Taping
Leukotape:​
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This is the stiff tape I will use in clinic. It is more expensive than your classic sports tape but substantially more robust. For those being active multiple days in a row, leukotape is worth the investment to avoid daily tape reapplications.
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Where to buy:
LivWell health (downtown)
Davies Home health (dentville)
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Sports tape:
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This is what I advise clients to buy for retaping. Sports tape is a "stiff tape" or "rigid tape" meant for adding support. Sports tape is also the best option for taping fingers. It's cheaper but much easier to work with than leukotape and doesn't require a baselayer.
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Where to buy:
Davies Home Health
Shoppers
K Tape:​
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K Tape is a cloth sports tape with elastic woven through to allow for movement. K Tape will not stop movement but will help to offload over worked muscles or guide movement. Show above are the 2 brands I use the most: KT Tape and Rock tape. KT tape has 20 precut strips, rock tape you have to cut to length. Both have pros and cons. KT tape can be easier to measure out but can produce more waste.
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Where to buy:
Rock Tape: Shift Wellness
KT Tape: Shoppers
Taping instructions
Lower Limb
Upper Limb
Braces
Braces have a time and a place and I don't recommend them often so please do not go ahead and purchase a brace until I have recommended you do so!
Most of these braces can be found at Davies Home Health, walmart or shoppers.
Sock brace
Ankle Brace full support
Knee compression sleeve
De Quirvains brace / thumb sprain brace
Tennis Elbow brace
Elbow night splint
Potentially found locally or on amazon
Wrist brace
Widget Brace
Can be purchased at Shift Wellness
Toe spacers
Only at Davies Home Health or on Amazon
Random therapy tools
Muscle Scrapers / Guasha
In our session I would have recommended a tool like this and advised on how to use it and why to use it. I will be writing a blog posts on these tools soon!
Muscle scraper
Guasha
Wave Tool
Can be purchased locally at Climb On ~$65
Trigger point
Trigger point ball / Peanut
Spikey ball
I've seen them in London Drugs or online
As an Amazon Associate I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. All commision earned goes back into buying supplies for my practice such as therabands and needles.
Theracane
Available at Climb On $43
Massage gun / Theragun
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Theragun vs knockoffs: Quieter & the vibration has approx 6mm further reach. Is it worth the extra money? absolutely not. Options under $130 are just as good. Read the reviews and pick one that has attachments you like.
Running Resources
Minimalist Index / Shoes
In our session I may have talked to you about the shoes you wear and what kind of shoe may serve you better for nursing your injury, preventing injury or improving your efficiency. Evidence available today shows that shoes with less cushion / foam & are more minimalist can reduce your risk of injury.
That being said based on each individuals body and recurring injuries or places of strain I will adjust recommendations. I rarely recommend hokas to anyone. Below are some companies and shoes I wear and recommend. You will see a trend of low foam and wide toe boxes. I tend to recommend shoes that are 40% - 50% on the minimalist index. The running clinic has some great information on the minimalist index and you can search your shoe and see what % it falls under. If your shoe isn't on the website they have a calculator on there as well and most of the information needed for it can be found on the shoes website under specs.
Vivoactive: street wear, casual, boots
Altra: Trail runners, road runners, hiking boots
Topo: Trail & road runners, hiking boots
Locally you can try on and purchase Altra shoes at Ski Uphill located on 2nd avenue. They are very knowledgeable in store and only carry shoes that are evidence based (lots of shoes I approve of).
General running advice
Getting Started
- Start small! Even if you are an experienced runner returning back to running after a break starting at a much shorter distance, shorter total time and slower speed is the safest.
- Pick flatter terrain that isn't very technical (this might just be going around the block)
- utilize a training or a "couch to 5k" program like the ones on The Running clinic
- Take walking breaks when you need them or even better... before you need them
- Shorter runs more times per week is safer and more effective than doing 1 or 2 longer runs per week. Evidence shows running 4x per week is ideal for muscle adaptation
- Check your gear: Does the foam of your shoes have stress and compression lines? Hows the tread? Are there holes? Not sure if your shoes need to be replaced? bring them to me and I'm happy to have a look and recommend a new pair if needed
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Warm Up
Yes warming up matters, no running slowly your first kilometer doesn't count.
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What it should look like:
- Dymanic movements that take your legs and body through ranges of motion
- Mixture of mobility focused movements and muscle activation focused movements
- by the end your heart rate should be elevated, you should feel warm and if you have a garmin you should ALMOST have GPS signal
eg. Leg swings, calf raises, walking lunges, jump squats, high knees, bum kicks, picking the grapes hamstring stretch
Warm up can also start before you've even put your shoes on. I often recommend rolling out feet or scraping calves before gearing up.
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Warm up should not:
- involve static stretching or stretches that involve holding a position for longer than 5 seconds
- leave you out of breath, in pain or fatigued
Cadence
- Recommended 170-180
- Shorter, faster steps, foot hits the ground just in front of your body or directly underneath.
- Utilize playlists that have the same BPM as your goal cadence eg. Search "170 BPM pop" and run to the beat
- Gradually increase. eg. If you are running intervals 5 min on 1 min off for 5 rounds on intervals 2 & 4 run to the cadence playlist and on intervals 1,3 & 5 run to your regular playlist and run at whatever cadence is comfortable. Gradually increase how many intervals or how many songs you run to. This is because increasing cadence can slightly change how your foot strikes the ground and thus change where the forces are hitting your body. Gradually increasing helps give your body time to adapt.
- Try to avoid letting yourself speed up
What about on trail? Yes you can still utilize cadence on trail. Flat areas are the easiest to use it but also in our downhill taking smaller steps vs big leaps will reduce the forces and increase our control.
Progressing
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Progressing your running can come in many more forms than simply running farther and running faster. Progressing and changing too many factors too quickly can lead to injury. Rule of thumb is when progressing distance or total time it should be done at 10% per week for novice or returning runners and 20% for experienced runners with base running fitness
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Factors to progress:
- Speed
- Distance
- Total time running
- Time between walking breaks
- Terrain surface
- Terrain elevation & technicality
When progressing your running only change 1 factor at a time. This reduces over all load increase but also makes it easier to see what aspect was too much if your progression was unachievable or caused pain. If we increase our total time running and in the same run decide to run something steeper than usual then we don't know if it was the distance or the elevation that caused the problem.