Another Pregnant Mummy Attends Kinesio Taping Course

Yes, we have another pregnant mummy coming to the Kinesio Taping Level 1 and 2 course held over the last 2 days at Progress Healthcare (the Singapore Kinesio Tape distributor).

Pregnant mummy Wang Ran, a Hong Kong trained physiotherapist is 8 months pregnant and still came for the course paying her own way as the hospital she works in did not set aside any budget for her to do the course. Previously we had another pregnant mummy coming to the course too.

Besides the locals, there was a participant from Abu Dhabi, 2 Indonesians, and an English physio as well. Local running coach Fabian Williams was one of the local participants who attended. This course is definitely attracting more and more people via word of mouth thanks to our previous participants.

Here are some pictures from the day one of the course.

Dalong telling everyone to buy more tapes

Locating Evan's symphysis pubis

Some of the boys practice their taping

Lisa and Vanessa in action

Stay tuned for more pictures from day two. Also have a look here for my pictures.

You May Not Need That ACL Operation

Here's a  follow up post to our current trends in ACL reconstruction management. You may not need an operation as you thought after tearing your ACL despite what your surgeon or your friends tell you, especially if you are still young.

I posted the article in our other blog. Go take a look.

*Picture from flickr.com

Zamst HA 1 Running Socks

Another incentive for me to start running after my accident. I received a pair of Zamst HA 1 Running Heel/ Arch socks to trial. It's touted as being helpful if you have heel pain (or plantar fasciitis).

First impression was that it took some effort (compared to a normal pair of socks anyway) to put on the sock. It looks like any normal pair of socks but once you put it on you will begin to appreciate that there's more than meets the eye.

The socks are definitely thicker than your regular running socks, and they are built anatomically to fit your right and left foot separately. Using their proprietary fit and knitting technology, there is some stabilizing force on the heel and I can definitely feel it supporting the arch of my foot. There is also no pressure on the medial calcaneal tubercle (this is where the plantar fascia attaches and commonly where it hurts).

The elastic at the top of the sock also feels stronger than normal although it does not seem to trouble my Achilles at all.

Since my doctor forbids me to ride my bike outside for another 2 months, I rode on the stationary bike and ran for a few minutes (don't tell my wife) with just the socks sans shoes yesterday at the Sports Solutions rehab area. This is probably the only brick (or bike-run) workout I can do at the moment given that my doctor thinks I should not be running yet. There was decent support compared to being barefoot of course.

I also lent the HA 1's to my wife whose left plantar fascia acts up occasionally. She has not run with it yet but said she felt a lot of compression/ pressure on the dorsum of the foot (or top of the foot) whilst walking around the house with it. She felt the arch support it provided.

My impressions are that the Zamst HA 1 socks may be suitable for those who are running in minimalist/ barefoot type running shoes and would require some additional support under their arches. Of course, your correct running form still trumps everything else.

My own experience suggests using the patented Strassburg sock while you sleep to help with plantar fasciitis if there are no other contributing factors after you run with the HA 1's.

My very own Strassburg sock since 2004

And if you do have plantar fasciitis given that plantar fasciitis can be caused by many different factors, I suggest you come to our clinic and find what is causing your plantar fascia to hurt rather than just treating the pain.

* You can get the Zamst HA 1 Running Heel/ Arch socks from Progress Healthcare.

Bat Girl Wannabes

Bat girls wannabes

Here's another chop

Welcome back to the second weekend of our Sports Massage course.
Today we have a full day with Marlene to learn new techniques as well as practise the ones they learnt last week.

Marlene showed some more of her kung fu moves, well not quite.

Stick 'em up girls

xxxx says marlene

All together now

Stay tuned for their written and practical exams tomorrow. For more pictures have a look here..

Day 1 Sports Massage Course 130713

Today we welcome all our participants coming to Amoy Street for our Sports Massage course over this and next weekend. Some of our participants have some working knowledge while others don't.

Here are some pictures from Day 1 with human anatomy in the morning and the hands on session after breaking for lunch.

Now don't put your fingers in your mouth

Veronica not quite believing where Aized is pointing

Ok, don't peep while draping

Marlene showing how she gets the job done while Lily leans forward for a better view.

Check out my elbow

Please also have a look at this.

Sugar (And Not Fat) Causes Diabetes

Check out the amount of sugar 

For years, the prevailing medical opinion is that eating more sugar means having more calories and it is the resulting weight gain that leads to diabetes. Me too, I have always thought that if you were fat you were more likely to get diabetes.

After I had my bike accident  I was afraid of putting on weight. I have always eaten what I wanted (all the junk food of course), I drank lots of Coke and other sodas, but the saving grace is that I have always been fairly active, even after I stopped racing competitively. However, with my head and back broken, I was definitely not going to be able to exercise for a while.

Something miraculous happened, I stopped drinking Coke in the first few weeks after my accident. My wife (God bless her) who has always been an advocate of eating healthily bought a juicer and made my son and I drink more vegetable and fruit juices and also bought and cooked more organic food (thanks, dear).

And you know what, my friends and colleagues who saw me a few weeks after the accident actually said I lost weight. Well of course some of that is from muscle wasting due to my inactivity. But definitely the healthy eating (and not drinking soda) helped.

Now coming back to the post I was going to write about sugar and diabetes. Like I wrote earlier, I always thought that if you were overweight you were more likely to get diabetes. I guess I may be wrong. A recent published study shows there may be more than meets the eye.

The authors of a recently published study shows that it is sugar and not obesity that causes diabetes. Their study controlled for poverty, urbanization, ageing, obesity and physical activity. In short, it controlled everything that can be controlled. The authors looked at sugar consumption in 175 countries over 10 years.

Sugar was 11 times stronger than total calories in explaining rates of diabetes around the world. They found that the more sugar found in the food supply, the higher the rates of diabetes in that country, no matter what the obesity rates were.

In fact, they found that for every 12 ounces of sugar-sweetened drink introduced per person per day into a country's food system, the rate of diabetes went up by 1 percent.

The authors found that 20 percent of obese people have completely normal metabolic signatures while up to 40 percent of people with normal weight have the exact same metabolic problems that the obese do (just that they are not fat). The warning here is that you can be of normal weight, but if you eat a lot of sugar you can be "sick" and not know it unless you get examined.

Scary for me especially because I tend to consume lots of sugar before. Now that I am definitely healing, I have gone back to some (but not all) of my bad sugar habits. I definitely need to make sure I do not go back to my previous levels of consumption.

And so do you, if you have a bad sugar habit now that you know.

Reference

Basu S, Yoffe P, Hills N and Lustig, RH (2013). The Relationship of Sugar to Population-Level Diabetes Prevalence : An Econometric Analysis of Repeated Cross-Sectional Data. PLoS ONE 8(2): e57873. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057873.

*Picture from Sugarstacks.com

Oakley Radar Lock

My new Oakley Radar Lock

I received an early incentive to get better quickly so I can ride my bike and run again after my bike accident.

I got a present today - The Oakley Radar Lock, thanks to Oakley Singapore (many thanks to Joey). The Radar Lock was actually released last year, however I only got mine today. Oakley thought I already received one, but I haven't. Well, better late than never.

Given that I've only worn it walking to the bank and supermarket today and not while cycling/running, this is not exactly a fair review.

Here are my first impressions. The nose piece seems to be slightly smaller but the fit seems to be slightly more snug compared to the Radar. Smaller should also mean less visible while cycling/ running - I'll verify this after I am able to get on my bike and ride and also after running again.

Here's another look

The biggest difference from the Radar is of course the ease of changing your lenses. There's a pull back catch on the inside of the left ear stem which releases the lens easily, no need to "yank" the lens out when you want to change your lenses.

 The ear pieces are also slimmer than the Radar's and seemed more like the Jawbone's. As with all other Oakley sunglasses, the peripheral vision is excellent and I'm sure my vented lenses will help prevent fogging.

Hmmm, now when did my doctor say I can get back on my bike again?