"Cross Training" Archives
Posted 05/07/2012
I am reposting this HEALTHY HINT on our blog, as it is a very popular search topic trending right now… If you have questions or comments for me, please post them below.
Recumbent vs. Upright Stationary Bike
Posted 02/21/2012
What is it about people that make us love extremes? I’m not sure that I know the answer to that question but I’ve come to realize it is why we’re in business here at the Hruska Clinic. (If you’ve been reading some of the other blogs on our website, you’ve come to realize that we’re all right side dominant people, and when we’re too far out of balance-often to an extreme, you have a problem). I was recently discussing the topic (of extremes) briefly with one of my patients and we both wondered what drives people to participate in extreme training regimens that are beyond their ability to perform correctly. Often, patients come into the clinic after starting any number of these extreme programs, yet they don’t necessarily see a correlation between their new extreme activity and their pain. It’s not that participating in challenging activities has to be a bad thing, but where you may get into trouble with some of these activities is when your muscular balance is so far off, that you can’t do those activities without compensating. Another reason people may compensate in a way that will lead to pain is by trying to do an activity that is generally too challenging for you, or trying to lift more weight than you can handle.
For example, maybe you can normally handle doing dumbbell curls with a pair of twenty five pound weights, but if you go through an aggressive cardiovascular and/or resistance training routine and finish it up with dumbbell curls, you may only be able to handle ten or fifteen pounds at that time without cheating. The next thing you know you’re jerking your shoulders up and back and trying to get momentum to curl up those weights. Guess what? You’re compensating and putting yourself at risk of injury. Also, you’re not even getting the intended benefit from the activity. Can you believe this is coming from a guy who used to participate in competitions to see how much weight I could lift? Realize that I always worked out with people who wouldn’t let me lift a weight if I couldn’t do it right. I’ve never experienced a training injury because of this attitude.
So what’s the message today? I think being active and doing challenging activities can be a very good thing, but be sure if you do any activity, especially one of the many extreme workout options that are available today, that you do so with control over your body and the activity, or you’ll likely find yourself needing our services.
Questions for Dave? Send him an email !
Or, leave a comment...
Posted 02/08/2012
Good morning! Our entire staff had a shoe party at our weekly breakfast meeting today. We further dissected the recent shoe list among all of us and had a rather lengthy discussion on which shoes are suitable for different patients.
There were a few minor changes to the shoe list that we posted on our website last week; therefore I am attaching a new updated List. After further discussion, the Brooks Ravenna and Saucony Ride have been removed from our list. We have added the Asics Cumulus back to our list after it had been removed a couple years back. A couple shoes also changed names: The New Balance 883 has become the New Balance 840, and the New Balance 1123 has now become the New Balance 1012. All of these changes are included on the new Hruska Clinic recommended Shoe List for 2012.
Please remember when looking at choosing the best shoe that everyone is different so there is not one great shoe that is best for everyone. For this reason, we have listed multiple shoes on this list. At the bottom of the shoe list you will see some recommendations for choosing the best shoe for you or your patient. Click here to see the updated List!
Check back soon as we will be releasing an updated women’s casual/dress shoe recommendation list
Posted 01/30/2012
Lori and Jen just got back from checking out the new 2012 shoes at the Lincoln Running Company. Click here to see which ones would be the right fit for you!
Leave your comments for Lori below, or send her an email !
Posted 06/16/2011
Happy Running!
Lori
To email Lori, !
Posted 02/07/2011
Previously I discussed the cruise control mechanism of a car as it relates to the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. To understand what might happen if your autonomic nervous system is not working correctly, I will again consider the sympathetic nervous system as the accelerator and the parasympathetic nervous system as the brake. Let’s consider a common scenario of how to regulate the autonomic nervous system.
Imagine pulling your car into your garage, you place the car in park, and you notice that the engine is idling at a faster than normal pace. You perceive that the engine is operating as if you were traveling at a speed of 65 mph, yet you are parked in your garage. It sounds as if your accelerator is stuck! You know that stepping on the brake is of no help since you are already in park. What do you do? You gently press down on the accelerator, the idling speed slightly increases, and then you gently let off the accelerator and “PAUSE” - suddenly your idling speed decreases.
It is important to use management techniques that “quiet” the faster idling speed or high resting level of the autonomic nervous system. Breathing is one way to control the autonomic nervous system with a voluntary action. Imagine that you’re anxious and your engine is idling too fast. Your heart rate and breathing rate increases. One way to re-set your autonomic nervous system is to gently take a breath in and then blow the air out and “PAUSE”. This allows you to re-start the normal respiratory cycle.
Breathing is a rhythmic process, a natural cycle containing two opposing parts. We breathe in cycles, inhaling and exhaling alternately. Without one of these, the other does not exist. What would you do if you had to make a choice between inhaling and exhaling? Breathing is not one or the other. Breathing has to be both--inhalation and exhalation. There are situations in life that we tend to be concerned with, yet we deal with these situations in one way or the other.
As previously stated, the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems have opposite functions. When we are under stress, the sympathetic system raises our heart rate and respiration so that we can either run away from (flight) or “fight” whatever is threatening us. Generally, when the threat is dealt with, the parasympathetic system restores and/or slows down our heart rate and respiration. Breathing is one way to control the autonomic nervous system with a voluntary action.
For example, if you were to continue to press on the accelerator, you would continue to increase your idling speed. Likewise, if you were to continue to breathe in at a faster rate, you would continue to breathe faster and faster. Your body senses the need for more oxygen upon every increasing breath however you have yet been unable to fully exhale the carbon dioxide from the previous breaths. This “PAUSE” allows you stop this cycle and restore the normal breathing rate. In the next blog I will discuss the polarity of breathing.
Questions or comments for Jason? to send him an email.
Posted 09/23/2010
Yea, I know it’s cheesy, but hey it works. With fall comes a little outdoor work, and one of the biggies is raking leaves. In our clinic we try to help patients understand the importance of overcoming right side dominant tendencies which can be seen when you rake. With rare exception, when people rake, they stand with their weight shifted to the right and position the right hip behind the left. Next, we pull the rake in front of ourselves from right to left by rotating through the trunk to the left. Because of the way our bodies are made it is just easier and more natural to do it this way, but it also feeds into a pattern that increases imbalances in our bodies that lead to dysfunction and pain. Therefore, we recommend that you try to change things up by doing just the opposite. Try it. You’ll find it awkward at first, but with some diligence you’ll get the hang of it and likely find you have less back discomfort after you rake this year.
Along with the idea of shifting your weight to the left, positioning the left hip behind the right hip and pulling the rake in front of you to the right, I suggest you also try to use a broom this way, and in a few months try to shovel snow the same way. And if you’re a gardener who will be digging up your garden this fall to prepare for next spring, try to support your weight on your left leg as you push the shovel into the ground with your right foot, then turn the shovel over clockwise with your right hand being closer to the shovel head than the left hand. I hope this helps you experience less discomfort this fall with your outdoor chores.
To email Dave with any questions or comments, !
Posted 09/23/2010
My last blog “Do you know how to walk” focused on the importance of heel strike when you walk, and now I would like to further discuss this concept with athletic activities. Of course it varies with the type of athletic activity, but it is rarely advised to play or run on your heels! You will hear coaches say, “get ready”, “up on your toes”, or “game stance”. This is the nature of athletics, being on your heels will slow you down. For instance, in football, you must be ready to go when the ball is snapped. If you are back on your heels you will get beat by your opponent every time. When playing defense in volleyball, you will have trouble moving for the ball if you are sitting back on your heels waiting for the attack. The same is true when playing defense in basketball, and with many other athletic activities.
So, as an athlete, I would recommend that you remember the concept of heel strike when you are walking, and when you are not participating in your respective sport. You typically are only practicing or playing a game for a couple hours per day, and you walk the remainder of the day. In order to help offset the muscles that you use when you are running or jumping on your toes and decrease your likelihood for future injury, be sure to emphasize “heel strike” when you are walking before and after your athletic activities.
To email Jen with questions or comments, !
Posted 08/31/2010
This may sound like a silly question, since we all started walking when we were toddlers, but I find that many of my patients do not know how to walk. Over the weekend, I took a course offered by Ron Hruska and he reminded me and several other therapists’ in the room that many people don’t know how to walk correctly. I see this everyday when I watch my patients walk up and down the hallway. Gait is a term for walking, and there are many phases in the gait cycle. The first phase of walking is heel strike, and many people have poor heel strike on one or both sides when they walk. If you avoid striking your heels while walking, you will alter the proper mechanics at your foot, ankle, hip, back, etc. Since heel strike is the first stage of the gait cycle, you have now altered the entire sequence of walking. Your body has to compensate for this, and will likely lead to pain or dysfunction.
I would recommend paying more attention to how you walk. When you take a step, do you hit your heels first? Your heel should hit the ground, and then you should feel the arch of your shoe, followed by pushing off your big toe. A simple exercise I would recommend to help you recognize heel strike is to first walk backwards, feeling your heels hit the ground first. This helps to stretch (or inhibit) your calf muscles. Walk up and down your hallway a couple times each morning backwards. Follow this up with walking forwards slowly and placing an emphasis on hitting your heels to the ground first.
If you don’t know how to walk, you will have difficulty running or doing other activities pain free. So, let’s go back to being a toddler and learn how to walk again!
To email Jen with questions or comments, !
Posted 07/23/2010
Often, we see athletes in our clinic who are involved in a variety of activities and they wonder why they have pain. After all, they’re “in shape”, and often they’re young and otherwise healthy. Many of them report that they are sure to cross-train because they’ve heard cross training helps to prevent injuries and over training. Part of the problem is their understanding of real cross training. If your idea of cross training includes running, biking and weight lifting, then you’re missing something very important. It’s something we try to stress to our patients, and you may have read about it in some of our other staff’s writings. It’s the fact that our bodies can and therefore should be worked through multiple planes of motion.
I think sometimes we as therapists think this idea is self explanatory, but may in reality confuse many of our patients or readers, so let me explain. Think of the different planes this way: Imagine you’re standing and do any of the following moves: 1) Walking straight forward (or backward) is one plane of movement we call the sagittal plane, 2) Side Stepping either left or right is another plane called the frontal plane, and 3) Rotating either left or right (this can be your whole body, or can occur throughout your body. i.e. at your hips, trunk, neck) and is called the transverse plane. Ideally, when you are training for any sport, it is in your best interest to work all of the planes of motion. If, as stated above, you’re only running, cycling, and weight lifting, you are neglecting the frontal plane and have minimal transverse plane motion.
I would suggest any of the following activities to make your training more dynamic through multiple plane of motion: tennis, basketball, volleyball, roller blading/skating, racket ball, throw a Frisbee with a friend, play catch with a football/baseball (just don’t throw the ball/Frisbee directly to your friend, but rather chase it a little). Don’t be limited by these few suggestions. Come up with some activities that you can do with your friends/family that make your body work in multiple directions.
Train smart and train hard.
~Dave
Questions or Comments?
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More blog entries can be found in the archives…
Posted May 7, 2012 at 8:24am by Jennifer Gloystein.
