Purpose: Demonstrate a case of an altered nerve tension in a runner that may be exacerbated by their running technique.
Case Details
Female, late twenties, competitive runner (sub 20 minute 5km, 1:30 half marathon, 3:15 full marathon)
Barefoot, forefoot strike and heel strike – a biomechanics summary
Audience: Runners and therapists
Purpose: To summarize the biomechanics of running strike pattern and shod conditions
I feel like in the blogosphere and the popular running media that there is a love affair with all things barefoot. Barefoot running is associated with forefoot striking and there appears to be changes in the biomechanics associated with alteration in running form when compared with heel striking. However, the research gets presented as if it is very neat in tidy when in fact it is quite murky. This post is a work in progress. It attempts to summarize some of the work comparing barefoot running with shod running and the work that compares forefoot striking and rearfoot striking while running in shoes. I hope that I have conveyed that the results are quite conflicting. Hence, what a pain it was to try to summarize this work.
This post will be updated consistently. Please view it as a work in progress. (more…)
Neuromuscular knee control exercise series
Audience: Patients
Format: Patient Handouts
Topic: Trunk, hip and knee motor control exercises to improve control of knee position
This post is a handout that I give to patients. As with all exercises they should be done under some supervision (physiotherapist, personal trainer, chiropractor) and always with a health professionals guidance. In no way are these exercises stand alone. They should be tailored to each patient’s needs and progressed or modified accordingly.
Greg (more…)
The Side Bridge: The best exercise. ever.
Intended Audience: anyone who has not already been doing this for years
OK, OK. There is not just one perfect exercise for everyone. But this one comes close and for reasons you don’t expect. The side bridge is an exercise that is typically thrown into the category of the “core” and people think it is just done as a replacement for oblique ab crunches. While yes, it is a great replacement for that exercise it provides so much more. (more…)
Jewels from Juker (1998). Insight into the Psoas Part One
Stu McGill was an author on this paper when it came out back in 1998. At the time, I was one of Stu’s grad students putting electrodes onto anyone I could find for the price of Gyro sandwich. I even burned (chemically and transiently) the thigh of a girlfriend at the time. I knew how to treat the ladies. Unfortunately, I never really picked Stu’s brain about this paper. It was only relevant to me at the time because we were strongly questioning the necessity of double leg lifts as an exercise for the “lower abs”. We felt they were unnecessary to recruit the lower abs and too costly because of the compressive and anterior shear component applied to the lumbar spine. Our argument was that there is no difference between the upper section of the rectus abdominis and the lower section. I still stand by it and the paper is here ( http://ptjournal.apta.org/content/81/5/1096.full ). Regardless of my youthful oversight, I still love the paper and the ideas of sticking needles into the psoas. It must feel awesome hence the “n” of only 5. Below are a few tidbits that will lead into future posts on psoas function. (more…)
The danger of hip extension – self care for Labral tears.
Audience: Therapists, Strength Coaches and Patients
Purpose: Pointing out that not everyone has tight hip flexors and stretching the Psoas may be a very bad thing
Warning: “Danger” is a little dramatic, my apologies for any hysteria I have caused.
Anterior hip pain is common and many of us feel a pinching, catching or inside thigh pain with squatting and other hip movements. Physiotherapists and chiropractors will see this everyday and it is often challenging to treat due to its multifactorial cause. This pain can manifest during walking, squatting (a pinching sensation felt during a squat) or during different exercises. There are certainly many causes and one possible cause of this anterior hip pain is stress applied to the anterior capsule of the hip joint. In severe cases this can lead to what is called a labral tear. Functionally, you can refer to the dysfunction as excessive anterior femoral glide. (more…)
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