Our Team Blizard elite athletes are used to training almost every day at a high level of intensity, with Fiona Davies, Dave Tune and Jenny Blizard fitting in plenty of running sessions around their busy lives, and Jono Frary, Tom Morris and Mike Chadwick squeezing in cycling and swimming too to prepare them to compete with the best of the rest in triathlons.

So when Mike 'High Tower' (so called on account of his impossible height) started to develop knee pain in his run sessions, he couldn't bear the idea of having to cut out such a major part of his training schedule, after spending so much time building up his strength and fitness over the tough winter months.

Luckily for him, as part of his special sponsorship deal with Blizard Physiotherapy, he is entitled to treatment with Jenny Blizard whenever he needs it, and Jenny is renowned for her desire to keep athletes moving throughout their treatment programme - partly because she understands all too well in her capacity as a top runner in her own right how frustrating it is to let an injury stop play in training, and also because of her capacity as a highly experienced Maitland Concept physiotherapist, which encourages continuing activities to allow blood to flow to the injured area amongst other reasons.

Mike was relieved to be told by Jenny that he could continue running, albeit for a shorter duration and lower intensity, and thus maintain a decent level of fitness throughout his treatment programme.

He explained: "It was very irritating when my right knee started hurting at the beginning of each run at the start of the new year, as I’d just had my running heart rate zones set in a lactate test at the clinic. After 15 minutes or so it would be so painful that I’d have to stop - it would then ease off gradually and feel fine again, only to flare back up next time I tried to run.

"It was never tender to touch and didn’t flare up on the bike or when swimming, but traditional static stretching was having no effect.

It was only when I started having treatment from Jen that I made any headway with it."

After a full assessment, Jen’s diagnosed issues with his nervous system, affected by his tight hips, which in turn were affected by his lower spine seizing up.

He continued: "I had pretty much zero movement of the individual vertebrae, causing the whole of my lower back to move as one block. This was causing the nerve to become aggravated, resulting in pain in my knee."



Mike's treatment involved mobilising the vertebrae using massage and exercises, such as pelvic tilts and hamstring bridges, and relaxing the surrounding muscles using acupuncture. He also did a lot of exercises to work on his hip and glute flexibility.

He added: "My own circumstances meant that I couldn’t have treatment as often as would have been ideal, but Jen was great at fitting me in whenever I was back in Doncaster for the weekend.

"I was limited to 15 minute runs at first, but I was able to gradually extend them to 20, 25, 30 minutes and so on, often running three times a day just to get some training in. It was a frustrating process because I would feel like I was getting over the problem only for it to flare back up unexpectedly, but slowly I was able to extend the distance I was running, and the pain became less severe and eased off quicker afterwards.

"I’m not getting any pain from my knee now, and I’m back to running as I was before."

Now back to full training, Mike is grateful to the specialist treatment he has received which has enabled him to continue training alongside his physiotherapy: "Without Jen’s help and thorough treatment I would probably be still struggling with it now - it just goes to show how important it is to seek professional advice.

"The great thing about Blizard Physiotherapy is that they are so keen to keep you running. Jen was really clear that I wouldn’t do any damage to my knee or the nerve by continuing to train, and instead said the best thing for it was to keep trying. Had I gone to my GP, I have no doubt that the advice would have been to stop running, which wouldn’t have helped a jot."