Why do my muscles hurt?

The human body is a wonderful thing. It has the power to adapt to the conditions we put it under. As a physiotherapist it sometimes feels like you are a car mechanic for humans. People come to you when their car/body has a problem and would like you to fix it so that they can get back on the road. However unlike a car, the human body has the chance to go away and heal itself. If you take your car to the mechanic with a fault they rarely tell you to just drive it a bit more gently for a few weeks and it will right itself. Parts normally need replacing.

As Physiotherapists we can tell you to simply take things more gently for a little while. There are even sometimes when we might say

“You know that muscle that’s been hurting? “ “Why don’t you do some more exercise with it? “How about these specific exercises I’ve chosen for you that seem to challenge it?”

As a Physiotherapist this is often where I feel that I could lose a patient…

“Yes, Charlie you’ve listened to me.” “Yes, you’ve even gone to the correct limb and moved it around a bit.” “Yes, you’ve poked the sore bit” and said - “I think this is where the problem is”. “You really are a clever man.” “But hold on… now you’re telling me that you’ve highlighted that this muscle is sore and you want me to go home, take time out of my already busy day and work this painful muscle some more?”

I’ll admit it does all seem a little counter intuitive.

Capacity

Quite often when physiotherapists listen to their patients they will hear something in the patient’s story (the ‘history of the present condition’ - they told us to investigate this when we were training at university) where the hero of our story (the person in pain) overreached. Sometimes this is quite literally the case in some shoulder injuries. However in the context of muscular pain, when we talk about overreaching, we are referring to exceeding the capacity of the muscle. This might be done with one sudden act. A muscle can be torn by a contraction that is too powerful for the fibres to withstand or a stretch that was too far for the muscle to lengthen.

Sometimes a sudden event can’t be identified and the pain seems to have appeared from nowhere. It just started one morning, came on at the end of the day, you noticed it doing an activity that isn’t normally painful. So what happened here?

It is quite likely that something has exceeded its capacity. If you ask for more than someone or something is capable of then this will often end in failure. If you run a battery down you either; need to recharge it, get a new one or start out with a bigger battery in the first place!

Would we describe ourselves as feeling 100% when things are aching? Probably not.

What happens as people or their muscles tire? Things strain. Muscles don’t work like they used to.

Look at people at the end of a marathon (No we aren’t looking at Gavin here). This hero has reached the point where his muscles no longer have the capacity to keep him upright. Luckily for him there was a viking nearby. There won’t always be a viking nearby to support us and sometimes we will end up injured. Sometimes we will just end up sore.

So I digress. Remember that car that was broken down. It’s likely your kind mechanic will offer to replace the part. However replacing parts in people is often more complicated and might not be the best option, in this case the physiotherapist will; identify the part that they think is struggling, explain it’s function and when it is working its hardest. Maybe the patient can stop doing that thing for a little while? The muscles batteries can then recharge and things can stop hurting.

The physiotherapist might even send you home with a little poem;

“Let’s reduce the strain,

and see if we can reduce the pain,

If it doesn’t settle down,

would you please come and see me again?”

To this poem, you say. “I know all this Charlie, it’s common sense” and that’s why you’re going to come back and see me again for the next part of this blog…

Running without a goal

Earlier this year I completed a huge goal, running the Bob Graham Round. During the build up, I was incredibly focused and it felt as if I was training like a professional athlete. The result was covering 65 miles and 27,000 feet of ascent to link together 42 Wainwrights on a stunning sunny day in the Lake District surrounded by my best friends. It was my first run of more than 30 miles in one go and I was delighted to complete it in 20 hrs 12 minutes. Most importantly I felt strong, had a blast and was running again a few days later. All my hard work towards that goal day had paid off.

One way to celebrate your birthday...

Since then I’ve moved from Bakewell, Derbyshire to the village of Starcross in Devon. I’ve opened a new physiotherapy clinic in Exeter, started working in the community visiting patients in Teignmouth and Dawlish, ran a couple of the South West Fell Series on Dartmoor and local park runs. Overall I’ve been getting outside, enjoying running and riding my bike in this lovely part of the world and one day I even had a go at surfing!

Recently on a run to Teignmouth, I was admiring the sea beside me when I started thinking about the fact I don’t really have a running goal right now. Next I went down onto the beach and ran some 20 second strides up and down the sand. I imagined I was Rocky Balboa or Apollo Creed as I sprinted up and down. I’ve always loved training. The training scenes from the Rocky films inspire me to want to push myself, target a big bout, get into the ring and go from jogging to sprinting up the steps and jumping around with my arms in the air. I love training!

Parson and Clerk, Holcombe

Currently I don’t have a big race goal. I don’t have a big event on the horizon. Sometimes when running my mind will drift towards ideas; maybe I’ll train for a marathon, how about an ultra? tie together sections of the South West Coast Path? Run across Dartmoor?

However for the moment, it feels liberating just to be training without a specific goal in mind. I’m focused on feeling fit and healthy and having fun. Experiencing the feel of sand under my feet, exploring new paths and the thrill of running fast. I mentioned this to my friend Bart and he said I was “training for life!” Now that is a concept I can embrace. As I go through life as a runner and working as a physiotherapist, I gain a sense of gratitude for what my body can do. I’m training to keep what I have and maybe get even fitter. I’m sure that soon enough a race will take my fancy and that focus will come again. But until then, thank you Bart and congratulations on a big recent race win - I’m training for life and it feels good!

Running with the ‘Running with the Kenyans’ Man and the Kenyans…

Me (left) and Adharanand Finn (right) post Lewa Marathon 2015

How’s that for a blog title?

My first athletic club was South Devon AC. It was my Dad’s Athletic Club. William Peter Baker was a sub 2hr half marathoner (post quadruple heart bypass - YES DAD!). He used to attend their runs and ran with the ‘chatty group’. Apparently he was faster but preferred their company.

I was alright at school cross country but as a late developer was often 2nd or 3rd to some lucky recipient of a recent growth spurt. Dad encouraged me. He said “start slow, build into the race and finish fast”. I used to run off as quick as I could and hang on for dear life. At 15 I suffered 3 wrist fractures in a year and began to fear contact sports. I joined South Devon AC and we met weekly in Brixham. When the two nice encouraging coaches couldn’t keep the Brixham group going I was offered a chance to train in Paignton and I declined. Sport didn’t wasn’t really a thing for me during my 6th form years and I didn’t run again until University.

University Athletics was great. I made great friends. I also mixed my training with being the clown of the group and I was generally clueless. I wasn’t awful so I must have had some level of natural talent and I really enjoyed the track.  My big goal was to run a fast half marathon and I was incredibly proud of my top 100 finish at Sheffield Half Marathon (running sub 1 hr 30). After University I went back to South Devon AC, a bit but again I didn’t really train. I also tried a bit of football again but the Mighty Plums (Dittisham AC) didn’t recognise my insane talent - perhaps because I practically missed an open goal and my football dreams were replaced with travelling and skiing.

Next up was travelling in Canada. I ran a bit before the snow came but was mostly terrified of bears. Two ski seasons later I had dreams of skiing the world. Unfortunately returning home from my second winter I dislocated my knee-cap and ski instructing in New Zealand was put on hold!

Football dreams - in tatters

Skiing dreams - on hold

I returned to Physiotherapy, the job I probably should have been doing after that 3 year degree. Next I got back running. It took forever on a poorly knee. Wall squats really hurt but I persevered. I could run about a mile and a half before runner’s knee felt like a vice and caused me to walk. But positivity said if you can run 1 mile and a half why don’t you just do that - every day. Twice a day. Before I knew it I was running 20 miles a week and loving life.

I joined Torbay Athletic Club. Possibly the more serious Torbay Club. In Torquay… the big city. Apparently 10% of people from Brixham never leave Brixham. I’d done it. I was brave.

I had been running along the seafront in Paignton trying to hit 6.30 minute mile pace - I think I tried to hit this on every run. When a nice chap called Steve asked if I ran for a club? I said I didn’t and he recommended Torbay A.C. He said “we’ve got a Kenyan coming to the club this week, you should come along”. I was listening to ‘Running with the Kenyans’ by Adharranand Finn at the time on Audible. I did my research and it turned out ‘Finn’ ran for Torbay and had engineered Japhet Koech (possibly the true hero of his book) coming from Kenya to England and then Scotland to run the Edinburgh marathon. In true stalker form I joined Torbay A.C. found Finn and waited for him to say hi. He fell for my trap. It turned out we were pretty similar paces and had some good races. Later on he was heading to Kenya and he gave me an invite. I was really excited and packed my bags and headed for Kenya.

A Kenya write-up would be nothing without mentioning how amazing it was to hear Michael Bolton’s ‘Lean on Me’ accompany the visual of my first African sunset. Michael became somewhat of a theme of our trip. We met elite Kenyan athletes, ran the Lewa marathon (my first marathon) and went on some amazing safari’s, socially it was an incredible trip too!

You cannot visit Iten “The home of champions” and not be inspired. I met David Rudisha’s coach Brother Colm. We saw Kenyans running around the track at insane speeds and we learned a lot about training and the athlete’s way of life.

When I came home I was so inspired I went for a run, tripped over a log and broke my wrist. But this wouldn’t stop me. I was dreaming of sport. I wanted to train like an athlete and live like an athlete. I heard about a job at Sheffield Wednesday FC (too much of a diversion and a silly story but I’d been a fan since my childhood, growing up in Devon??!!)

I moved to Sheffield. My half marathon pb was now 1 hr 23 and I was running for Hallamshire Harriers. I had two passions. Sheffield Wednesday and Running. I was rich in inspiration and Chef Wednesday’s (however hard I tried I could never get the training ground Chef to adopt this name) porridge and incredible lunch menu. I was learning, living the dream and 2 years later I had won Chesterfield Half Marathon in 1 hr 18 mins. That’s enough for now but if you haven’t read running with the Kenyans then I suggest you do.

All my improvements in these years came from optimism, pushing myself and dreaming of success. I always talk about Chesterfield Half Marathon - partly because it’s a long running joke with my mate Bart, partly because nothing makes you feel like you’ve hit the big time more than seeing a car with numbers on the top and nobody being between you and the car! It was surreal.

I thank all the people that ever encouraged me because it was that desire to be fast and to be better that inspired so much of my running and running has brought so much to my life - physically, mentally and socially. It’s a huge part of what I do daily and I feel very lucky to share this passion with others.

In ‘Running with the Kenyans’ he says “the secret is there is no secret” - pointing to it’s about doing everything well, there is no cheat code or hack.

But I’ll let you in on a secret which you probably already know - running is the best!