Biomechanics and Musculoskeletal Clinic
Services on offer
Pricing information
Services listed below are available at Chesterfield and Sheffield – contact us for details of which services are available when.
Podiatry assessment – different levels of service
Bronze
Non-weight bearing and standing assessment with barefoot walking gait analysis. To determine if and how foot function may be contributing / causing the pains / symptom you are experiencing. Treatment plan and explanation of cause and effect.
Silver
As bronze but with Tekscan f-scan in-shoe pressure analysis. This shows us how your foot is working in your shoe and provides a baseline for injury prevention or a gauge on how you are progressing with treatment – either orthoses or rehabilitation.
Gold
As Silver but with high speed video analysis to complement the in-shoe Tekscan assessment. Will provide a detailed analysis of how you function. Good for injury prevention to identify potential problem areas, and measuring treatment progression and success.
Platinium
As Gold but with same day provision of fully custom orthoses and round of golf at local golf course.
Orthoses
Insoles to go in your shoes to address any issues we find during the analysis. These are made from an impression of your foot and are a truly bespoke device (not a premade shell that is customised). We shall fully explain what we what the orthoses to do and why we want this change. Our orthoses are designed to make sure your body is working as efficiently as possible and promote your body to look after itself. They are not splints for your feet and very rarely ‘arch supports’.
Physiotherapy
To identify and treat musculoskeletal problems anywhere in the body. Our physio will assess your injury, let you know why it is giving you problems and device a plan to ensure full rehabilitation.
Soft tissue / sports massage
This service is for sports and non-sports people who are suffering from muscle tightness or pains due to a build up of muscle tension in the body. Treatment involves our therapist working with you to eliminate the tensions that are building by various techniques. Often a short course of intensive treatment is required followed up with maintenance visits.
Other information
Many of your injuries may need intervention from one or all our therapists. We are able to all work together to ensure that you receive the correct treatment at the right time. This will be fully discussed with you at your initial assessment appointment. You should ideally wear lose fitting clothing for your appointment and be prepared to remove some of you clothing for examination. You are able to bring someone else with you to the appointment if you wish.
All our staff are fully trained and registered with the main regulatory body for their profession. We are able to take referrals from most insurance companies for podiatry and physiotherapy, only some insurance companies will allow for reimbursement for sports massage. If you are unsure who you should see first then please contact us and we can try to advice which service you will need.
Tekscan F-scan in-shoe pressure analysis
This system allows us to see what is happening in your shoe. There is a very thin insole that fits into your shoe and is connected to the computer. You are then asked to walk in the room or run on a treadmill. The insole sensor records various parameters that we are then able to analyse. This analysis can be done at assessment and then following treatment. If you have had orthoses made then we able to assess if they are doing what we want them to at an early stage rather than wait until you have a problem develop or a different problem.
The diagram below shoes before and following fitting of orthoses. We wanted to reduce the deceleration of forward progression and this has improved (look at the overlying line through the centre of the footprint).
Dietary Analysis
- Do you struggle to maintain a healthy weight or are fed up with yo-yo dieting?
- Would you benefit from increased energy and vitality?
- Do you feel confused about what a healthy diet actually is?
- Have you wondered if you are getting the right amount of vitamins and minerals?
- Would you like more ideas for healthy family meals?
- How might your life change if you had the right information to be able to make the healthiest food choices?
We have countless choices to make every day but one of the most important is the food we choose to eat. Our food choices can have a huge impact on the way we feel and our health and wellbeing, but it can be difficult to make sense of the mixed messages we are constantly bombarded with. Dietary analysis arms you with the facts to make the right choices for you.
What Does Dietary Analysis Involve? You will be asked to keep a three day food diary and fill in a health questionnaire. Your diet will then be analysed using the latest software packages, and compared to current government guidelines. This information will be presented in a report which will be discussed at your consultation.
Your goals and objectives, specific needs, and lifestyle will be considered when designing a healthy new example diet. To help you to maintain these changes we can offer NLP coaching
What is NLP and how can it help? NLP or Neuro Linguistic Programming studies the way we think (neuro), the structure of our language (linguistic) and how we behave (programming). It can help you achieve your full potential through defining positive goals and outcomes, changing limiting beliefs and behaviours and realising more choices. NLP coaching sessions can help you to achieve your diet and lifestyle goals, improve confidence, self esteem, motivation and focus.
Packages Available Initial telephone assessment, dietary analysis, one hour consultation including personal report £65 NLP coaching sessions £60 per hour or 3 hourly sessions for £150
Please contact:
Louisa Richards
Dietary Educator, NLP Practitioner
louisa.richards@btinternet.com
Tel. 07715 537045
Natural Running
What is our philosophy?
This is the way we should be running - although we are all different
We aim to identify your running style and teach you how to improve on this
By offering: Correct footwear advice and selection
Core stability advice, 1:1 sessions and group classes
Training drills advice and group classes
Website information
What is Natural Running? Letting your body run as it was designed to do. This will be slightly different for everyone but the aim is the same. The aim of running is to move forward as efficiently as possible so we are able to go faster or longer or both depending on our running aims. Our bodies are very impressive feats of engineering and will find a way to keep moving forward if we have the mind to do so. We may not be running in the most efficient way as any number of factors may cause our bodies to have had to adapt or compensate for something. It has been said that we have become efficient at running inefficiently.
The factors that may cause us to adapt our running style (and become more inefficient) are many; tight or weak muscles, poor training techniques, footwear, environmental factors, an injury, a biomechanical imbalance in our skeletal or soft tissue make up, diet or nutrition, poor or incorrect (but often well meant) advice, our own stubbiness to finish / win/ lose weight / etc, not listening to our bodies, the list could go on. Once these adaptations or compensations are in place there is no reason why our bodies will change them. They are the way our body has overcome the problem - it has recognised there is a problem and done something about it. Often the problem is that the initial compensation will cause a knock on effect and the symptoms occur when the body has run out of options available to it, i.e. it cannot introduce any further changes.
The way to overcome these compensations are to change our running style with specific training exercises, it can be a bit like starting again or learning how to run again. Most of us have never had any formal running training. This is at odds with pretty much anything else we undertake. Most people who run will only seek advice when something has gone wrong and that advice will usually not entail a close examination of our running style and provide answers to what is found. It is usually to address the symptoms that you are experiencing either during or after a run.
At some point it is good to have a thorough assessment of your running style so the cause of the symptoms can be addressed. If injuries keep on appearing (either the same one or new ones) then your body is trying to tell you something - there is something out of balance somewhere and it cannot keep on like this. Something has to change. This can also be the case if you never seem to be able to run faster or further than a specific distance / time. Something has to change to make this next step.
The design and aim of modern running shoes is being questioned. These shoes tend to have a high soft heel (a crash pad) and increasing and varied levels and type of support - often called pronation control. These shoes have been designed to control the amount of pronation that our foot goes through during the loading or stance phase of our gait cycle. Pronation has been blamed for having a role to play in most sporting injuries and therefore ,the theory being, stop or reduce pronation then injury rates will improve. But many studies over the last 20 years show injury rates are about the same (if anything they are higher now then back in the mid '80's). Many companies now have a range of minimalist shoes that allow the foot to function as near to 'normal' as they are able. The main differences between the shoes are the heel to forefoot height differential and the torsional stability of the shoes.
If you decide to embrace a more natural running style your body will need time to adjust and the process will be different for everyone. You can either go completely natural in one go which will mean a huge reduction in your current training and start again with new shoes and a very gradual build up back to running and complementing this with specific training drills. Or using the drills and techniques to complement your current training. You will remove one or two of your sessions and do specific natural running training drills in minimalist shoes.
There are various authors who have come up with their version of how to running either barefoot or minimalistically. These include Pose and Chi and can be found on various websites if you need more information.
The main issue we come across and is cited as a problem with modern running shoes is the large heel causing a heavy heel strike. This is particularly problematic when the strike occurs in front of your centre of mass as is causes a breaking force back into the body. We do see heel strike that is under the body and this is better. Natural or minimalistic running technique is based around a midfoot or forefoot contact under your body. Running shoes with big heels prevent this from being possible due to having to overstride to make contact on the heel.
Therefore has our running style changed to accommodate how modern running shoes have been made and the features in them have contributed to a change from a more natural running style? The answer that relates to yourself will only become evident if you run in a natural way with a minimal shoe and see what happens. How will your running style change, will you become efficient, can you run faster and for longer, do you have injury problems or niggles? There is only one way to find out.
Interested? Keep on reading.
The following is some information on how to start to change to a more natural running style. Feel free to give it a go. If you need any further information then please contact us and we can see what we can do. This is what we can offer: - A full running / biomechanical assessment from our podiatrist. This will include high speed video analysis and possibly inshoe pressure analysis.
- Footwear advice, you will need minimal shoes to obtain the most successful outcome.
- Injury advice, and if required, a rehabilitation program following assessment.
- Foot mobilisations to complement your transition.
- One to one or group pilates classes specifically designed for running.
- Group classes providing advice on our method to transition to a more natural running style.