What a Snow Physiotherapist Can Tell You About Pain and Injury

[ski diva]

Good read here on lessons learned about pain and injury, from Snowsbest.com.

Anyone have any additional lessons they've learned, too?

Here's wishing everyone an injury-free season!

 

[Little Lightning]

But perhaps what is less well recognised is the impact of an injury on our brains ability to sense where we are in space, or its ability to react quickly.

This happened to me due to SI Joint issues then Peroneal Tendonitis in my left leg. It appeared mostly while bicycling. I thought I was using the right side while pedaling while the left seemed to go along for the ride. I asked my PT about this but she didn't seem concerned. When skiing my friends teased me about my "lazy left leg". A former ski instructor friend spotted my lack of turning on that side but didn't have any suggestions of how to correct it.

Second time around rehabbing the peroneal tendonitis issue the PT commented on how much I favored my left side. He gave me strengthening exercises but I was so far behind they didn't work. I began working with a personal trainer who took me back to basics. The first time I tried to hop on my left leg I couldn't figure out how to do it. My body would not move. My personal trainer explained to me the central nervous system had shut down on my left side. My brain had lost it's ability to use that side.

Skiing last year the "lazy left leg" was still there but starting to respond. I skied last week. After a summer of 3 days a week of working out the laziness is gone. The strength on my left side is as good as the right side. Both legs pedal equally on the bicycle, left ski turn is strong.

Like my current physical therapist says. "it's all connected".

 

[VickiK]

I went through something very similar, where my SI joint doesn't work equally well side to side. Mobility and strength training helped.

 

[Little Lightning]

Also amazing is the compensations the body will go through to avoid pain. Last year I had finger surgery. After the surgery I ended up with a frozen shoulder. Apparently the compensations I had to do to use my hand changed the way I was using my arm and shoulder. Going back to normal use of my arm/hand completely messed up my shoulder. Took about 6 months for shoulder recovery.

 

[VickiK]

^ if it's not one thing it's another! Reminds me of when I had a professional 3rd party ergonomic eval at work, as part of dealing with carpal tunnel-like issues. The guy recommended a roller bar mouse, much different from a rollerball mouse. The bar rolls and slides at the base of the keyboard to move the cursor and the display. In the middle of the device there were right-left click buttons and a wheel for scrolling up and down. I adjusted to the new position of my hands and new way to mouse, tools etc. After a couple of months I developed a severe thumb pain, apparently from using the scroll wheel too much. That turned into a Workers Comp case.

 

[marzNC]

But perhaps what is less well recognised is the impact of an injury on our brains ability to sense where we are in space, or its ability to react quickly.

That sounds like proprioception, a term I learned while researching knee injuries. Interestingly, in Australia personal trainers and physical therapists focus on proprioception quite a bit.

After I popped off an ACL, my balance was completely off for a week or two. The brain had to re-calibrate because the proprioceptors in the ACL that were no longer functioning were gone. In my case, I was weight bearing right after the injury. Although things felt okay after a couple weeks in terms of walking, took 4-6 weeks of PT before my 1-leg balance was completely back to normal.

An Overview of Proprioception