Blog - Hruska Clinic

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Instability of the Feet in Runners - Here is Lori’s Latest Running Blog!

Posted 05/25/2010

Happy Running!
Lori
To email Lori, !

Posted May 25, 2010 at 8:05am by Lori Thomsen.
Categories: Running

Want to strengthen your frontal plane while getting an aerobic workout and enjoying the outdoors?

Posted 05/24/2010

Check out inline skating!

I am here today to discuss a cross training activity that takes me back to my youth (1990’s), to consider this summer to strengthen the muscles that help our body move in the side to side (frontal) plane. Inline skating, or more commonly known as rollerblading is a great activity to engage some muscles that we don’t often work called the hip adductors (inner thighs) and abductors (gluteus/buttock muscles). Snow skiing is another great activity, but unfortunately flat Nebraska isn’t ideal for that! : )

If you have viewed some of the previous running blogs posted by Lori Thomsen, then you have learned that our body has to function in three planes (sagittal, frontal and transverse). We do a lot of sagittal plane activities in life! Some examples include: walking, running, elliptical trainer, biking, squatting, etc. This list is nearly endless, as it involves anything that bends or straightens our body forwards and backwards. We often get too strong in the sagittal plane (especially runners), while the other two planes are not nearly as strong. Frontal plane activities require our body to move side to side, and transverse plane involves rotation of the body. Rollerblading addresses all three planes, and is a great cardiovascular activity to improve frontal plane strength.

Tips for Inline Skating/Rollerblading:

• Keep your back slightly rounded, not upright or else you will engage your back extensors rather than your gluteus (buttock) muscles.

• Rotate your trunk by pumping your arms, as seen in the first photo (left arm with right leg, and right arm with left leg).
• Learn how to stop! When you are first learning, please be sure to start out on flat surfaces so you do not have to stop on the bottom of a hill. Rolling to a stop is the best beginner recommendation, and as you get more comfortable you can use the brake on one of the skates. If you have ever snow skied before, you know that you control your speed by swerving side to side, this also helps while rollerblading.
• And of course….Skate at your own risk, falling can result in serious injuries! If you find this activity too challenging or dangerous, check out Lori’s previous video blog discussing other exercises to help strengthen your frontal plane.

To Email Jen, !

Posted May 24, 2010 at 2:27pm by Jennifer Gloystein, DPT, ATC.
Categories: Cross Training

Jason Masek Speaks at the MATA Annual Meeting and Symposium…

Posted 05/21/2010

To read more, click here! Questions for Jason? Send him an …

Posted May 21, 2010 at 8:49am by Becky Fisher.
Categories: Events

Check Out Our Latest Success Story…

Posted 05/21/2010

High School soccer player Hannah and her Dad talk about her physical therapy results… click here!

Posted May 21, 2010 at 8:37am by Becky Fisher.
Categories:

A Physical Therapist’sThoughts on Sports Performance and Weight Training…

Posted 05/12/2010

Now more than ever, weight lifting has become an integral part of sports training programs at all levels, including in our high schools and junior high/middle schools. I appreciate the idea of integrating weight training into sports to maximize strength and performance, but unfortunately, like many things, we have taken it to an unhealthy extreme. It is my opinion that weight lifting, especially in the high schools, has become more a focus of lifting the maximum amount of weight possible at all costs, regardless of form and control, so we can place our names on the wall of the training room at school. I have to admit that more than twenty years ago when I was in high school it was the same way. I loved the feel of a heavy barbell across my shoulders when squatting, or a bar that starts to bend when dead lifting or bench pressing, but somewhere along the line things have changed. I don’t remember athletes injuring themselves weight lifting when I was in high school, but today we see a lot of young athletes coming into the clinic with back injuries from squatting, dead lifting, and power cleans. As of yet, I haven’t seen any pec tears from bench pressing, but I assure you, if our attitude on weight lifting doesn’t change, it will be a common occurrence.

In our practice, there are certain tendencies or patterns that we see in essentially all people. Some of those tendencies are for people to be extended through their backs (pelvis is rotated forward causing you to compensate by arching backward through the spine). This leads to pain from strained back muscles, or other injuries such as a spondylolisthesis (this is when one of your vertebrae becomes injured leading to instability of one vertebrae on another, thus allowing the vertebrae on top to shift forward on the lower one & is a serious injury). Improper lifting or even simply lifting excessive amounts of weight can increase this tendency, and lead to even greater degrees of injury, pain, and dysfunction. The power lifts for your back and legs which include squats, dead lifts, and power cleans, all by nature require some back extension and therefore increase the risk for injury as the weight is increased.

Because athletes want to increase their power and overall sports performance, I would like to suggest the following: First, before you embark on or continue with a weightlifting program, I believe you always need to be able to perform a full functional squat where you can keep your feet roughly shoulder width apart and parallel to each other (not turned out or in). You also need to be able to keep your weight through your heels, reach forward and down slightly with your arms to round your back, and then squat without letting your knees turn out as you squat low. You should also be able to hold this position as you breathe repeatedly in through your nose and out through your mouth.

If you can do this, it would then be appropriate to begin a strengthening program that might consist of the following dead lift or squatting exercises: Stand on a platform while holding dumbbells with your palms facing in, and then perform multiple sets and repetitions of squats while keeping your back rounded and weight through your heels. Another alternative for squatting would be single leg squats where one foot is resting on a bench or chair behind you while the other is on the floor. Keep your back rounded while you perform several sets and repetitions of squats. When doing this, you must keep the knee of the leg that is working forward, rather than letting it turn in or rotate out. Also, you should keep your weight through your heel as you reach down to touch your toes with each rep. You can alternate legs after every ten reps or so.

These are just a couple of options, but the key is keeping your back rounded, performing multiple sets and reps and not getting caught up in “maxing out”.

Train smart and train hard.

~Dave
Questions or Comments?

Posted May 12, 2010 at 1:00pm by David Drummer.
Categories: