Tuesday 10 February 2009

Complicated abdominal muscle injury

This week I discharged one of my clients with an unusual and complicated abdominal problem. He was getting pain in the right side of his rectus abdominis which is the superficial abdominal muscle. His pain was initiated by running over a few yards and was severe enough to stop the activity. This young gentleman was training hard in order to join the marines and running was an essential part of his training.
After thorough examination i discovered that his problem originated from a lack of low back control that was resulting in overloading his abdominals. We worked really hard to change his low back position, and control of his pelvis. Some of the exercises can be seen in the following links.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODbj-IZ42e8&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKToTnbfcOE&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooTMUcwduLw&feature=channel
Other exercises included lounges (straight, with resistance) plyometric work and running drills.

This gentleman is now able to run for over 5 miles at good speed without any symptoms. The rest of his exercise regime has improved as he feels his core is a lot stronger and is able to withstand a lot more load.