A “cure” for the dreaded DOMS!?!?

Research is awesome. It helps us discover things that can change our lives. One recent discovery is helping us learn new ways to treat the dreaded DOMS!

DOMS is Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. It’s the fancy way of describing the pain you feel the day after you do strenuous exercise. That pain you feel after going back to the gym for the first time in months. The pain you feel after playing an intense game of touch football. The pain you feel after moving house where you had to lift a hundred boxes, as well as couches, washing machines etc.

There’s been all sorts of theories over the years about what exactly is going on. Why exactly are we SO SORE after going to the gym? Is it lactic acid in the muscles? Is it ‘toxins” in the muscles? Did we do some micro-damage to the muscles?

The results of a 2021 study could have provided the answer. Our Massage Therapist Lewis found this article and provided this summary.

The previous theories focused on the MUSCLE – which makes sense, as that’s where the pain seems to be. In this study however, researchers looked at the FASCIA. And it appears that this is where the action is taking place.

The link to the full study can be found here, but to break it down for you, here is what they found. The fascia, which surrounds and connects muscles, gets stretched and tiny little tears occur. This then causes a contraction / tightening of the fascia.

This explains why the pain is so widespread! Fascia is everywhere, it’s what holds our body together. So if it tightens, the pain will not be in one small spot, it will feel like everything in that region is affected. Your whole leg feels sore, or your entire back, and so on.

HOW DOES THIS HELP US???

Well, it tells us what we should be doing to reduce it. One thing you can try is collagen. Collagen supplementation will help repair the micro damage.

Next, self massage techniques like FOAM ROLLING, spiky balls, lacrosse balls, peanuts, etc etc, will help release the contractions.

Dynamic Stretching will also be effective, as opposed to static stretching.

So feel free to get back in the gym and crush that workout, but just make sure you’ve got the foam roller handy tomorrow!

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Botox for Back Pain?

We’ve certainly seen an increase in the number of people who have used Botox in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney in the last couple of years. Well, that’s obvious if you go to Icebergs or Catalina’s I guess. But what we’re talking about today is the use of Botox for things like Migraines, TMJ disorders, and things like neck or back pain.

Apart from making your neck pain look more youthful, does it work?

We found a research paper which summarised the results of 9 different studies on this topic to get an overall picture.

What were the results?

Regarding Neck Pain:

“High quality evidence suggests there was little or no difference in pain between BoNT-A and saline injections at four weeks…and six months for chronic neck pain.

Regarding using Botox combined with Exercises compared to standard painkillers:

“Very low quality evidence indicated little or no difference in pain between BoNT-A combined with exercise and analgesics with exercise for patients with chronic neck pain at four weeks and six months”

Comparing injecting Botox with injecting a placebo for headaches:

“Very low quality evidence from one trial (32 participants) showed little or no difference between BoNT-A and placebo at four weeks for chronic cervicogenic headache.

Authors’ conclusions?

Current evidence fails to confirm either a clinically important or a statistically significant benefit of BoNT-A injection for chronic neck pain associated with or without associated cervicogenic headache. Likewise, there was no benefit seen for disability and quality of life at four week and six months.

To read the full study click here https://www.academia.edu/26002187/Botulinum_Toxin_for_Subacute_Chronic_Neck_Pain?email_work_card=title

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Does Taping Work for Back Pain?


Our Massage Therapist Lewis, who also studied Sports Science, took a look at this question.

This is a question we get asked a lot, especially after a tournament like the French Open where we see all these tennis players with bright pink tape on their knees and shoulders. It looks amazing, but does it actually work?

A 2015 study looked at 8 previous Randomised Control Trials (RCTs) into the effectiveness of taping for back pain and spinal injuries. These are very high quality studies.

What did these studies find?

Regarding low back pain they found that: “Meta-analysis of RCTs on low back pain demonstrated that elastic taping does not significantly reduce pain and disability immediately post-treatment”

Regarding standard taping and the newer, more colourful, elastic taping methods: “Results from single trials indicated that both elastic and non-elastic taping are not better than placebo or no treatment on spinal disability.”

In other words, for back pain taping doesn’t appear to help.

Regarding neck pain: “Positive results were found only for elastic taping and only for short-term pain reduction in WAD or specific neck pain.” They did note, however, that ‘generally, the effect sizes were very small or not clinically relevant’.

In summary, the research has not yet shown that taping appears to do much for back pain, and at best might help a little bit with neck pain.

To read the full study go to https://www.academia.edu/12470074/Effect_of_Taping_on_Spinal_Pain_and_Disability_Systematic_Review_and_Meta_Analysis_of_Randomized_Trials?email_work_card=title



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Too Much Time Sitting? You need these 5 Exercises!

Prolonged sitting is one of the single worst things you can do for your health. Not only is it a cause of lower back pain and poor posture (slumping), it is associated with numerous other health outcomes.

They include obesity and a cluster of conditions — increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol levels — that make up metabolic syndrome.

For now I want to talk about the effects on your lower back. One of the ways sitting causes lower back pain is by compressing and tilting your pelvis. The longer you sit, the more that tilt becomes ‘locked in’, effectively causing you to lose mobility in your lower back and pelvis.

You can regain this mobility with simple exercises. Here is a link to an article showing 5 exercises you can do in just a few minutes to decompress your lower back and improve your pelvic tilt.

https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/anterior-pelvic-tilt-exercises#outlook

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How Important Are Scan Results?

Often when you get a scan done, whether it’s an Xray, MRI, CT, or something else, the report comes back showing one problem or another. It can be a bit of a trap to then attribute your symptoms to the problem found in the scan. But is that necessarily accurate? How worried should you really be if you get a scan and it shows something is wrong?

We asked our Massage Therapist Lewis Horenko to do a deep dive on the research on this topic, and his conclusions might surprise you.

One study that really answers this question perfectly came out in 2020. In this study, researchers grabbed 230 people with no knee symptoms, and gave them extremely high resolution MRI scans. They then correlated the scan results with questionnaires on pain and function.

In a truly stunning result, 97% of people had something show up. Remember, these are people with zero symptoms whatsoever. No pain, no stiffness, nada. To them, their knees were perfectly fine.

31% of people had “severe cartilage lesions”.

30% of people had meniscus tears.

There were all sorts of problems found, from partially ruptured anterior cruciate ligaments to high grade tendonitis.

And yet, zero symptoms.

All of these things are the kind that would make anyone freak out a little. But the reality is, they’re clearly incredibly common, and will not necessarily cause you any problems.

If you have any scan results you need interpreted feel free to contact us at any time.

To read the full study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32060622/

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Should you exercise after your treatment?

This is an interesting question, and one that we get multiple times a day.

We asked our Massage Therapist Lewis Horenko to give us his thoughts, as he also has a background in Sports Science.

The first thing to say is that the answer will vary depending on the injury you have, as people with mild aches are very different to people in severe nerve pain. But the findings of one study are worth considering when we look at this.

In this study, people were given an ultrasound to measure the thickness of the Lumbar Multifidus muscle, which is a key lower back stabilising muscle. Then they had their back adjusted (aka ‘cracked’). Then they had another ultrasound to assess the thickness of that muscle again.

They found that the muscle was thicker. This is a good thing, as it indicates the muscle is larger, and stronger.

Apart from this measurement, they gave the participants questionnaires on things like back pain and function. There were improvements across the board here as well.

What does this mean for exercising after treatment? Well, I think you should be trying to capitalise on this. If you’re in acute pain, if you have been specifically advised against exercising for some reason, then you want to take it easy for a few days, but outside of that it would make sense to take this bigger multifidus muscle and use it in some core strengthening exercises!

Here is a link to the original study https://www.academia.edu/20911196/Association_Between_Changes_in_Abdominal_and_Lumbar_Multifidus_Muscle_Thickness_and_Clinical_Improvement_After_Spinal_Manipulation?email_work_card=title

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Foam Rolling, Stretching, or a Combination – what works best?

We asked HPH Osteopath Marcus Ng to dig into the research and see if he could answer this question. As an avid basketball player & NBA fan, Marcus has a keen interest in all types of sporting injuries. Marcus can provide you with the best prevention tips and rehabilitation techniques that will allow you to get the most of out of your sporting performance, whether you are a weekend warrior or professional athlete. If you have any questions on sporting injuries you can email Marcus harleyplacehealth@gmail.com

According to a 2015 study, a Combination of Foam Rolling, followed by Stretching, produces the best results. 

In the study, a group of athletes were tested using all 3 protocols on different days. For example, they were told to just Foam Roll, then assessed/measured on one day. On another day, they were told just to Stretch, then assessed and measured again. Then on another day they were told to Foam Roll AND Stretch and measured for the third time. 

The greatest effects were seen when people did the combination, with an increase in ROM almost 50% greater than stretching alone.

It’s worth noting that in this study the participants did 3 sets of 30 seconds of foam rolling. That equals a total of 90 seconds, but it’s hard to say whether 3 sets of 30 seconds has the same effect as 90 seconds straight and according to the study mentioned earlier, the best results seem to be obtained when doing 90 seconds or longer. 

Reference: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25883869/ 

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Screen Time – TV vs Phone Vs Tablet – What’s Worst?

We all know that excess screen time is bad for us. But does it matter which screen we are looking at? Do they all affect us in the same way?

Apparently some are worse than others, according to a recent study.

This data was published just a week ago so it’s red hot.

The obvious finding was that more screen time = worse health decisions. People who exhibited the heaviest use of screened devices “tended to eat fewer fruit and vegetables and more sweets and fast foods.”

“They also tended to have the least physical activity, get the least sleep, have the worst sleep quality, and experience the greatest perceived stress (compared with those with light or moderate screen use).”

The interesting thing though, was the difference between different devices.

People with heavy TV and smartphone use said that they had worse dietary patterns and health characteristics than people who spent a lot of time in front of computers, tablets, or devices connected to a TV.

Another interesting finding was the effect of “Bingeing” eg watching an entire series straight through, like I have done maaaaaany times in my life.

The team also found that watching many episodes of a show or many different shows in quick succession was associated with poor dietary patterns and increases in self-perceived stress.

To read the full article, click here.

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Small weight loss = much less pressure on joints

I’m often asked whether losing weight would help a particular problem. For example, “If I lost a few kilos, would it help my back pain?”.

I think that if someone is overweight, then losing a few kilos is a good idea anyway, as there are so many general health benefits to maintaining a healthy weight.

But I wasn’t really sure if it would help a particular injury. What I mean by that is I think if you have back pain, you should try to fix your back. If you just lose weight, but don’t try to fix your back, I doubt your back pain will disappear.

Well I might have to change my mind. A new study shows that losing weight takes a lot of pressure out of your joints.

An 18 month study of overweight and obese people concluded that “for each pound of body weight lost, there is a 4-pound reduction in knee joint stress among overweight and obese people with osteoarthritis of the knee.”

That’s right, “the benefits of weight loss may be multiplied fourfold for people who suffer from osteoarthritis of the knee.”

The benefits can stack up quickly. If on every step you have less pressure in your knee as a result of losing just 1 pound (half a kilo), by the time you have walked a mile you would have experienced 4,800 less pounds of pressure in your knee.

It’s annoying these stats are all in pounds and miles, but I’m sure you are seeing the message here – a little bit of weight loss can make a massive difference!

To see the full article click this link.

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