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Showing posts from June, 2017

Rehab Out Of Winter

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Some good timing for the family holiday. With Winter highlighting its arrival with some very cold mornings it was time to head to a warmer climate. This part was purposefully planned. The timing had nothing to do with fitting into my ankle rehab plans. Yet this part also fitted in quite nicely. Relaxation, pools, beach, sun, heat, drink, food and no work drew us out to Khao Lak, Thailand. Amongst the usual holiday stuff I continued the progression in my ankle. On holidays I usually enjoy getting up early and exploring the area with some morning runs. Obviously this wasnt happening this time. No problem and surprisingly to me, not too disappointing. So far the mornings involve an early rise without an alarm. Down to the beach for some breathing exercises, meditation and yoga plus some exercises for my ankle with some walking. Then into the resort's gym for strength training. There's a good amount of walking interspersed throughout the days that there's no need for a dedicate...

Remodelling

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The disorganised scar tissue of fats cells, fibroblasts, inflammatory cells and loose connective tissue should be at the stage where it has been coaxed along to become something more functional. My ankle ligaments feel much stronger than they did a week ago. It's now at that stage that defines whether it stays as a mess that holds together, but without most of the elastic qualities a good a ligament has, or it becomes a functional ligament again. So this means training to encourage the remodelling process. There should be plenty of collagen now, and after the week and a bit of basic movement exercises most of it should be aligned in the right direction. The fibres will be type 3 collagen which are significantly thinner than the dense type 1 fibres which make up the majority of a healthy ligament. Into my fourth week post injury and I am running on the assumption the strength of my ligaments is at best 10-20%. It's a dangerous time. Without loading it will stagnate, but load als...