Repetitive Use injury Archives - Page 8 of 10

Shoes too big for foot contributes to injury

A majority of all people are in shoes that are incorrect shoe size according to Fawn Evenson director of the Footwear Industries of America. There are two potential errors when selecting what size shoes to wear. Either the shoe will be too small for the foot or too large for the foot. In my experience…

Cuing to Alter Gait Deviation of Too Long a Step

Cuing to Alter Gait Deviation of Too Long a Step Mathematics helps explain walking or running faster. Step length X steps per minute = speed. In order to move faster there are 3 opportunities take longer steps or strides, increase the steps/minute (cadence), or do both longer steps and a faster cadence. Taking longer steps/stride…

Shoe Soles: Stiff Rocker Bottom Sole versus Flexible Sole “Barefoot”

There are many things to consider when selecting shoes, including comfort, injury and energy expenditure. Arnie Davis a Certified Pedorthotist has coined the term shoes with rocker bottom soles are the proverbial “aspirin” for chronic foot problems. A rocker sole shoe is recommended to help manage a number of painful injuries including: low back pain;…

Knee Pain Wringing Out – Gait Deviation

Knee pain can develop because of a “wringing out”. I am not referring to banging a bell ring, but the counter-rotation motion that can occur at the knee joint. The knee joint consisting of the thigh and lower leg moves on three different planes of motion. The knee can flex and extend. The knee can…

Deviant Gait – Compensation

Compensation is necessary when there is injury or a necessity of making up for something unwelcome or unpleasant. Compensation can be perceived as a negative or positive situation. With injury the dichotomy is will there be recovery or compensation? Salamanders are fascinating animals that are capable of regenerating lost limbs, as well as other…

Body Proportions – Musculoskeletal Pain – Sports Performance

The importance of knowing how tall we are is somewhat obvious. What is less obvious is the importance of knowing the proportionality of our vertical height. The ideal proportionality of a human body’s stature was defined by Leonardo da Vinci. The “Vitruvian Man” or “drawing of proportions of man” is the ideal human proportions…

Pain on Bottom of Heel: Too Much Big Toe Motion

Pain on the bottom of the heel (Plantar Heel Pain) is a complex problem with variable diagnoses and explanations. And with variable diagnoses there should be variations in treatment. Unfortunately, the common treatment recommendations do not recognize such variability. For example, the universal suggested treatment for plantar heel pain is calf stretching and stretching of…

Aging Muscles & Tendons: Achilles/Calf Strain

As we age muscles and tendons will change. Calf muscles in older individuals are weaker, smaller, shorter, less stiff, and not as coordinated. Older athletes may experience greater incidence of injuries (Tauton 2003, McKean 2006). Two most common repetitive use injuries in older runners are Achilles tendonopathy and strained calf muscle (Marti 1988). A…

Gait Analysis – Gait Training for Achilles Tendon Pain

The manner you walk or run can be one of the contributing factors to the development of Achilles tendon problems. If you are experiencing pain in the Achilles when walking or running working with your Physical Therapists and using slow motion video analysis the following model can provide a beginning point to solve the problem.…

Should you stretch it out – Pain too loose too stiff?

Generally, there are one of two scenarios related to musculoskeletal pain and injury. Either there is not enough movement or there is too much movement. If a muscle is in spasm, if a joint is stuck, or if a muscle-tendon unit has adaptively shortened in length are all examples of not having enough movement. If…