The shoulder joint is a complex ball and socket joint, formed by the head of the humerus (long arm bone), scapula (shoulder blade) and clavicle (collar bone). The shape of these bones do not form a particularly stable joint, therefore a group of muscles known as the rotator cuff play an integral role in stabilising the shoulder joint and maintaining the bones in place. We rely on a mobile shoulder joint to allow us to carry out everyday tasks such as overhead reaching, placing our arm behind our back and head, and lifting objects, and in order to provide enough movement the shoulder joint sacrifices stability. With repetitive movement in a joint that lacks stability, there is unfortunately a greater risk of injury occurring, making shoulder injuries a common complaint.

5 common shoulder injuries are:

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As we count down to the end of September I find myself daydreaming more and more about the hillsides of Tuscany (and its fine vineyards…) and the legendary cuisine of Italy which I shall be enjoying in a few days time… In the last few weeks I have been putting extra effort into my fitness training to prepare my body for the likely calorific onslaught, that plus I need to fit into my suit for my brother-in-laws wedding. Last time I put the trousers on it was a wee bit tight…

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I’ll start this post by introducing myself, my name is Gemma and I’m taking care of the marketing at Focus Pilates, I also happen to be Daniel’s younger sister. A requirement of working at the studio means I need to try to do two classes per week, or else I hear about it from Daniel! There could be worse things really, so I don’t mind, plus I can see the results already.

I’m generally quite an active person so after a while I decided that Pilates was not enough, I wanted to work on increasing my endurance and cardio activity. The main reason is I have just signed up to climb Kota Kinabalu, the 20^th tallest mountain in the world and tallest mountain in South East Asia (sounds quite impressive doesn’t it!). So basically I want to make sure I make it to the top and am still able to walk the next day.

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Daniel Dittmar, Head Instructor at Focus Pilates road tests some barefoot running shoes.

Well after several recommendations I finally caved in and got myself a pair of Vibram Five Fingers running shoes. For those not in the know, these are “shoes” that have a super slim sole with no cushioning, and have little pockets for each of your toes. A lot like the Toesox that many of our clients wear to their Pilates class. Using these shoes is meant to facilitate a more natural running strategy and ironically decrease the impact on joints compared with running the traditional way with cushioned shoes. With these shoes you have to follow a mid-foot running style which I must admit I have been trying to do with my regular running shoes. So in other words instead of the traditional heel strike, you land half way along your foot and keep your body mass over your feet or slightly forward. This results in a higher running cadence (steps per minute) and less impact into the joints. The super slim sole also encourages your feet to adapt more to your running surface. I’ve been know to harp on in my Pilates classes about the damage walking around on hard flat surfaces as well as shoving your feet in inflexible shoes which is far from what our feet were designed for. We don’t have 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles in our feet to walk around on a hard flat surface, and climb stairs, our feet and muscles are designed to walk on uneven varied surfaces, uphill, downhill etc. Don’t even get me started on wearing high heels….

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When you have an injury first step may be to see your GP depending on the severity you may then be referred to a Physiotherapist. Physiotherapy is beneficial for pain relief, achieving full range of movement and resuming full function. However, after you are discharged it can be difficult to continue an exercise program independently. More often than not the underlying muscle imbalance and poor movement strategies remain and it may only be a matter of time before your injury or pain returns.

Maintaining strength, posture, flexibility and muscle balance is a great way to prevent a repeat injury. Pilates is a great form of exercise to maintain all of these things as it is low impact and gentle on the joints so there is little danger of it putting pressure on an injured area.

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Running is generally considered a sport which is quite simple to do, you need no technical training just a decent pair of shoes and some determination. It’s easy to see why it is so popular when compared with other sports like swimming, tennis and golf which require some skill and technique.

Despite this running has evolved to be a fairly technical sport, whereby runners who are keen to run faster and better now look towards changing their running form. In addition to running better and faster, changing one’s running form has also been touted to help with preventing injuries.

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