This blog will cover a protocol for rehabilitating calf muscle strains.

Calf muscle injuries are notoriously tricky to rehab,  and there is currently no universally agreed recovery protocol, even amongst the world's leading sports  injury specialists. If you have a calf muscle strain, it’s worth trying to get your rehab right, as calves are particularly prone to being re-injured.

Ankle sprain rehab is important. If you skimp on it, you may get ongoing problems with your ankle.  During rehab you should gradually reduce the amount of time spent wearing an ankle brace and also start some controlled weight-bearing balance exercises and muscle strengthening exercises for the injured ankle. 

The main types of exercises recommended for rehabilitating hamstring injuries are progressive running exercises and eccentric hamstring exercises.

I have repeatedly found with patients with a rounded upper back that using a back roller for just a few minutes every day can help keep their upper backs mobile and pain-free.

Research has shown that tractioning your low back can be a safe and effective way to relieve low back pain, particularly if you have an intervertebral disc injury, either with or without sciatica. Traction is also useful for alleviating low back pain from other causes.

Research has shown that strengthening and stretching the foot and calf muscles together with improving ankle and big toe mobility can help alleviate plantar fasciitis.

People who have jobs where they are sitting all day may want to consider breaking up the sitting with some short periods of ‘active rest’ positions like squatting, which appear to offer health benefits.

Here is a simple and quick exercise that patients can try at home if they think their pelvis is out. This is an ‘at home’ version of an exercise I have consistently found useful when trying to correct pelvic twisting in my patients.

There is evidence to show that sometimes sciatic pain is actually being caused by the sciatic nerve being stuck to the tissues in the gluteal (buttock) region.

Gluteus medius is a small but important muscle in your buttocks that connects your hip and your pelvis. Its primary role is to help stabilise the pelvis and support movements of the hip joint.

My favourite core stability exercise is the ‘suck it in’, otherwise known as the ‘abdominal draw-in manoeuvre’ (ADIM). This exercise is easy to learn and perform, and can be done without putting strain on your body.

Bone breathing is my favourite relaxation/breathing exercise, which I first learned about in a book by Michael Gearin-Tosh, a man who survived a serious form of cancer against the odds.

In my experience, when patients have hips that aren’t moving properly they have usually lost backward movement (extension) and inward movement (internal rotation).

If you have been told that you have a rounded upper back, then these are some exercises that can help restore a more natural upper back position and range of movement. It takes many years ( sometimes decades) for people’s backs to round in this way, so improvement is usually slow and minor, but often even minor changes can help alleviate problems.

If you have rounded shoulders, then these are two exercises which can help address the problem. Modern living (phones, computers etc..) has a habit of leading to a rounded shoulder position where the muscles at the front of the chest can become tight and the muscles at the back of the chest can become weak.

Here at Osteo Studio, we aim to help our clients help themselves with their pain. One of the best ways to do this is to engage in exercises as well as Osteopathic treatments. If you have a ‘forward head’ position, then these are two exercises which can help correct your posture.

Here at Osteo Studio, we aim to help our clients help themselves with their pain. One of the best ways to do this is to engage in exercises as well as Osteopathic treatments. If you are a patient that has been told by me that you need to strengthen your lower back muscles, then this is a short video covering the famous ‘Bird-Dog’ exercise is an excellent, at-home way of building up some muscle and stability in your lower back.

For patients who have reduced movement in their shoulder blades, this is an excellent exercise which describes a way to restore the strength and mobility in your scapulo-thoracic joint.

Here at Osteo Studio, we aim to help our clients help themselves with their pain. One of the best ways to do this is to engage in exercises as well as Osteopathic treatments.

For those patients who have a scoliosis problem, this is an excellent video which describes a few different exercises which can help to restore movement, strength and alignment in their spines.

The exercises are also great for people without a scoliosis problem who are looking to improve their general spinal mobility.

Here are 8 exercises which you can do at home for free without any equipment which are good for alleviating back pain, strengthening your back muscles and increasing your spinal flexibility.