Brain physiology demonstrates that those with character to cope when under pressure, and those who cope with pressure win more often. Thus if individuals with characteristics that offered up the likelihood of coping with pressure, but with application could develop skill, then there is more chance of individual and therefore team success.

John has turned to applying these principles to youth selection in cricket with one of England's leading cricket academies. These demonstrate a conversion rate of 5% in traditional clubs from academy to professional contract. Since the change in emphasis to character from skill there has been a 70% conversion, which is significant. This is not dissimilar to the selection criteria employed by the most successful Super Rugby team, the Crusaders & echoes Melbourne Storm, similarly a successful rugby league club.

Contrary to the trend for learning more from failure, John also focusses on the positive experiences of success, and suggests we can learn much from winning as the brain processes positive images more swiftly & efficiently than negative ones from the focus on failure or losing.

Winning experiences develop positive emotions from perceptions, beliefs and thoughts which hard-wire the brain building characterful experiences establishing a set of cognitive values.

As John concludes, these traits are beneficial both on and off the field for our young people. Isn't that important? Thinking beyond winning is a process that could be creating better people for life.

Bwani Junction - Album out this week!

2011-11-22T09:39:00.000Z

SPACE patients come in all guises, and Bwani Junction singer and guitarist Rory Fairweatheris is just one of many that has passed through the Dalry Road doors seeking comfort from pain.

He was a patient whilst still at school, but although the band was already frequently practising at the expense of his exercise programme (the group's been around in some guise for around 8 years already) it was 2011 that the group played in Maida Vale and on the BBC Introducing Stage at T in the Park (remember this link in the summertime? T in the Park 2011 ).

The band's exotic name comes from a bastardisation of the 1956 Ava Gardner political film, Bhowani Juntion. Suggestions were offered by SPACE at the time-and rejected...Edinburgh listings magazine 'The Skinny', which encompasses all things music, arts, & culture in the capital, speaks of the group in the following enthused way:

"with their ‘playful’ artwork and fresh Afro-Caribbean sounds, Edinburgh quartet Bwani Junction have been brightening up the musical underbelly of Auld Reekie and beyond for some time."

The album is, regrettably for their parents, called 'Fully Cocked' and is released via Aksatak Records on 14 Nov.

They can be seen playing Avalanche Records, Edinburgh on 14 Nov (5pm); LAID at Bloc, Glasgow on 23 Nov; support to The Pigeon Detectives at The Liquid Room, Edinburgh on 25 Nov, and are spending the end of this remarkable year by headlining the legendary King Tut's, Glasgow on 30 Dec.

Go check 'em out on www.facebook.com/Bwanijunction

Just don't expect any exercise advice from Rory, that's all...

Tendon Pain? Is it your achilles heel with your running? Get the latest HERE!

2011-11-17T17:26:00.004Z

Achilles Painful?

Tendon feeling stiff & inflexible?

Crippled for the first few steps of the day?

If your tendon does not move freely in relation to the surrounding soft tissue including fascia, the growth of vessels & nerves locally can lead to significant pain on running or walking.

Fascial sequence & function as identified
by Carla & Antonio Stecco

But how best to deal with the problem, & whom should you visit : SPACE physios & podiatrists and/or docs?

Henning Langberg is an associate professor from Copenhagen with an interest in in tendinopathy injury (now referenced as such rather than 'achilles tendonitis' as there is no actual inflammatory component) as evidenced by these publications:

Doctoral thesis: "Response of tendon - associated connective tissue to mechanical loading in humans" 2007
PhD thesis: "the human achilles tendon - circulatory & metabolic changes with exercise" 2000

His blog (as can be linked with at the right side of this posting) has much to commend it, particularly with reference to tendon pain & problems. Much of this posting has references to his work & experiences.

Firstly, with the fact that there is no inflammatory component then it appears that evidence heavily weighs against the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication such as ibuprofen or brufen, and these should be resisted: exercise often sets up a reaction that is helpful but can be slowed down or harmed by these drugs.

illustrations from www.achillestendon.com
the 'Encyclopaedia for people with achilles injury'

Biomechanics of the foot and especially when running or walking are important, and a visit to a well qualified podiatrist such as Andy Paul whom is available at SPACE can be useful. Other forms of intervention that you may be aware of include Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) injections, which have gained some noteriety within medical circles ( PRP Explained ) but have demonstrated very little efficacy, or the practise of high volume injections, which have yielded results swiftly, but are also under-researched, but available at venues such as the clinic run by Dr Otto Chan in London ( High Volume Injection Explained).

His clinic has had physio input from the well-researched & published Dr Pete Malliaras (check Malliaris Author ).

In the meantime, for a view of protocols now being advised from the Danish research team that your physio might decide are required then you can check them out here by following the links on the page to the exercises & videos.

Exercise Programmes

Video of Heavy Slow Weight Training & Eccentric Exercise

7 Billion & Counting - interactive page so you can know your own number & where you fit in!

2011-11-16T20:45:00.000Z

Think population of the world-ever wondered where you fit in?

All this recent media chatter about 7 billion people in the world this month is not wholly accurate: the window of uncertainty actually ranges from 6 months before the much-hyped 31st October date and for 6 months after.

However when even the United Nation's population expert (one Gerhard Heilig) suggests that the UN figures come with a 1-2% margin of error, the stats on this 7 billion figure can be taken with a grain or two of salt. The Vienna Institute of Demography suggests with a 95% probability that the figure will actually be reached between January & July 2012. This has not stopped the charity plan International from anointing a girl born predictably enough in india as the 7 bilionth! The varied form of birth data collection as well as accurate census information increases the uncertainty rather than offer any confirmation.

However, the hype has been sufficient for the BBC to have put out this interesting post with a calculation of anyone's own spuriously unique position in the story of human existance! As they state, the number of people on Planet Earth has more than doubled in the past 50 years, so be prepared to be surprised!

So click on, input your date of birth & accept your insignificant part in the human story!

What's your number? Calculate here using this link!

Rugby Players need their heads examined

2011-11-15T09:25:00.000Z

A Scottish newspaper ran a story at the weekend that has echoes of the SPACE blog from mid-August:
http://theedinburghphysiospace.blogspot.com/2011/08/ex-players-sue-nfl-over-concussion.html

Here's the newspaper piece by journalist Tom English:
Scotland on Sunday newspaper article: Tom English 13/11/11

One of the key interviewees about this piece on rugby players whom had suffered concussion donating their brains post-mortem happens to be Dr Robert Cantu, whom sat with SPACE's own Stephen Mutch at a dinner in Banff in May. Interestingly this topic area was discussed, and this again discussed with the same journalist Tom English in Auckland in October when the story was mooted, & a promise to get in touch made by the journalist.

Needless to say there has been zero effort on contact! Yet the piece has run in the paper with a number of associated pieces. It is greatly positive that this area has been highlighted, which was part of the brief in the New Zealand discussions.

Seems sensible that we have this brain bank offer made to sports other than American Football.
What a pity the piece of journalism highlighting this issue is tainted a little-perhaps that's how it works with good ideas?

CONGRATULATIONS! Gold Coast bid wins Commonwealth Games 2018 & London wins 2017 Champs!

2011-11-12T07:32:00.001Z

2 major sporting events had future events inked in over the past 24 hours, with Australia's Gold Coast winning the right to host the Commonwealth Games in 2018 after Glasgow's 2014 event rather than Hambantota in Sri Lanka. This followed the IAAF London seeing off Doha for the rights to host the World Championships in 2017 at the 60000 Olympic Stadium

(See our blog London Legacy - prep the key ).

Gold Coast is a coastal city, and a major tourist destination with its subtropical climate, surf beaches & waterways. It sits just 94km south of Brisbane on Queensland's capital, Brisbane, and with a population of just over half a million is Australia's most populous non-State capital city. For 2018, there will be major infrastructure changes, with an increase to the Metricon Stadium to 40000 seats, new badminton & mountain bike facilities to look forward to, and a wrold class squash centre in addition to existing arenas & stadia as witnessed by the Scottish Rugby team during their visit to the Gold Coast ahead of the World Cup this year: it can certainly be stated that the locals will back sport!

Photo from www.goldcoast.com.au

Gold Coast media release on winning bid

Commonwealth Games decision - UK Guardian report

London & The Legacy? Preparation the key for events: ask the Sports Scientists!

2011-11-11T10:20:00.000Z

Doha v London 2017 World Athletics bid: London has much to lose. The UK Government has much to lose. By taking the 60,000 stadium back into public ownership & terminating the agreement with West Ham United, UK Ministers & the bid team played the legacy card strongly in addition to arguing that a Western Europe event for the first time since Berlin in 2009 was necessary for the health of the sport for sponsors & supporters to be held.

With a home-based Games around the corner, and the Team GB ticket announcement for football suggesting sell-out crowds throughout the UK 2012 could herald a Golden Period for events with Commonwealth games, Rugby World Cup in the years following the Olympics. No doubt an Athletics World Championships would be seen as another jewel in the sporting crown, but London has much to look forward to.

In the build up to an event there is much occuring behind the scenes.
The Journal of Sports Sciences back in November 2009 demonstrates an eclectic mix of papers. The editorial by Richard Davison & Michael Williams included here demonstrates how far sports' science has come to generate the conditions for sporting success over the past quarter century. They talk about the planning that can take place in advance of Olympic competition, in areas such as psychology, skill acquisition & physiology.

The use of sports science in preparation for Olympic competition: Davison & Williams

In preparation terms the 27 IAAF Council delegates will expect a similar level by the bid teams in Doha & London, but like the Games themselves there can only be one winner.

Exciting Physio Opportunity in Edinburgh's West End

2011-11-10T22:52:00.001Z

SPACE Clinics in Edinburgh is thrilled to announce an opportunity for a dynamic & motivated physiotherapist to join our team!

Check out this link
SPACE Physio Job Advert
for information or contact SPACE on 01313133999 or email info@spaceclinics.com for details!

We look forward to hearing from you!

CAN KNUCKLE CRACKING CAUSE ARTHRITIS?

2011-11-08T10:18:00.000Z

A common enough question.
The mystery over joints that crack and what causes the sounds that often annoy partners and family is easy enough explained. A separation of the join tissues can change the pressure within the joint lubricating fluid called synovial fluid: this can result from a negative pressure pulling nitrogen gas temporarily into the joint. This process is called 'cavitation'.

The distinctive sounds are often heard in the hands with knuckles 'cracking' or 'popping', but if there is no pain associated with the cracking, then this is not harmful and does not cause arthritis. If the cracking is accompanied by pain however it is worth checking with your physio as there could be underlying abnormalities of the structures of the joint such as the cartilage or ligaments. Health professionals can assess for inflammation of joints (usually painful) and irregular, swollen tissues.

A study by Raymond Brodeur published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics with a study population of 300 revealed no visible correlation involving joint cracking and arthritis. However some of those who demonstrated consistent cavitation sounds or 'knuckle cracking' did show signs of other form of soft tissue changes to the joint capsule and a diminish in clasp potency: possibly an upshot of the speedy, continual ligament stretching bordering the joint.

You may also hear a form of "cracking" sound across the front of the hip, and this is often experienced when tendons glide over one another generating a form of 'snap' between the tissues. This is often referred to as snapping hip syndrome or coxa saltans in medical terms. Sometimes this can occur with ageing as muscle mass and action change.

So if you are sore when your joints 'crack' then make sure you speak to your physio, but in our experience, your only worry might be how much it irritates your nearest & dearest!

SPACE - THE PREMIER SPORTS INJURY & PHYSIO CLINIC

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Scottish Sporting Triumph - SPACE Success!

Dan Parks retires from Scotland International Team - another good man lost

Six Nations to The Superbowl

The Joys of Urban Running

Super Bowl Fever hits US

Relationships between NFL Combine Measures

Exercise changes fat in the body - compelling new hormonal evidence for running!

New Fascia Information Published

Munchen: Glad to be Back!

Happy New Year from SPACE - US and EUROPE!!!

Dateline Changes but Strong Links for Samoa with Scotland Forever

Bounce : How Champions Are Made - Matthew Syed

The Talent Code - Daniel Coyle

Chris Paterson Retires - A Personal Reflection as rugby's most-capped International Scotsman goes out at the top

Sidney Crosby Concussion vexes (Ice) Hockey fans at both ends of 2011

Top 10 Science Stories of 2011 - must be year's end!

Sport & Music - A truly uplifting combination!

MELT this Winter - in SPACE (Edinburgh) for the good of your health!

Exercise boosts the Brain - for all ages! Science FACT!

NHL's Derek Boogard - A Brain "Going Bad" - another case of Sporting C.T.E.

Natural Running Roundtable Debate 2011 : View from the Front Row - now YOU can read it!

Barefoot Running - the Online Discussion Continues

The Barefoot Running Debate - Getting People Hot Under the Collar

Heading a football can cause similar damage to concussion

Voodoo Sport Science? Just because it's measurable doesn't mean it's meaningful!

WINNING - what is more important : skill or character? Hard wiring the brain for success

Bwani Junction - Album out this week!

Tendon Pain? Is it your achilles heel with your running? Get the latest HERE!

7 Billion & Counting - interactive page so you can know your own number & where you fit in!

Rugby Players need their heads examined

CONGRATULATIONS! Gold Coast bid wins Commonwealth Games 2018 & London wins 2017 Champs!

London & The Legacy? Preparation the key for events: ask the Sports Scientists!

Exciting Physio Opportunity in Edinburgh's West End

CAN KNUCKLE CRACKING CAUSE ARTHRITIS?