by rocktapeuk | Apr 28, 2017 | Uncategorised
When it comes to skateboarders is always been hard to show the positives of sports therapy and performance recovery. Skaters have predominantly viewed treatment as ‘uncool’ or ‘jock’. If you are getting taped up or seen doing pre skate stretches then it was likely that someone would start giving you some grief for it. I am one of the few individuals that is deeply emerged in the skate world, but also educated in sports science and sports therapy. I have worked at several international skateboard events and worked with some of the biggest names in action sports, from Tony Hawk to Mat Hoffman. The funny things, the more elite the athlete the better the understanding of the benefits sports and physical therapy can have. I also find the older the athlete the better the understanding, and increased need for treatment. So I have set out to try and educate the ‘new school’ skater, the up and coming skaters and the professionals who are in the prime of their career and really wanting to push their ability into new levels. Over the last few years I have worked with these guys and this year is the first time that I have been non stop at an event. Vert Attack is the worlds largest vertical skateboard contest outside of the X-Games. Vert skating is where the guys are skating on 10ft plus half pipes and performing huge Arial tricks. The event is held in Malmo, (Sweden) and attracts the biggest international names in skateboarding. The beauty of this event is that nobody is competing for money, they are simply competing for...
by rocktapeuk | Apr 18, 2017 | Rocktape Kinesiology Tape, Running
Sunday 9th April was an exceptionally sunny and warm day for the runners of the Brighton Marathon which included 80 NSPCC fund raisers who raised over £50,000 for the charity. A major part of the NSPCC fundraisers post-race reception is the very welcome sight of the row of massage tables with soft tissue therapists waiting to soothe the aching limbs of the runners and for the past 4 years Rocktape have been donating rolls of tape to help support the NSPCC runners after this and a number of other events which include the London Marathon and the Gherkin Challenge. I have been using RockTape in my private clinic since working at the London Olympics, and even though I have not found a better tape, this year RockTape donated rolls of their H2O tape which has twice as much adhesive on it. Last Sunday we found it invaluable when treating runners who have just spent 3-7 hours in the sun, coming in with aching and very sweaty legs! The day consisted of runners hobbling in with sore ankles where we used RockTape to help support the lateral stabilisers of the ankles, as well as plantar fascia and for achilles pain where treatment this soon post event would not have been advisable. However, the support from the H2O tape made it invaluable to assist the runner in getting mobile again. Knee pain was the other main area where RockTape came into its own. As the Brighton Marathon was quite hilly, their knees took quite a load especially for some runners who were running their first marathon. Applying the H2O tape to...
by rocktapeuk | Apr 7, 2017 | Rocktape Kinesiology Tape
Keith Gladstone set up Athletic Health; A company that provides sports injury and performance management for TV / media and professional sports teams. Most recently Keith Gladstone has been in Austria on set for channel 4’s TV show The Jump. With his team of therapists, Keith Gladstone worked to help the celebrity contestants get through the intense and physically challenging training and performing schedule for the show. What is your back ground and how did you end up working on The Jump? I’m an osteopath and sport scientist with special interest in sports injuries. I worked at Lord’s cricket ground with Middlesex CCC and the MCC for 7 seasons. Cricket was full time during the summer months but over the winter in 2011 I was asked to work on a television show looking after the celebrity contestants who were taking part in physically challenging and potentially risky activities in a show called Famous and Fearless. With more and more reality shows being produced with contestants taking part in physically challenging tasks, I found myself working on ever more shows. Tell us about the Jump, for those that don’t already know? The jump is a celebrity reality TV show in which contestants compete in various winter sports, including slalom skiing, skeleton, ski-cross and ultimately ski jumping. We spend 8 weeks in a ski resort in Austria while the contestants train and compete. It’s fun gig. What sorts of injuries did you and your team have to deal with? With 16 people skiing 4 hours a day for 8 weeks you are bound to pick up knocks. We had to deal...
by rocktapeuk | Mar 24, 2017 | Uncategorised
How did you decide to pursue a career as a physical therapist and athletic trainer? I played sports growing up before tearing my ACL twice in high school. I loved the work my physical therapists did with me and just started hanging around the clinic during my free time after school. When I got to the University of Miami, I started in their Student Athletic Training program and loved it. What is your athletic background? In high school, I played soccer and baseball. After tearing my ACL snow skiing (and later, playing soccer), I gave those up. I was on the rowing team at the University of Miami. Tell us about your practice. Where, and what sport do you specialize in? I’m part of the PGA Tour Sports Medicine staff. We see professional golfers all day, everyday. At every event, we have a staff of 2 physical therapists, 2 athletic trainers, and a chiropractor. We practice out of two trailers that get towed from tournament to tournament. One is basically an outpatient clinic with most of the equipment you would find in any PT/chiropractic office. The other is a miniature gym where our athletes perform their workouts. What do you watch for during competitions? Are the injuries in golf ever predictable? Professional golf is generally a predictable sport in terms of the patterns of injuries that we see. For example, we know that about 2/3 of the PGA Tour pros that come in for treatment will have some kind of spine pathology. Of those, about half are lumbar spine while the other half is split between the cervical and thoracic...
by rocktapeuk | Mar 1, 2017 | Uncategorised
On the 25th of August 2016, Lowri Morgan…a TV Presenter and Ultra Marathon Runner embarked on a three day challenge to run from North to South Wales to raise awareness of Cerebra, a charity for children with Neurological problems. Over the 3 days she would summit 3 mountains and run 3 ultra marathons covering a distance of 150 miles. The challenge was hence called 3/3/3. The challenge started from the village of Llanberis located at the foot of Snowdon. On the first day Lowri summited Snowdon, Wales’s tallest mountain at 1085m, and then set off on a 45 mile run to the overnight stop located at Dolgellau. On the morning of the second day Lowri summited Cader Idris at 893m, she then headed off down south again, eventually stopping 65 miles down the road at Rhayader for an overnight stay. On the third and final day Lowri ran a third and final 50 mile ultra marathon down to Brecon, finishing the day by summiting Pen y Fan at 886m. This amazing endeavour took only 60hrs! This was obviously a huge physical and psychological effort, my job was to keep the legs as fresh as possible. Each morning I would spend 20 mins with Lowri massaging the legs and lower back before applying Rocktape where she felt she needed the support. Through experience I have found Rockrub to be an excellent massage wax. It is easy to use, gives me just the right amount of friction without being slippery, but most of all it is easily cleaned off afterward so that I can apply the Rocktape. Having worked with Lowri...
by rocktapeuk | Feb 22, 2017 | Uncategorised
We are proud to introduce our line of pain relieving topical analgesics. Offering options for both hot and cold pain relief—RockSauce® and RockSauce Chill®—each powerful formulation is now available in convenient roll-ons and clinical sized 32-ounce pump tops. Meet the RockSauce Family RockSauce® is widely considered to be the most powerful topical analgesic on the market. It contains 20% methyl salicylate, 10% menthol and .002% capsaicin to deliver hours of pain-alleviating warmth to sore muscles and joints. It is an incredibly effective stand-alone pain reliever, but its exclusive formulation means it can also be used in conjunction with RockTape kinesiology tape to provide even more relief. The success of RockSauce led to the development of RockSauce Chill®, a potent cooling gel containing 6% menthol—33% more than the closest competition. The roll-on applicator was intentionally designed for mess-free, temporary relief of minor muscular discomfort. RockSauce Chill’s powerful active ingredient works synergistically with soothing, inflammation-reducing ingredients like arnica, green-tea, and aloe to deliver a comprehensive pain relief solution. “The convenience of RockSauce Chill’s roll-on inspired us to redesign our entire topical product line,” said Cullen Maroney, Product Manager at RockTape. “Our goal was to develop a system of topicals that benefitted our medical professionals and their patients from the start.” RockSauce and RockSauce Chill analgesics are available in 32oz pump tops for in-clinic use and a 3oz roll-on for patient use. The complete RockSauce and RockSauce Chill lines are available direct from RockTape and through RockTape’s trusted medical distributors. Learn more about this new line of topicals by visiting the link...
by rocktapeuk | Feb 20, 2017 | Uncategorised
RockTape UK are proud to launch our inaugural UK Movement Summit at Therapy Expo 2017 (www.therapyexpo.co.uk). Taking place at Birmingham’s NEC on the 22nd & 23rd November, the RockTape Movement Summit and Therapy Expo will be unmissable for therapy professionals, with two days of the latest insight, education, demonstrations, networking and training. Leading the line-up of speakers are our very own medical director Paul Coker and Education Director Daniel Lawrence. Promising to be an event to remember, the RockTape summit programme includes dedicated demonstrations and hands on training in vital clinical skills including; kinesiology taping, IASTM techniques, movement screening, manual therapy and therapeutic movement and exercise prescription. Taking place over two days, and hosted in the Therapy Expo Demo Zone, delegates will be able to drop in and out of sessions to suit their session schedule. Book your £79 +VAT RockTape early bird ticket by the 31st March before the price increases to £99 +VAT using discount code ROCK79 – and be in with a chance to win a place on a RockTape course of your choice. Paul Coker, Medical Director, RockTape UK said: “Therapy Expo is an incredible opportunity to showcase our treatment concepts and education to therapy professionals. We share a commitment with Therapy Expo to support therapy professionals, RockTape exists to spread new knowledge and best practice, and improve patient outcomes. Therapy Expo is the perfect fit to showcase and share our continued work, knowledge and insight.” By registering for Therapy Expo 2017 you will gain access to the RockTape Movement Summit and all its content, plus the full Therapy Expo conference programme and exhibition floor, benefiting from: Over...
by rocktapeuk | Feb 10, 2017 | Uncategorised
When I started as a student Physiotherapist 13 years ago it felt as if the management of back pain was having a big overhaul with the doom-monger ‘you will be in a wheel chair’ therapists being swept away by the self management and exercise scientific clean up crew. Now I feel the profession and our allied colleagues (Chiro, Osteo, Sports Therapy) have got a much better handle on things. We have not cured the world of back pain because we never will. Back pain has plagued humanity throughout history with the earliest records dating back to ancient Egypt. I think this specific patient was treated to some traction and something involving a dog, I was never any good at translating hieroglyphics though! I will be speaking at the Back Pain Show in Birmingham in May. www.thebackpainshow.co.uk In preparation for my talk and demonstration I have been revising what we do and the evidence for it. There are now plenty of taping for back pain studies to read through. One recent OPEN ACCESS article (here) compared the treatment outcome for two groups of mechanical back pain sufferers (15 in each group) with both groups performing McKenzie exercises and only one group receiving Kinesiology tape applied to their lower back. The results show a considerable reduction in disability for the taped group in comparison to the non-taped group, according to Oswestry low back disability Questionnaire. The lumbar spine application is simple, check out the pics at the top of the...
by rocktapeuk | Jan 24, 2017 | Uncategorised
I joined the Army in August 1992 as a member of the Royal Engineers. I played football from the minute I joined, representing my Regiment and was also lucky enough to also represent the Corps of Royal Engineers, until everything went rapidly and abruptly downhill in 2003. I had just been promoted to Sergeant and was serving in Hameln, Germany. My Regiment had reached the Army Cup Final, the pinnacle of football within the Army. An innocuous challenge in a training session, whilst preparing for this Cup Final, brought my world to an abrupt halt! A slight pain led me to casualty, where it transpired I had fractured my right Patellar. Not good. I was placed in a plaster cast from ankle to thigh for 6 weeks and left to stew at my misfortune. Gutted. Once the cast was removed it was identified that the break had been more technical than first identified. Although the fracture had healed, my kneecap was dislocating and then popping back in as I walked, leading to intense pain. It was decide to carry out a ‘Lateral Release’ operation in a German Hospital – an operation not carried out within the UK medical system. This procedure involved the cutting of a ligament on one side of the knee to hopefully make it the same strength as the other side, thus allowing the knee to operate and track correctly. This didn’t work out as planned so I was sent back to the UK to have another operation – a ‘Patellar Decompression’. This time they opened up the knee and cut a slight ‘v’ into the...
by rocktapeuk | Jan 20, 2017 | Uncategorised
On the 13th May, two disabled veterans from the British Army, set off from Edinburgh Castle heading to Exeter. All in aid of Help for Heroes and Veterans With Dogs. Both veterans have been helped by these two charities during their ongoing recovery pathway. However, this is no ordinary challenge. Both veterans will be doing the challenge on recumbent bikes. Laura will be using an ICE Trike which uses foot power, and Patrick on his Top End Force 3 hand bike. That’s right, 518 miles by arm power, because doing it by leg power isn’t hard enough. They will be using these bikes as their disabilities restrict them from using a normal bicycle. Patrick Medhurst-Feeney and Laura Ellis were both Medically Discharged from the Army after they picked injuries and illness while in service. Both suffer with physical and mental health conditions, that hugely effect their daily lives. After receiving help from both charities, they had the idea of giving something back to two charities that have helped them so much. Safe to say they went for a big challenge. Training is in full swing, with Laura working hard in Bathgate, Scotland, and Patrick’s tackling Dartmoor from his home in Plymouth. Building up the miles so that they’re ready to tackle the challenge that sits in front of them. Continuously reminding themselves that it’s all for charity. However, this challenge brings something else to the pair. It’s giving them an aim and a sense of achievement. Since leaving the Army, both have struggled with finding those things, so having this challenge is a big boost for the pair of...
