56 Billing Road, Northampton, NN1 5DBTel / Fax: 01604 601641 Email: info@wpbphysio.co.uk

www.WPBPhysio.co.uk • Twitter.com/WPBPhysio • Facebook.com/WPBPhysiotherapy

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Gold medal Greg officially opens our new reception!

LONDON 2012 Olympic Gold med-allist Greg Rutherford officially opened the new Witty, Pask & Buckingham reception on Mon-day, November 26th.

The area, shared with the County Clinic as part of a link-up between the two practices, has been standing for sometime now but extended building work to the County Clinic has meant a delay in the official opening.

All work is now complete, however, and Greg marked the official open-ing of our partnership at a launch for members of the press recently.

And he was full of praise for the work undertaken by both practices.

“I think this place is absolutely bril-liant,” said Greg.

“Not just from a sporting side, but if you come here to be checked out by these guys, you are getting checked out by the best, that is what it comes down to.

“There is a big time physiotherapist here in Mark Buckingham, a brilliant surgeon in Professor Bill Ribbans, and then everyone who is associated with the team - there are some very, very, very good practitioners who re-ally will fix you. That is a big thing to have.”

Mark Buckingham explained: “This partnership is something myself, Bill Ribbans and David Stock have want-

ed to do for a while and I’m delighted that we’ve managed to join forces.

“To have Greg Rutherford officially open the joint premises shows how highly regarded the work we do here is and I hope that any future patients will see that this is the place to come to if in need of any professional care.”

ALL SMILES - (above) Greg Rutherford officially opens our new reception area that is shared with the County Clinic, while (top right) he chats to David Stock and (bottom right) Mark Buckingham is interviewed. Pictures: Katie Mitchell

56 Billing Road, Northampton, NN1 5DBTel / Fax: 01604 601641 Email: info@wpbphysio.co.uk

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129www.northamptonchron.co.uk NorthamptoN ChroNiCle & eCho

then they have to go with theteam physios, who are excel-lent, but being a home gamestheathleteswanttoknowiftheycan come out.

“That is going to presentquite a few issues for the medi-cal team, they don’t want ath-letes leaving the village, andthey don’t want 101 physioshanging around the villagewalls. I think that has got to becarefully managed.”

Buckingham admits hisrole changes dramatically overafour-yearOlympiccycle,how-ever, and he describes himselfas more of a psychologist as thegames rapidly approach.

“I’m always a psychologistwith athletes because they areall barking mad,” he jokes.

“Hopefullyallthehardworkin terms of the in-depth physiostuff has all been done.

“It is now all about fine-tuning, and getting the speed

and zippiness to get their gameface on. This is the time wheremy experience of two OlympicGames and three or four Olym-pic cycles of seeing this, meansI can see if things are going a lit-tle bit awry.

“It is the same in the warm-up area before the race. Peopleare getting ready for the biggestrace of their lives, and thingsstart to get a bit tense and a bittight, and they will say ‘this legdoesn’t feel like it is quite right’,and you just go through proc-esses and do a bit of this and abit of that and they go away feel-ing fine. And it is all part of be-ing in high-performance sport.

“You are not going to say,‘oh look, you’ve sprained yourankle, that’s ruined your Olym-pics’.

“Itisadifferenttypeofphys-iotherapy, but one that youevolve into the more Olympicsyou do.”

ple of years ago she was strug-gling to make it in to Europeancross country teams, but we’vebeen able to keep her fit, keepgetting the mileage under herbeltandwithsomegreatcoach-ing as well, she has managed tomake the few tweaks to get tothe Olympics.

“And I’ll be looking after AvaHutchinsoninthemarathonforthe Irish team, and David Webbin the marathon.”

As for how involved he willbe when the Games actuallykickoff,Buckinghamisunsure,as he explains: “I’ve got a phonecallbookedwiththechiefmedi-cal officer of UK Athletics, be-cause a couple of the people Iam working with have asked ifthey can come and see me dur-ing the Games, because I havebeen working with them andthey feel I know their body bet-ter than anybody.

“If the Games are in Beijing,

KEY ROLE Northampton physio MarkBuckingham (inset) has played massive part in

ensuring the Great Britain athletics team,including Mo Farah (main picture) are in tip-top

shape for the London Olympics

BIG DECISION Northantsbatsman David Sales

Northants announcedon Tuesday that Dav-id Sales is free to joinother counties whenhis contract expires

at the end of this season.That came just two days

after ‘Jumble’ had scored 138not out in the LV= Champion-ship clash against Glamorganat the County Ground, his sec-ond first-class century of theseason.

There was some surprisethat the club have made such amove, but chief executive Dav-id Smith made it clear the deci-sion was nothing to do with theplayer’s ability - which is not indoubt, he is a class act - but allto do with his fitness, or rather,lack of it.

Indeed, Smith suggestedthat if Sales proves he canmaintain his fitness over thelast two months of this season,he will be offered a new deal bythe club. But Sales, it seems,is keen to see what other of-fers are out there, although heinsists that he is keen to stay atthe County Ground.

I can understand North-ants’ reluctance to offer the34-year-old a new deal, be-cause he has spent more timeon the sidelines in recent yearsthan he has on the pitch.

Sales has been unluckywith injuries, from the initialcruciate damage suffered onan England A tour all thoseyears ago, through to a similarproblem encountered in re-cent years.

It’s a terrible shame for theplayer that a career that couldhave reached some seriousheights has been beset by suchproblems.

But this is a player thatprobably still has at leastthree good years left in himif he can stay fit, and I happento think he should just gethis head down, keep himselfin shape, score some seriousruns - and then commithis future to a club that haslooked after him through thick

County are rightto wait on Sales

Portsmouthneed to startliving in thereal worldand thin for the past 18 years.Here’s hoping he can do justthat.

Portsmouth FC re-main a club in astate of crisis, withserious clouds stillhanging over the

very future of the club.With that in mind, you

would think those in chargewould ensure they watchevery penny, and keep a closeeye on expenditure.

So what on earth are theydoing travelling to Malaga inSpain for a pre-season train-ing camp?

I mean what they can dothere that they can’t do onhome soil (apart from get asun-tan of course)?

I mean, when will foot-ball clubs like Pompey everlearn?

There is a real world outthere, and they need to startliving in it.

Talking of clubs in cri-sis, Rangers are look-ing at playing theirfootball in the Irn-Bru Scottish League

Division Three this season.The Glasgow giants have

been punished severely forwhat looks like epic financialwrong-doing, and althoughthe decision to send themdown to the basement divi-sion could damage Scottishfootball, and hit some clubshard in the pocket, it was theright call.

Livingston were demotedto the third division whenthey transgressed a few yearsago, and you can’t have onerule for them, and anotherfor one half of the old firm.

To be fair to Rangers andthe majority of supporters,they seem prepared to taketheir punishment and startagain right from the bottom.

And although there isno doubt the SPL will be astrange place without them -can you imagine the EnglishPremier League withoutManchester United? - here’shoping that Rangers, andScottish football in general,can survive this episode andprosper.

Bad news this weekthat CourtneyLawes has sufferedyet another injuryin pre-season for

Saints.The giant lock has en-

dured a torrid time, havingsuffered knee and shin prob-lems last season, and now hehas undergone surgery on anelbow injury.

The fact two of those in-juries have been to joints willbe of real concern to playerand club, but hopefully forLawes this latest problemwill be his last and he can getback to what he does best,and that is playing rugby.Because Saints and Englandcertainly need him.

jeremy.casey@northantsnews.co.uk

Sporting View

Jeremy Caseywww.northantsnews.co.uk

Home advantage Northampton 01604 611011www.michaelgraham.co.uk

128 Thursday, July 19, 2012NorthamptoN ChroNiCle & eCho

BigInterview

By Steve WalshSports writerchron.sports@northantsnews.co.uk

IntervIew

town physio mark Buckinghamon keeping the olympic team fit

what was ashack is now aproper indoorfacilityI’m always apsychologist ...the athletes arebarking mad

“I’d been working with UKAthletics for four or five yearson trips abroad when I was ap-proached by them to becomethe first physio and set up thefirst high-performance centreat Loughborough,” he said.

“Frankly the first high-per-formance centre for the firstcouple of years was a changingroominaratherricketywoodencabin at the end of the track.

“They approached me to setupthephysiosideofit,whichatfirst was two mornings a week,and then two days a week, andthen it evolved from there tolooking after 45 athletes full-time.

“The whole thing evolvedfrom 1999 onwards.

“The Sydney Olympics werea bit of a mish-mash as we hadonlyjuststartedgettingtheballrolling, and people were turn-ing up at the Games saying theyhadn’t trained properly for sixmonths.

“Now the whole thing hasturned completely around intermsofthecarethattheseguyshave got. Bowel movements arereported, it is to that extent.

“Youknoweverythingaboutthese guys to the nth degree,

and now the job of a physio atanOlympicGamesismuchless.

“And hopefully with thecare they have had they will bein much better shape to go outand peak in London.”

Buckingham, who travelledto both the Sydney 2000 andAthens 2004 Olympics as partof the support team, watchedfuture stars like Mo Farrah en-terhisnewsystematLoughbor-ough with the potential to havethe world at their feet with afeast of new facilities and train-ing aids to help them shine.

“It has changed a lot,” headded.

“What was a shack is now aproper indoor facility, with in-door tracks, proper weights ar-eas,properthrowingareas,anda state-of-the-art sports medi-cine and sports science area.

“It was great to be involvedin the development of it, rightfrom looking at plans and de-signs, to bringing the staff in.

“It’s very satisfying to see itget to this point because I amstill good friends with a lot ofthe guys we started workingwith back then.

“Guys like Mo Farrah andChris Thompson (who placed

PhysiotherapistMarkBucking-ham will watch on with pridethissummerassomeofhislife’swork comes to fruition at theOlympic Games.

As a leading member of theteam behind the team, he maynotbewellknown,butBucking-hamisoneofthemenresponsi-ble for the changing face of Ol-ympic sport in Great Britain,from a team of also-rans in At-lanta 1996 to one of the world’sleading nations in Beijing fouryears ago.

The Northampton-basedpractitioner was asked to leadthe set-up of a new high-per-formance system by UK Sportfollowing the introduction ofLottery funding to athletes af-ter the Atlanta Games.

And with the first benefici-ariesofthefull-timesystemhit-ting their peak in London thissummer, Buckingham feels adefinite pride at what he hasaccomplished.

booked by UK Athletics, whosend athletes to see him on aweeklybasis,andheisinchargeof a trio of runners who willcompete in the Olympic stadi-um in a few weeks time.

“To varying degrees of con-tention, I was working with 10or 12 athletes who had a shot atLondon 2012, mostly distancerunners, from 800 metres up-wards, and a couple of high-jumpers,” said Buckingham.

“Some didn’t make it be-cause of illness and injury andsomebecausetheyarenotquitegood enough.

“When you are dealing withOlympic athletes it is becausethey are the best of the best ofthe best in the world.

“There are a few guys that Iamlookingafter,whohavedonefantastically well to get there,who I think will do well.

“Like Julia Bleasdale in the5,000and10,000metres.Acou-

first and second in the 10,000metres at the European Cham-pionships in 2010), distancer u n n e r s wh o h ave c o m ethroughfromthejuniorsIknewinthelate90s,togettingseriousabout their training and whohave now started to see someresults.

“I had an awful lot to do withthem while I was at Loughbor-ough, and seeing them comethrough a full career to beingin contention at the Olympicsis fantastic.”

Buckingham quit the highperformance set-up in 2004 -“when I decided the time I wasspending with sweaty athletes,I would rather spend with myyoungfamily”-buthestill looksafteraraft ofathletesathisBill-ing Road clinic, Witty, Pask &Buckingham.

Such is his stature in theTeam GB hierarchy, part ofBuckingham’s diary is block

the fitnessBuck stopswith ourman Mark

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KEITH ALLEN-SHIRTCLIFFE helped Team GB bring home four medals from the World Duathlon Champi-onships in Nancy, France, recently.

With Keith’s keeping them in tip-top shape, Team GB won two gold and two silver medals to add to a brilliant year of sport in the UK.

DELIGHTED male members of the WPB roster re-cently shaved off their Movember efforts after rais-ing over £500 for men’s health charities.

Luckily, we man-

aged to capture the exact moment Mark Brennan (bottom right) was told that now Movember is over, his ‘han-dlebars’ effort is a sack-able offense.

MARK BUCKINGHAM emerged from Budapest cold but triumphant re-cently as he looked after the suc-cessful Great Britain Cross Country team.

In his 15th year as GB physio for the European Cross Country Champion-ships, Mark saw the team bring home a phenomenal 15 medals, with Jess Coulson winning gold in the under 23 female competition.

The Great Britain and Northern Ire-land squad topped the medal table for the fifth successive year.

THE practice contin-ues to be in demand from any media look-ing for expert advice on all things physi-otherapy.

Mark Buckingham has recently started a biweekly column on the Chronicle & Echo website, while he continues to write for TREND Health, Fitness & Lifestyle and Athletics weekly and is a regular con-tributor on BBC Radio Northampton.

Follow our media commitments at our Facebook and Twitter pages, addresses at the top of the page!

Latest news...

Merry Christmas!And a happy new year,

from all at Witty, Pask & Buckingham!

RUNNERS can perform a self-analysis of their running gait in one of two ways. Firstly, a huge amount of information can be gleaned from

looking at yourself in a mirror and watching how you control some simple movements. Secondly, you can arrange for someone to take enough decent video footage, even with a smartphone, of you running either on the track or a treadmill to analyse it.

This article will cover the simple mirror approach. Wearing shorts only and no socks, stand in front of a mirror that is long enough and positioned so that you can see at least from your tummy downwards to your feet. We will use three positions or actions to tell us various things.

First, try...

Small knee bends on one legRepeat the movement 10- 15 times at a reasonable speed and look closely at your hips, knee and foot.Look for the following:1. The hip/pelvis should

stay quite level without the hip drifting to the outside.

2. The knee should stay under the hip and not cross the mid-line of your body and certainly not drift to the inside of the foot.

3. The foot should be pointing forwards and not out to the outside.

4. The inside arch of the foot should remain upright and not roll in (pronation).

5. The toes should not claw so that the tips dig into the floor.

Make a note of your thoughts and move on to the next movement.

Heel rises on one footYou should be able to lift up fully on to your tip-toes of one foot without diffi culty. This should be repeated 10-15 times, once again watching the movement control and range carefully.

Look for the following:1. The foot should be able to lift fully off the

floor, not just halfway (picture 3).

2. The arch should form at the top of the lift.

3. The knee should remain over the top of the foot and not roll in.

Hops – one footSmall repeated skipping type hops on the spot, on one foot. Do 10 or so and again be critical of how you move and land.

Look for the following:1. The hip/pelvis should remain near level

when landing. It should not drop or collapse down.

2. The hip should not move to the outside as you land.

3. The knee should stay over the top of the foot and not roll inside of the foot.

4. The foot should stay pointing forwards and not move to point outside.

5. The foot arch should not collapse and bulge inwards on landing.

6. You should get off the ground fully and with power.

7. You should land with control and not a big thud.

8. Picture 1 is how the leg should look as you land, not as in picture 2 or 4.

ATHLETICS WEEKLY36

PERFORMANCEBiomechanics

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analysis of their running gait in one of two ways. Firstly, a huge amount of information can be gleaned from

Heel rises on one footYou should be able to lift up fully on to your tip-toes of one foot without diffi culty. This should be repeated 10-15 times, once again

UNNERS can perform a self-analysis of their running gait in one of two ways. Firstly, a huge amount of information can be gleaned from

UNNERS can perform a self-analysis of their running gait in one of two ways. Firstly, a huge amount of information can be gleaned from RUNNERS can perform a self-analysis of their running gait in one of two ways. Firstly, a huge amount of information can be gleaned from

SELF-ANALYSIS OF THE RUNNING GAIT IS NOT AS DIFFICULT AS YOU MIGHT EXPECT, WRITES MARK BUCKINGHAMPICTURES: KATIE MITCHELL/MARK BUCKINGHAM

2

1

3

4

AW June 14 Gait 36-37.indd 2 12/06/2012 12:48:37

18 Twitter.com/TRENDHFLFacebook.com/TRENDHFL 19

The Knowledge

RecoverHealth & Fitness Health & Fitness

By Mark BuckinghamMark was head physiotherapist for Team GB athletics at the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Olympics, and is a director of Witty, Pask & Buckingham

physiotherapists, Billing Road, Northampton For appointments call 01604 601641

A

Injury

nyone who has trained even moderately hard will have

experienced some pain somewhere. If you stopped training for every

ache and pain you would never get going, however pain is your body’s system for telling you it is under stress and is potentially being damaged so it should not be completely ignored.

Understanding what is acceptable pain that can be trained through and what is not is something that only really comes with experience, but I will try to provide some

framework for this.

Types of painPain is the result of tissues becoming stressed beyond their capacity. This is true of muscles, ligaments, tendons and all parts of the bone system. Broken into simple pigeon holes you can interpret the signs in the following ways:

1. A dull ache/tired type of pain when training: The area is a little bit tight afterwards for 24 hours or so then clears = Warning sign that tissues are struggling.

It is ok to continue training – try icing for 15 minutes post training and an easy massage. It is important to think about why the area might be stressed. This could be the type of session you did a day or two before, a change in surface, or your trainers wearing out.

Once you have worked this out try to alter the reason or it will lead to a more serious injury.

2. A strong ache when training and a limping: An ‘ouch’ type of tightness is present afterwards for more than 24 hours while it is especially sore the next morning = You have damaged some tissues.

Try a simple test to see if you should train. If it is your leg then does it give sharp pain to hop or lunge five times? If yes then do not train. If no then try a five minute self-massage and ease into training, then ice for 10 minutes afterwards. Stop if the pain develops during the training session.

3. Sharp pain when training, immediately sore and painful: It’s painful to do sports specific movements, to hop and lunge or even to walk or climb stairs = You have significantly damaged tissues which require you to rest to allow it to heal.

The usual time frame will be seven to 10 days but you can use the self-tests outlined further on in this article to test.

Big, ‘red-flag’ types of pain• Pain on bones, very tender spots

to press. • Pain at night and rest as well as

when using the area. • Hot swollen muscles or joints which

are constantly tense and very painful.

• Numbness, burning pain and pins and needles are signs of nerves being irritated.

Seek medical advice for any of these!

Leading physiotherapist Mark Buckingham guides you through the warning signs of pain, and what they mean...

Knowing when to stop: Am I just tired or am I injured?

‘Pain is your body’s way of telling you it is under

stress and potentially damaged’

Look for reasons why

There will be a reason why the area has become sore. Clearly if you have rolled your ankle then that is it but more often with injury it is not a traumatic, sudden pain but a build-up of load and stress.

CausesChange in training load

- Increased speed work- Longer sessions- Hills or other changes in terrain

Change in surface- More road work- Drier, harder ground- Slippy surfaces

Change in shoes- Are your trainers wearing out? 400 miles is the

maximum any pair should travel!- Change in trainer type

Change in equipment

- Are you using a different bike?- Are you playing against a faster opponent than

before, causing a change of speed?

Fatigue- Tiredness and fatigue causes changes in running

style and technique in any sport, which can lead to injury

Most training changes described above are introduced with the best of intentions. However if your body produces pain then it is important that you work out why so that you do not continue to damage it. You have to listen to your body to stop turning a bit of soreness into a proper injury and time-off. The most experienced athletes are able to listen to their bodies and have a longer career as a result. As you get older you also have to be smarter because you do not heal as quickly.

So if you get pain – especially repeatedly in one area, have a look at what has changed and rejig it.

Inflammation(2-5 days)

Active healing(5 days - 3 weeks)

Maturation of tissues(3 weeks to 2 years)

Bleeding stops - Blood flow is restricted

- Clotting/internal scabbing begins

Granulation - New scar tissue is laid down

- New capillaries bring energy and nutrients to area

Maturation - Scar tissues strengthen, though are only around 80% as strong as original tissue

- The bigger the damaged area, the more scar tissue

Inflammation - Blood supply increases

- New tissues are laid down

Contraction - Damaged tissue is drawn together to bind

This process takes at least three weeks to create tissue that is strong enough to take loads

Cells create new tissues and blood vessels

Loading is possible but be careful not to break the tissue again!

HEALING STAGES

Area Healing timeBones, ligaments and tendons 6-12 weeksMuscles 4 - 6 weeksNerves 3 to 18 monthsFull strength of ligaments 3 10 12 monthsFull bone healing/remodelling 2 yearsFull tendon strength 3 to 18 months