My National 3 Peaks Challenge Story

(Picture: Piper - The Highlands)

The 3 tallest mountains in the UK.

21 hours 50 minutes, 57214 steps, 25 miles and 11170 feet.

The three peaks challenge completed!

To those of you who haven't come across the

National 3 Peaks Challenge the aim is to climb Ben Nevis (Scotland), Scafell Pike (England) and Snowdon (Wales) in 24 hrs - including driving time.

This is a short post on how Matt (who talked me into doing the challenge) and I got on completing the 3 Peaks.

We started in Scotland at Ben Nevis on Friday 17th June and finished in Wales at Snowdon 21h50 later.

BEN NEVIS - The Start

(Picture: The Start - Ben Nevis visitor centre car park)

(Picture: Summit Ben Nevis)

Summit time: 2h05

Total time: 3h24

Height: 4409 ft

Steps (Pedometer): 21858

We were planning to start the challenge at 7pm (Friday), with the aim of getting up and down the Mountain before dark at around 10.30pm. However due to poor weather and less evening light we changed our plans and started early at 6.40pm.

The climb was in fairly poor weather; rain and cold, with thick cloud at the top. This made things fairly hard going, visibility at the top was down to about 15 feet.

We could easily see how people get in trouble on Ben Nevis, the cloud cover was fairly disorientating.

We managed to get up and down in fairly good time (3h24), with much of the descent done

running. By the time we reached the bottom I wasn't sure if we had gone off too fast and should have left 'more in the tank' for the next two mountains.

On getting down we managed to leave the Ben Nevis visitor centre car park fairly quickly. We got in the car for a 6 hour journey down to Scafell Pike (Lake district). At this point Matt and I did our best to get some sleep as we were being driven by my Mum and Gemma (my girlfriend).

SCAFELL PIKE

(Pictures: Top of Scafell Pike)

Summit time: ???

Total time: 3h58

Height: 3210 ft

Steps (Pedometer): 20356

After traveling to Scafell Pike overnight we arrived at about 4am. We were not sure how our legs were going to be functioning after 6 hours sitting still in the car. As it turns out the legs were actually OK, however this was the least of our worries.

After quickly getting out of the car at just after 4am we headed off on what we thought was the right track. We quickly caught up with 4 other walkers doing the 3 Peaks and checked with them that we were on the correct route. They confidently said "yes" so we got our heads down and got cracking - big mistake. To cut a long story short we had headed off on the wrong track. We had been 'at it' for 40 minutes before we realised that we had gone the wrong way! What was more soul destroying was that we realised that the quickest way to get back on track was to run right back to the start and begin again, there was no other obvious 'short cut' to get back on the correct trail from where we were.

By the time we had reached the bottom again we had wasted exactly 58 minutes, but more importantly we had sapped valuable energy out of our legs. Disaster. There was no other choice but to get started again. Although Scafell Pike is the smallest mountain in terms of height it seemed to be the toughest of the three mountains. There is a boulder field about mid way up and the top section is covered in scree which makes things hard work.

As with Ben Nevis the weather was poor so we reached the top in almost zero visibility and ice cold driving rain. We made a quick stop to take the photos and headed back down. Due to our mistake at the start we took almost 4 hrs on a mountain we were planning to complete in under 3 hrs. In low spirits we quickly got changed into dry gear and got in the car for the 5 hour journey to Snowdon.

SNOWDON

(Picture: Snowdon - at the peak)

Summit time: 1h35

Total time: 2h56

Height: 3560 ft

Steps (Pedometer): 1500 - approx

Although we wasted an hour on Scafell Pike we were still on to complete the challenge in the allotted 24 hrs - all was left to play for.

Our aim was to finish strong. That meant we had to complete Snowdon in under 3 hours. We knew it was going to be painful.

For the first time we set off without any rain, which was a great change.

We were most confident about completing Snowdon as it was the only mountain we had climbed prior to the challenge. In fact we had climbed it twice in one day while we were doing our training.

We managed a very fast time to the top, by our standards, making the peak in 1h35. The top was packed with other walkers so we quickly got our photos and began back down. By this time our legs were like jelly and are knees were sore but we had to get down quickly to make sure we made it in under 3 hours.

After what seem like an age we rounded the final corner, the visitor centre car park was in sight. We knew we were going to complete Snowdon in under 3 hrs! With 4 minutes to spare we jogged into the car park and had completed the National 3 Peaks Challenge in a total of 21h50.

Tired, beaten up but very proud we had managed to do all three of the highest mountains in the UK under 24 hours.

A great achievement.

21 hours 50 minutes, 57214 steps, 25 miles and 11170 feet.

Tennis Elbow... Not just for tennis players!

Tennis Elbow also know as lateral epicondylitis, is often associated with tennis players. However there are varying causes of tennis elbow. Some examples I've seen in the clinic include; a plasterer in his 40's who was struggling to work because of the pain, a lady in her early 30's who had been gardening all weekend as well as my own dad who had been doing lots of DIY jobs around the house (I'll blame my mum for that!).

Tennis elbow is set off by 'overloading' the extensor muscles of the forearm, in particular a muscle called the extensor carpi radalis brevis. Any action that is repetitive involving lots of gripping or extension of the wrist can cause the onset of tennis elbow. This is why activities such as plastering, gardening and DIY cause tennis elbow.

If you are suffering from tennis elbow your symptoms may include some of the following:

1. Pain around the outside aspect of your forearm
2. Discomfort on gripping (sometimes even just picking up a cup of tea)
3. Weakness on gripping or picking up items
4. Pain on extending the wrist against resistance
5. Pain on extending your middle finger against resistance (this is a test we use to diagnose tennis elbow)

Tennis elbow is seen most commonly in individuals over the age 30, however it is sometimes found in individuals below the age of 30. Diagnosis is normally fairly simple and generally no other imaging is needed (E.g. MRI / Ultrasound).

Recovery will most often be around 4 - 6 weeks however if the symptoms have been around for a long period then this is likely to significantly extend the recovery period. If you do have any of the above symptoms get seen as early as possible, it will make it much easier to treat.

If you come in to see me for this problem, treatment may include any of the following:

1. Advice on reducing forces around the forearm
2. Massage to the extensor muscles to reduce tension
3. Ultrasound to promote the inflammatory process
4. Prescription of a tennis elbow brace to off load the muscles
5. Progressive (eccentric) strengthening exercise for the forearm

As always if you have any questions please email me directly, my email address can be found here.

Video: A White Blood Cell Protecting the Body... Amazing

Take a look at this video taken under a microscope.

It shows a white blood cell chasing down bacteria in the body. Then engulfing it.

It really is brilliant seeing how the body works on a cellular level.

Ultrasound Treatment at Home?

Swelling? inflammation?

Hire a home use Ultrasound unit - £42 per week.

Ultrasound has traditionally been used in a 'clinical' setting by Physiotherapists (and other health professionals) to speed up the rate of healing and improve the long term quality of tissue repair.

Up until recently it has only been practical to use in a clinic, this has mainly been due to the fact clinical ultrasound units are expensive to purchase, bulky and have required specialist knowledge use.

However, recently an Australian based company have manufactured a small 'home use' ultrasound device, that has been designed to be used by the 'general public'.

*** The picture above shows on the right my clinic based ultrasound unit (pretty large!), with the home use ultrasound device on the left. The home based device has all of the electrics built into the head***

I often use ultrasound within my treatments, however the greatest benefits of using ultrasound can found in using it on a regular basis (up to twice a day). Obviously having daily ultrasound treatments are not practical unless you are a professional footballer (or athlete) with access to professional care.

The good news is that I've now purchased two 'home use' ultrasound devices. These units can be used to speed up the treatment of injuries or complaints including:

• Sprains / strains (with swelling present)
• Muscle spasms
• Tennis and golfers elbow
• Knee and ankle problems
• Back pain
• Heel spurs and achilles problems
• Joint pain
• Tendonitis
• Shin pain
• As well as a number of sports related injuires

If you have just sustained an injury or have a chronic complaint please do email me to ask if Ultrasound therapy can help you.

If Carlsberg made clients...

If Carlsberg made clients then mine would probably be the best in the world! ;-)

In my work I come across a lot of really great people.

This is one of the benefits of my 'job'.

I have a great diversity of interesting clients. I'm lucky enough to be in the position to help them 'fix' their injuries (as well as sort out their aches and pains). However I also learn a huge amount from them in turn.

My clients are successful business owners, house mums, engineers, accountants, dentists, labourers and everything in-between.

However, occasionally someone does something for you which you wouldn't expect, last night was one of those times.

One of my clients is a local farrier. He mentioned at a previous appointment that if he gets some time he'll make a 'coal' tray at his forge for the fire place in my clinic. I didn't think to much of it at the time because he runs a busy business and finding the time to do that would be difficult.

That was a month ago but last night he came in with the 'coal' tray fully made up (see the pictures below). In his words he 'knocked it up from a few spare bits in the forge'. I have to say I'm very impressed!

So this is a 'thanks' to all my patients who have interesting jobs, do interesting things and are generally great people to have as clients.

Sport massage, injury treatment & rehabilitation

Covering Ringwood, Bournemouth, Verwood, Fordingbridge, West Moors, Ferndown and New Forest