If you observe the first woman with the green shirt, you can notice her right knee moving in and foot moving out. Often their is tightness in the muscles around the ankle and hip, like the lateral gastrocnemius fibers, soleus, TFL, psoas, illiacus and biceps femoris short head and quite possibly a joint restriction at the subtalor joint in the ankle. Many time sin this situation, the medial hamstrings and gluteal complex along with the medial gastrocnemius are under active and weak.

If left unchecked, this pattern can wear down the medial meniscus, aggravate the plantar fascia, patella femoral joint and lead to low back pain, neck pain and even headaches as the ground reaction forces are transmitted through the kinetic chain.

The man in the blue shirt displays a varum or bowlegged stride. This can be congenital and has a similar pattern of muscular imbalance with the piriformis and long head of the biceps femoris joining the over active group. There is less that can often be done about this type of gait because it is possibly structural, but corrective exercise can still help to minimize the muscular imbalances and enhance personal athletic performance and recovery from running.

Lastly the woman in the yellow top that takes the orange from the girl in the crowd displays that leg whip (foot out/knee in) compensation similar to the woman in the green shirt.

These compensations can all be observable in a movement assessment like the overhead squat, which makes a great pre-screen to a  running program.

Even a basic regimen of self myofascial release, static stretching, core stabilization and balance training can have a major  positive impact on these three runners and how they feel during and after a run.

I have helped several endurance athletes train for and recover from major and minor events and it is a challenge to balance corrective with the Horus of training needed to complete these events, but the importance of a corrective exercise program, good sleep, a smart meal plan, consistent training and complimentary/adjunct therapy (massage, acupuncture, chiropractic, physical therapy) is the way to have long term success with endurance sports,even if they are just F.T.F.O.I. (for the fun of it)

One more to go!!! Thanks for your persistence:)

Eric Beard
CEO A-Team

Corrective Exercise Specialist

AthleticShoulder.com
http://facebook.com/theericbeard

http://youtube.com/theericbeard

• April 19, 2010 -- The Gratuitous Boston Marathon Post Part 2 (0)
• April 19, 2010 -- Please Read This: Gratuitous Boston Marathon Post Part 4: The Juice (0)
• April 19, 2010 -- The Gratuitous Boston Marathon Post 1 of 2 (0)
• June 8, 2010 -- Disney Vacation Workout: Corrective Exercise on the Road (0)
• May 27, 2010 -- Whiplash is Not Just an Awesome Song From Metallica or Mickey Rourke’s Character in Ironman 2 (0)
• April 16, 2010 -- Running Sneakers Are Horrible… (0)
• March 19, 2010 -- Active Heel Slides for Deep Core Stabilizers and Psoas Inhibition: Corrective Exercise (0)
• February 26, 2010 -- First Month of Another Fitness Challenge Brings Eric Beard Some Results (1)
• February 24, 2010 -- Another Fitness Challenge Update on Ankle Mobility of Eric Beard (0)
• February 19, 2010 -- Upper Extremity Reach Range of Motion Assessments (0)

A six mintue plea for help…

http://www.youtube.com/user/theericbeard#p/a

How can we stop low back, pain, knee pain, plantar fasciitis, runner’s knee and more otehr than corrective exercise? The proper footwear for tehe individual!!!

Thanks for checking in!

Eric Beard

CEO A-Team

Corrective Exercise Specialist

AthleticShoulder.com
http://facebook.com/theericbeard

• February 26, 2010 -- First Month of Another Fitness Challenge Brings Eric Beard Some Results (1)
• February 24, 2010 -- Another Fitness Challenge Update on Ankle Mobility of Eric Beard (0)
• March 19, 2010 -- Active Heel Slides for Deep Core Stabilizers and Psoas Inhibition: Corrective Exercise (0)
• February 19, 2010 -- Upper Extremity Reach Range of Motion Assessments (0)
• February 9, 2010 -- 5 Minute Core Stability / Corrective Exercise for Back Pain by Eric Beard with the MECA Back (0)
• April 19, 2010 -- The Gratuitous Boston Marathon Post Part 3 (0)
• April 19, 2010 -- The Gratuitous Boston Marathon Post Part 2 (0)
• February 12, 2010 -- Will Smith Needs Corrective Exercise…but He Helps Me this Time (0)
• February 11, 2010 -- HFPN-Another Fitness Challenge Goals and Progress for Eric Beard 2/11/2010- My Corrective Exercise is Working! (0)
• February 8, 2010 -- Revist, Recite, Re-Write Your Goals Dailly to Manifest your Dreams (0)

Had a fun first day at the Boston workshop today. I stayed after and worked on a dancer and did a few overhead squat assessments (ACL surgeries, car accidents and scoliosis).

Here is the treatment protocol that O followed for one;
Worked on a young female dancer after NASM CPT class today in Boston-
She had left medial knee pain
OHS-low back arch, excessive forward lean,
Released (inhibited) -Vastus lateralis, TFL, Biceps femoris (short head),
Stretched (lengthened) -TFL/ITB,
Activated-VMO Glute Medius,
Integration-BW squats, lots of cuing on loading the hips with a neutral L-P-H-C
Now moving much better! No pain after treatment.

And an assessment video from another;

He needs me to tear into that ankle and get things moving! He needs some deep tissue work for sure and yes the hip and shoulder are not far behind, but he seems to have issues from the ground up from repeated ankle sprains and peroneal strains. I hope to help him find a physical therapist, chiropractor, massage therapist or corrective exercise specialist that is licensed to perform manual therapy to help him out.

Well…couple of invites to send out for HFPN then time for my workout!

Thanks for reading.

Eric Beard

CEO A-Team

EricBeard.com

AthleticShoulder.com

• January 27, 2010 -- Overhead Squat Assessment-Excessive Forward Lean from Ankle Restriction at NASM CES Workshop by Eric Beard (0)
• February 24, 2010 -- Another Fitness Challenge Update on Ankle Mobility of Eric Beard (0)
• February 19, 2010 -- Upper Extremity Reach Range of Motion Assessments (0)
• June 8, 2010 -- Disney Vacation Workout: Corrective Exercise on the Road (0)
• March 19, 2010 -- Active Heel Slides for Deep Core Stabilizers and Psoas Inhibition: Corrective Exercise (0)
• February 26, 2010 -- First Month of Another Fitness Challenge Brings Eric Beard Some Results (1)
• January 31, 2010 -- FLY This-Eric Beard Shows a Cool Variation for Core Stability plus Another Fitness Challenge (0)
• December 17, 2009 -- Corrective Exercise Specialist Answers Why Do I Like DotFit? (0)
• December 2, 2009 -- Corrective Exercise Specialist Eric Beard Works With Chinese Tennis Association in Nanjing, China Part II (0)
• December 1, 2009 -- Corrective Exercise Specialist Abroad for Tennis: To China and Back! (0)

About.com says

“Sometimes the tendons become inflamed for a variety of reasons, and the action of pulling the muscle becomes irritating. If the normal smooth gliding motion of your tendon is impaired, the tendon will become inflamed and movement will become painful. This is called tendinitis, and literally means inflammation of the tendon. “

Pretty straight forward definition, what I like about it is it mentions that if “the smooth gliding motion of the tendon is impaired, the tendon will become inflamed.” There are many possible causes for tendinitis such as;

-repetitive strain
-age related tendon changes
-acute strain
-thermal injury
-anatomical causes

In this case…just look at the everted calcaneuous!

This is a posterior view of someone’s left foot who was diagnosed with and treated for Achilles Tendinitis.

You can also see the lateral aspect of the gastrocnemius is hypertonic and hypertrophied compared to the medial aspect. No wonder the Achilles Tendon is inflamed! The bone which it inserts into is not in the correct position and the proximal musculature has developed uneven lines of pull. This could easily be a case of plantar fasciatis, knee pain or back pain but this person was diagnosed with Achilles Tendinitis. “The smooth gliding motion of the tendon is impaired” for sure!!! It is not a problem with the tendon, that is the symptom, it is an alignment and function issue!!!

If an overhead squat assessment (current research being done on OHS assessment
http://www.unc.edu/sportmedlab/research.htm#top1 ) was performed then the patient would have most likely exhibited the left foot turning out and foot flattening out. If would have been helpful to note this first, and begin a corrective exercise program, a preventative one vs. a rehabilitative protocol with pain, time investment, inactivity, insurance fees and frustration.

Corrective exercise may not prevent tendinitis from anatomical variations in bones, but maintaining; posture, joint alignment and neuromuscular control will go a long way to decrease the likely hood of if not prevent an injury such as tendinitis in most cases.

It starts with identifying impairments and then working to improve them. Simple steps like;

Myofascial release for the calves

Myofascial release for the ITB

Static stretching for the lateral gastroc

Single leg balance reach to integrated medial gastroc and posterior tibialis control to a single leg stance

More needs to be said, but hopefully we are at least paying attention to alignment and function. the overhead squat assessment is a great tool to use. It can be as simple (or complex) as watching someone run! Do they line up like they should? Are they wasting energy and putting abnormal strain on tissue?

(Don’t even get me started about the glute medius weakness being demonstrated in this picture!!!)

If a body does not move like it should, do something about it before running a marathon, beginning a quest to lose 20 pounds or trying to get as big as physically possible. Start with the basics and use the basics on a regular basis. ALIGNMENT and FUNCTION. I know that good shoes and proper technique are important but something has to come first, and that is proper HUMAN MOVEMENT.

Only floss the teeth you want to keep and only balance the muscles around the joints you want to use.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Eric Beard
Athletic Performance Enhancement Specialist
Corrective Exercise Specialist
theericbeard.blogspot.com
www.ericbeard.com

• No Related Post