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Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
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Michael HarkerParticipantValgus knees in running and jumping are often the result of turned-out feet. Feet should point straight ahead in both, so check out your foot position. Also check out “Ready to Run” which is excellent!
Ken
Michael HarkerParticipantHips first in squats and deadlifts is generally accepted as the way to go, and I agree. You’ll still get strength carryover into skiing, even though they are clearly two completely different moves. If you want to get more specific for alpine skiing, I’d recommend grabbing a TRX suspension trainer and mimic the lateral moves you do in skiing while holding the straps. I did a similar move for telemark turns and found it was a great preseason exercise.
Ken
Michael HarkerParticipantI concur with Chad; smash that psoas! I’d top that off with the couch stretch. It’s probably the most horrible thing you can do to yourself, but I’ve seen it help a lot of people. Lack of dorsiflextion will also definitely hold back your squat, so get after that. Assuming you don’t have an actual ankle injury, you might consider giving those ankles some voodoo flossing.
Michael HarkerParticipantIn addition to whatever correctives you do, consider learning to mouse with your other hand. I got over carpal tunnel syndrome that way.
Michael HarkerParticipantKnees tend to cave in when the feet are rotated out too far, so I’d start by looking at that. Depending who you talk too, you may hear 30deg max ext rotation is OK. Others will say 10deg max. Personally, I’m more in the 10deg camp, but not for everyone. Some of it depends on your height, femur lengths, etc. But if your foot position is good, then I concur that the first corrective is to take weight off the bar. Then progress in smaller increments, always maintaining your knee alignment.
Michael HarkerParticipantRopes are great for shoulders if you have full function, but the high speed dynamic movements could cause reinjury if you progress too fast. Some of that depends on how heavy the ropes are and what exercises you do. Start with a light one if you can. Just ease into it and see how you do.
That said, for shoulder health it’s hard to beat the Turkish Get Up. You can start light and the movements are slow and fluid. Because you have to stabilize the bell in a lot of shoulder positions, it will really get your rotator cuff muscles working.
Michael HarkerParticipantTim,
Thank you for the input! Yes, we’re very conservative with voodoo bands. There just hasn’t been research on it yet. but our PTs are very interested in the possibilities. So far we’ve improved shoulder, wrist, and ankle mobility, often dramatically. We’ve also relieved pain in plantar fasciitis, shin splints, PFS, and medial epicondylitis. Since I’m not a PT, I’ll always get their guidance if I’m in doubt. But as a functional strength coach, I know if I can gain some dorsiflextion (if that’s an issue), then maybe I can fix gait and squat problems. That in turn can fix knee pain, for example.
The other day we had an individual with wrist pain. Did a voodoo wrap for wrist extension and flexion and gained 18 deg of extension and considerable pain relief! Took about 2 minutes. Some of my athletes have added it to their mobility arsenal and just throw in a voodoo wrap with the foam roller stuff. And they swear by it. Hopefully we’ll see some research on it soon.
Thanks again!
Ken
Michael HarkerParticipantI’ve had great results with elbow voodoo for medial epicondylitis. You might try it daily for a week if you haven’t done that yet. I’ve also been told that sleeping with your elbow bent under your pillow can make it worse, so maybe try some straight arm sleeping. HTH.
Michael HarkerParticipantI see this all the time in our PT clinic, and 99% of the time it’s the right foot. I have an unproven theory about that: Maybe driving with your right foot externally rotated all the time has something to do with it. Next time you have your foot on the gas pedal, check out your foot position. Maybe driving with straight feet will help. (It worked for me.) Smashing the glute medius and squatting with neutral feet should also help, as will developing stance awareness, as Kaitlin suggested.
Michael HarkerParticipantThanks Travis. It seems to me that depending on the surgery, a little voodoo might be exactly what people need to deal with scar tissue and get things moving again after they heal. And I have used it on people that had surgeries from years ago. Results so far have been either immediate improvement in pain and function, or no change. Nobody has reported negative results. It would be nice if there were a reference for specifics: For example, ACL repairs are OK, but meniscus repairs are not. But I think it will come down to a case by case judgment call by the Physician or PT, and I obviously defer to them in these cases. But so far we’re seeing massive potential for this. Are you aware of any research on the topic? Or just any info beyond what’s on the MWOD site?
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Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
