Functional Strength & Mobility / a gentle reminder

This last weekend I decided it was time to finish a remodeling job that I started 2 years ago. You know, the last part of a project that isn’t that important, just cosmetic, a hassle. I never had the time to get into it. This job required me to do some wood working and getting into work positions low to the ground (squatting and kneeling). These are not positions that I spend much of my normal work day doing. Needless to say come Monday my hamstrings and quads were feeling pretty tight and sore.

Usually, over the summer I lower my running mileage and work more on my functional strength. That didn’t happen this year. I really dropped off on my functional strengthening as I just never seemed to have the time to get it done. It was a hassle. We runners with healthy joints must keep our ability to squat and lunge (functional strength and mobility). As I approach the age of 45 this is becoming more and more obvious to me. Because my home improvement projects are becoming less frequent, I could lose this ability if I don’t continue to work on it. My running could eventually suffer. So my home improvement project served as a gentle reminder to get back to my functional strength program. GET IT DONE & DON’T PUT IT OFF!

Hood to Coast part 2

Hood to Coast

Two of John's legs during the Hood to Coast 2008! The team was 1st in master's division! Nice job John and the rest of his team in the "Mother of All Relays"

The Gluteus Medius

The gluteus medius muscle. Maybe one of most important muscles for running. Weakness in this muscle can lead to many injuries such as IT Band syndrome, knee pain, hip pain, and even back pain. Functional strength and endurance of this muscle is crucial to any athlete that spends much of the time running. The muscle is hidden underneath the big gluteus maximus (buttock muscle) and the fascia/fibers of the ITBand and Tensor Fascia Lata. This muscle is the muscle that keeps your hip stable while your foot is flat on the ground whether you are running or just standing on one leg. A weak glute med will allow your hip to drop too much leading to changes in your mechanics all the way down to your foot and up through your spine. A person might have a strong glute med muscle during muscle testing or even standing on one foot for 30 seconds, but the question is whether that muscle has the endurance to last for miles. And can that muscle perform the same when positions are changed such as when kicking a soccer ball or moving laterally to make a tackle? Both males and females are at risk for this weakness, however, the biomechanics of a female pelvis make them much more suceptible (wider pelvis) to weakness. A good video analysis of running can identify weakness as well as specific functional tests. In future posts we will have pics and videos to demonstrate these self-tests and strength training for this important muscle.

The Foam Roller Revisited

The foam roller is an excellent, inexpensive piece of workout equipment that can be used to mobilize tight muscles, increase flexibility, and prevent injury. It can also be used for a number of core strength exercises. There is a great link to the Perform Better website that outlines a number of exercises that can be performed on the foam roller: http://www.performbetter.com/catalog/assets/Exercisesheets/PDF/FoamRoller.pdf

The number one injury that we use the foam roller for is Ilio-tibial Band Syndrome (ITB Syndrome). We see many runners and athletes that have lateral knee pain or hip pain that is due to or at least in part by an IT Band that is full of adhesions and trigger points. Usually, these restrictions are the result of some other impairment or muscle imbalance (weak gluteals or hip stabilizers, shoes, leg length discrepancies, cycling mechanics, etc.)

During rehabilitation, we have patients perform ITBand release techniques daily. We start out with 1-2 minutes of rolling and progress to 5-10 minutes. The first few times usually are not very comfortable especially if a person has multiple trigger points or "hot" spots. We will instruct clients to roll until you "feel" a hot spot and hold at that point for 15-20 seconds and then continue rolling.

We recommend after rehabilitation is complete performing foam roller muscle release exercises 1-2 times or more (depending on the person) per week to keep tissues and muscles flexible.

In the future, we will post video of several myofascial release techniques using the foam roller.

Cool places to run...Indy

Today at the Runner's Lounge, we are to share our favorite places to run. My hometown of Indianapolis has several cool places to run. Downtown try hitting the IndyCanal loop. A little further north of downtown run on the Central Canal Towpath. The best place to start is in the village of Broad Ripple. From here you can either run on the gravel/ dirt canal path or hit the paved Monon Trail. My favorite place to run is Eagle Creek Park. The trails are especially beautiful in the fall. Check out these links and our sidebar for other cool places to run.