Here's why Heat, Alcohol, Running (or other sport), Massage, and Stretching might all make things worse for you if you've just injured yourself.

Sports physio Maryke shares some workarounds for the early days after an injury and explains when things like massage and stretching can safely be used later on.

🌟Need help with an injury? You’re welcome to consult one of the team at SIP via video call for an assessment of your injury and a tailored treatment plan.

👉 Get your ice packs for injuries on Amazon:

✅ Perfect Remedy 2 Reusable Gel Ice Packs - Adjustable

✅ Strapt Ice Fillable, Reusable & Wearable Ice Pack

✅ Clever 24 Disposable Ice Packs - No Freezer Needed

✅ TheraICE Reusable Ankle Ice Pack

Some links here are to places where you can buy something relevant. If you do, we might get a small commission at no extra cost to you.

📽️ Related videos:

➡️ When to Use Ice or Heat for Treating a Sports Injury

➡️ How Long to Ice an Injury ... And when NOT to Ice It

➡️ Massage For Sports Injuries - When & How

➡️ Stretching & Injuries Don't Always Mix Well

📚 Chapters in this episode:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:10 Do no HARMS

00:01:36 Heat

00:04:44 Alcohol

00:06:26 Running (or fill in your sport)

00:10:01 Massage

00:12:33 Stretching

00:15:00 How we can help

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Isotonic calf raise exercises closely resemble how you use your Achilles tendon and calf muscles in everyday life - that's why they are so useful as part of a rehab programme for an Achilles tendon injury.

In this episode, sports physio Maryke demonstrates the various ways in which you can do these exercises and explains under which circumstances each of these would be useful.

🌟 Need help with an Achilles-related injury? You’re welcome to consult one of the team at TMA via video call for an assessment and a tailored treatment plan.

📽️ Other videos mentioned in this episode:

➡️ Isometric Heel Raises

➡️ Eccentric Heel Raises

➡️ Three Gentle Exercises For Achilles Pain

➡️ Exercises for Insertional Achilles Tendonitis

📚 Chapters in this episode:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:08 What are isotonic exercises?

00:03:08 Exercise demo

00:06:44 Sensitive tendons

00:10:03 Amount of stretch

00:12:31 Weights

00:16:27 Speed

00:18:56 Summary

00:19:46 How we can help

Sports physio Maryke explains how to use shockwave treatment for plantar fasciitis and tendinopathy or tendonitis (e.g. gluteal, high hamstring, and Achilles tendinopathy). She discusses:

➡️ the benefits of shockwave therapy

➡️ how many sessions you might need

➡️ side effects

➡️ why shockwave therapy might increase your pain

➡️ and whether shockwave can cause permanent damage.

🌟Need help with an injury? You’re welcome to consult one of the team at SIP via video call for an assessment of your injury and a tailored treatment plan.

🧾 What type of tendon problem brought you here? Here is our library with articles and videos on the various types of tendon injuries, as well as plantar fasciitis:

➡️ Gluteal tendinopathy

➡️ High hamstring tendinopathy

➡️ Distal hamstring tendinopathy

➡️ Adductor tendinopathy

➡️ Patellar tendinopathy

➡️ Tibialis posterior tendinopathy

➡️ Peroneal tendinopathy

➡️ Abdominal tendinopathy

➡️ Achilles tendonitis/tendinopathy (our other website)

➡️ Plantar fasciitis (YouTube Playlist)

📚 Chapters in this video:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:30 Types of shockwave

00:02:30 How does shockwave work?

00:07:29 Why wait 3 months?

00:09:44 What type works best?

00:10:48 Shockwave protocols

00:12:55 Side effects

00:15:56 What else matters?

00:17:43 How we can help

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Longitudinal Achilles tears are quite rare ... but we don't know exactly how rare, because this type of Achilles injury has not been researched extensively.

Treat My Achilles co-founder Alison Gould looks at what research is available and discusses the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment options of longitudinal Achilles tears.

✅ Use these heel wedges (height adjustable) to take the strain off your Achilles while it heals.

👉Some links here are to places where you can buy something relevant. If you do, we might get a small commission at no extra cost to you.

🌟 Need help with an Achilles-related injury? You’re welcome to consult one of the team at TMA via video call for an assessment and a tailored treatment plan.

📽️ All about partial Achilles tears

📽️ All about complete Achilles tears

📽️ Achilles Red Flags - When to Seek Urgent Help for your Achilles Pain!

📽️ How to know whether you have Achilles tendonitis/tendinopathy

📽️ Achilles Tendonitis Treatment – What Works (and What Makes It Worse)

📚 Chapters in this video:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:00:54 What are longitudinal tears?

00:03:24 Causes

00:07:20 Diagnosis

00:12:10 Treatment

00:18:29 What if I'm not making progress?

00:20:51 Do I need surgery?

Altitude training masks are supposed to give you the benefits of elevation training without having to go and live in the mountains.

Sports physio Maryke Louw takes a look at the research into altitude training masks to see whether they live up to the promises in terms of endurance and strength, gives some tips on how to use them if you do decide to go that route, and discusses some safety issues.

👉 Examples of altitude training masks similar to those used in the research:

✅ Sparthos

✅ YUMIOER

✅ TRAININGMASK

👉Some links here are to places where you can buy something relevant. If you do, we might get a small commission at no extra cost to you.

🌟Need help with an injury? You’re welcome to consult one of the team at SIP via video call for an assessment of your injury and a tailored treatment plan.

📚 Chapters in this episode:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:00:56 How true altitude training works

00:02:22 Do altitude training masks work?

00:03:28 Research review - Endurance

00:05:09 Research review - Strength

00:05:59 How to use an altitude mask

00:09:28 Safety

00:12:47 How we can help

📰 Subscribe to the Sports Injury Physio e-newsletter.

Proximal hamstring tendinopathy doesn't necessarily mean you have to stop running.

In this episode, sports physio Maryke Louw explains:

➡️ how to figure out whether you can run

➡️ how to adjust your running so that it doesn't make your injury worse

➡️ and how to look at the bigger picture with your running and high hamstring tendinopathy.

🌟Need help with an injury? You’re welcome to consult one of the team at SIP via video call for an assessment of your injury and a tailored treatment plan.

❓Questions? Email Maryke at [email protected].

📽️ Here's our Playlist with our videos about various aspects of high (proximal) hamstring tendinopathy.

📽️ Especially useful: Cross-training/Cardio with High Hamstring Tendinopathy

📚 Chapters in this episode:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:19 Quick recap

00:04:39 Can I continue with my running?

00:05:13 How to interpret your pain

00:09:35 How to adapt your running

00:14:39 Training for a race

00:17:12 Other things to consider

00:21:16 How we can help

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So, you've recovered from your Achilles injury, and you want to prevent it from recurring.

In this episode, sports physio Alison Gould explains how to maintain strength, how to ramp things up if you have something big coming up, and how to avoid that "boom-and-bust" cycle of overtraining and recovery.

🌟 Still need help with an Achilles injury? You’re welcome to consult one of the team at TMA via video call for an assessment of your injury and a tailored treatment plan.

📽️ Other videos you might find useful:

▶️ Best & Worst Shoes for Achilles Tendonitis

▶️ Tips For Choosing Running Shoes To Help Achilles Tendonitis

▶️ Exercises for Insertional Achilles Tendonitis

▶️ Exercises For Achilles Tendonitis/Tendinopathy

▶️ Achilles Tendonitis - How To Treat Painful Achilles Flare-ups

▶️ How to Adapt Yoga for Achilles Tendonitis

▶️ Adapting Pilates For Achilles Tendonitis or Pain

▶️ Achilles or Heel Pain when Doing a Squat

▶️ Achilles Tendinopathy Training Errors: Boom-and-Bust Cycle

▶️ Common Training Errors that can Cause Achilles Pain in Runners

📚 Chapters in this episode:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:01 For whom is this video?

00:03:11 Calf and general strength

00:06:24 Adjusting for activity patterns

00:07:22 Activity increases and recovery

00:17:23 Dealing with flare-ups

00:28:33 Summary

00:30:05 How we can help

Learn how to figure out the best mix of fluids, salts, and carbs for rehydration and electrolyte replacement after exercise.

Also: How much to drink? This will depend on how soon you need to perform again.

👉 An example of a ready-to-drink rehydration drink with a useful osmolality, as well as a powder for self-mixing your rehydration drink that will also have the right osmolality when used as directed:

✅ Rehydration drink

✅ Powder

Some links here are to places where you can buy something relevant. If you do, we might get a small commission at no extra cost to you.

👉 Download our post-exercise Hydration Guide to help you figure out whether a rehydration drink has the right mix of electrolytes and carbs.

👉 And here's our guidance on how to replace protein after exercise.

🌟Need help with an injury? You’re welcome to consult one of the team at SIP via video call for an assessment of your injury and a tailored treatment plan.

📚 Chapters in this episode:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:08 Why not just water?

00:02:54 What's the ideal mix?

00:06:57 How much should you drink?

00:08:39 Other nutrients

00:09:46 What about alcohol and coffee?

00:10:21 How we can help

📰 Subscribe to the Sports Injury Physio e-newsletter.

Isometric exercises for Achilles tendon injuries is a type of calf raise used in specific circumstances.

Sports physio Maryke demonstrates the three types of isometric calf raise and discusses the criteria for how often and with how much weight they should be done, as well as when this type of exercise might do more harm than good.

🌟Need help with an Achilles related injury? You’re welcome to consult one of the team at TMA via video call for an assessment and a tailored treatment plan.

📽️ Related videos:

▶️ Achilles Tendonitis Treatments

▶️ Achilles Rehab after Surgery

▶️ Eccentric Exercises for Achilles Injuries

▶️ Isotonic Exercises for Achilles Injuries

📚 Chapters in this episode:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:25 What is an isometric contraction?

00:07:34 Weight, reps, rest, etc.

00:12:24 Research-backed benefits of isometric calf raises

00:17:58 When do we prescribe isometrics for our patients?

00:20:52 How we can help

Our patients often ask us what cardio they can do while recovering from high hamstring tendinopathy.

Sports physio Maryke discusses the pros and cons of activities like cycling, swimming, walking, and getting onto various cardio machines in the gym.

She also explains her Three-Step Test for figuring out whether an activity is doable while you have high hamstring tendinopathy.

👉 Examples of pull buoys to save you from having to kick while swimming:

✅ Speedo

✅ Sunlite Sports

✅ Sporti

Some links here are to places where you can buy something relevant. If you do, we might get a small commission at no extra cost to you.

🌟Need help with an injury? You’re welcome to consult one of the team at SIP via video call for an assessment of your injury and a tailored treatment plan.

📰 Here's our article with detailed advice on running with hamstring tendinopathy.

📽️ And here's our Playlist with all our videos about various aspects of high (proximal) hamstring tendinopathy.

📚 Chapters in this episode:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:00 How to test whether an activity is good or bad for you

00:05:56 Walking

00:08:51 Elliptical trainer

00:10:06 Swimming

00:11:59 Stair climbing machines

00:12:52 Cycling

00:14:22 Rowing machine

00:14:52 How we can help

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