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Flexibility refers to our ability to move our joints through their full range of motion and is required for optimal functioning during sporting activity and daily life. Inadequate flexibility is often a major factor in the development of sports injuries. Improving our flexibility is desirable whether for performance in sports such as ballet, gymnastics or weight lifting or for its benefits in terms of injury prevention. Stretching is the main way to achieve improvements in our flexibility.

Chronic recurring ankle injuries are one of the most common complaints at chartered physiotherapy clinics. Athletes commonly complain of an initial incident of “twisting” or “rolling over” of the ankle which is followed by season after season of similar less severe incidents necessitating further periods of absence from sport. This is inevitably a source of frustration for athletes who just want to get on with their season. So why does it happen? The answer is that your initial ankle injury was probably never correctly rehabilitated.

We’ve all heard about the rotator cuff and have an idea that it’s something to do with the shoulder but what exactly is it and why is it so commonly injured? Hopefully we can enlighten you in this weeks post. You’re right the rotator cuff has something to do with the shoulder. In fact the four muscles that make up the rotator cuff are responsible for providing most of the stability to the shoulder joint.

With increasing numbers participating in sport and exercise since the arrival of the bright evenings and relatively good weather, we’ve seen an increase in running, golfing and other sporting injuries. So before all you fair weather sports enthusiasts rush out straight from work into a round of golf or a run we thought we should remind you of some general principles of injury prevention. Warm-Up The warm up forms an essential component of any exercise. A warm up should focus on the muscles to be used during the exercise and is determined by the type of exercise or activity that you plan on doing. A warm-up for a round of golf for example should focus on warming up of the upper limbs and back, whereas a runner will need to focus on the legs. A warm-up should consist of gentle aerobic exercise of main muscle groups to be used during activities, gentle stretching and gradual increasing of the heart rate.