David @ DHPT

It's been a while since I have written a post about my Achilles tendon rupture rehab so I thought I would bash out a few quick words on where things are at in my recovery. For the last month or so I have been able to walk around in normal shoes again, which for anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of rupturing their Achilles is quite a milestone!  Having your toes pointed at the floor for 3 months or so has definitely been a bit of a pain, its amazing how a simple change in the way you hold your foot can cause a whole lot of other issues. As a result of the normal shoes, my back, hip and knee pain have vanished almost instantly - a pretty clear sign that they were having to compensate for the change in my gait pattern.  Really just confirming what I already thought was the case.  But good to know that it wasn't anything more serious. Something that I hadn't really thought too much about (but should have really) was the loss in my balance, especially the loss in bala

Last week I wrote about my struggles with depression and anxiety .  I told you all about the way in which my depression and anxiety manifested themselves, and what I did to seek help to get through the issues I was having.   One element which I failed to mention was the part that physical activity played in improving my mental health.   Being active through my struggles helped me a great deal.  I always noticed on the weeks that I didn't hit the gym or play some indoor football I felt the impact of my depression more keenly, and I was also more anxious.  Now there is a double edged sword with physical activity, especially with depression.  One of the symptoms of depression can be (not always) a lack of motivation to do regular everyday things.   This is a problem when it comes to getting into, say, a gym routine where you are trying to keep to a schedule, as some days even getting out of bed can be a struggle.  This is where having a gym buddy or a team that is relying on you

As men, often when we train we focus on lifting big weights, training at a high intensity, and pushing ourselves to our limits.  While there is a time and place for this sort of training, we also need to balance this out with other forms of training which help the body to recover for these high intensity bouts of activity. I have had a guest blogger write about the benefits of massage previously, a method of recovery which I put great value in. If you are interested, you can read about it here . Another form of training I have been using for a while now and highly recommend for guys especially is Pilates.  I work one on one with Carolyn from Pilates by Design .  I began doing Pilates because I have had tight hips for a while now, and during my Krav Maga training I found it difficult to get my round kicks high enough. Pilates has helped me to loosen up my hips and as a result get my kicks up to chest height (the plan is for them to get to head height, but one step at a time!).  I

This is a tough topic to talk about, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't, what we need to do is to work harder to open up about it.  I'm talking about mental health.  This blog post talks about my journey through depression and anxiety, if this raises issues for anyone, please contact one of the numbers at the end of the article and talk to someone who can offer support. It's men's health week this week, and I thought that this was the perfect time to talk about men's mental health rather than just looking at physical health.  Mental health is just as important as physical health and the two are very often closely interlinked. Before you go and think that I am just talking out of a hole in my head about this subject let me put this out there - I have suffered from both depression and anxiety in the past, and still, struggle with depression at times.  While I never got to the point of having any suicidal thoughts or self-harmed in any way, it was by no me

This week is Men's Health Week  and it got me thinking about how we as men often neglect our health and put off going to the doctor to get things checked out, even though having regular checkups can be beneficial.  So I decided to blog about what benefits might come of being a little more proactive when it comes to our health. The first couple of things to get checked out are ones that you can get done at your GP, or at least have your GP refer you for.  First up is a simple blood pressure test.  Now a one off blood pressure test is not of much use in itself - yes in an accident/urgent medical situation it is useful, but in general everyday life it is much better to have a number of blood pressure readings over time in order to note any particular trends that may be going on. By noting trends you can spot early whether action needs to be taken in order to prevent issues down the line such as heart disease.  The same is true of the next test - blood sugars. Prolonged high