Teen Athletes - Dynamic Sports Medicine

Why Should I See A Sports Chiropractor?

Posted on May 5, 2023 by Admin

Sports account for an average of 8.6 million injuries every single year in the United States. Meanwhile, athletes, and even those who simply value consistent physical activity, look for ways to push themselves farther and perform better. Although not always at the top of an athlete’s to-do list, visiting a sports chiropractor in Austin can often help with achieving both goals. Here is a look at how sports medicine, when applied correctly, can help you stay active.

Chiropractors improve strength, balance and flexibility

Athletic success depends in part upon an individual’s ability to use their body to complete the often complex or demanding moves required in their sport. And, often, sports injuries occur because an individual’s body is pushed past its breaking point due to overtraining, impacts during the sport, overuse, and other factors.

In order to prevent sports injuries and improve the body’s ability to handle the demands of a chosen activity, chiropractic sports medicine is often necessary. This approach to care focuses on improving the strength, balance, and flexibility of the patient.

For example, sports medicine can strengthen the muscles of the body, enabling them to better support an athlete’s balance and withstand stressors such as a football tackle or a marathon run. Similarly, chiropractic adjustments can support the healthy functioning of the body’s nervous system, improve coordination of the body’s muscles and improve their agility.

When the body is stronger, more agile and more coordinated, the athlete has an easier time engaging in the intense and often sudden movements of sports and other physical activities. And that can improve both their ability to thrive in their sport and avoid injuries that could take them out of the game.

Chiropractors improve range of motion

Improved flexibility can also mean improved range of motion – More of an ability to move the joints and muscles of the body throughout their full arc. Stiffness or limitations in movement make an athlete more susceptible to acute injury during athletic activity. A shoulder with full range of motion, for example, is less likely to tear during a tennis match, football tackle, or wrestling championship.

Muscle stiffness can be a sign of a deeper problem. For example, nerve impingement, overuse of the joint, or too much sports training after rehab can all decrease range of motion. Chiropractors can reverse this process with tailored techniques that address the cause of the stiffness. By addressing stiffness immediately, sports medicine can prevent more serious injuries that would keep you out of the game for longer.

Chiropractors address underlying movement issues

Treating the symptoms of a problem instead of their cause can only bring temporary relief. Chiropractors can evaluate a patient in order to identify the cause of their pain, limited motion, or injury.

Posture issues, muscle imbalances, skeletal misalignment and existing pain from sleep positions or sitting at a desk for long periods can affect the form we take when running, lifting weights or swinging a golf club, and that can lead to injuries in the neck, back, elbows, hips, and knees — really anywhere with a joint!

Sports chiropractors can analyze body type and posture against the muscles and movements used in an athlete’s sport of choice to correct issues that lead to compensation injuries or those that result from improper sports technique. We can also address mild pain — usually a signal there is a more severe pain to come — before it leads to damage that may take you out of your game for good.

Sports medicine improves reaction time

Reaction time can be the difference between making a soccer goal and losing the ball, hitting a home run and striking out. Chiropractic care can help. According to one study in the 90s, athletes who received chiropractic care were 6.3 percent more agile and enjoyed faster response times than athletes who did not.

By integrating the nervous system, improving flexibility and range of motion and identifying and correcting movement problems, chiropractors have the ability to make an athlete faster and more accurate in their sport. That improves performance in measurable ways.

Chiropractic care speeds up rehab times

As experts in sports rehabilitation, sports chiropractors diagnose sports injuries and create treatment plans that involve a variety of rehab therapies including cold therapy, massage, taping, manual manipulation and stretch and strengthening exercises, among others, to allow athletes to return to their sport faster.

Other ways in which chiropractic adjustments and techniques can shorten recovery from injuries (And related surgeries) include the following:

Maintain range of motion as the body heals
Reduce inflammation in the affected joints or muscles
Increase healing blood flow throughout the injured area
Alleviate pain from the injury

Chiropractic care addresses pain at the source

Often when an athlete gets injured, they realize there were signs this was going to happen: Mild pain that increased with activity or lingering soreness well after the game was over.

Addressing these signals of impending problems can prevent major problems from arising. In addition, a skilled chiropractor can follow these signals to the source of the issue and implement exercises and adjustments that can heal the underlying problem.

For example, if an impinged nerve is causing shoulder pain that makes it difficult to play your sport of choice, a chiropractor can offer adjustments designed to free the nerve so that the pain goes away – And stays away.

Fewer clinic trips and more time on the field or the court is a surefire way to improve your performance and begin crushing your physical fitness goals.

Sports chiropractors improve training and performance

Two female runners working out while listening to music on their mobile phone on an armband

By focusing on improving overall body function, and increasing range of motion and muscle strength and tone, a sports chiropractor can assist athletes in optimizing and enhancing performance.

Whether your goal is to run faster, swing harder, jump higher or play longer, sports chiropractors can analyze your training-to-results ratio to determine which factors might be keeping you from reaching your fitness goals. These can include improper warm-up, nutrition deficiencies, sleep issues or overtraining, among many others.

If you are ready to combat injuries and reach new success in your athletic endeavors, you may want to add sports medicine to your regimen. Don’t wait until you are suffering from a debilitating injury. Go now to stop injuries in their tracks and gain the flexibility, range of motion, strength, and agility you need to perform at your peak.

Want to hear from an actual patient who has experienced the beneficial effects of chiropractic care? Consider this testament.

“I’ve been a patient of this clinic since 2018 and I couldn’t recommend a place more highly. Honest business practices and quality care make me feel comfortable recommending that my friends and clients go there as well.” – Curtis Fellenz.

At Dynamic Sports Medicine, we have an unwavering dedication to helping you stay active through premier chiropractic sports medicine. Trust the gold standard trusted by athletes and book your appointment today!

Updated: May, 2023.

Treating and Preventing Shin Splints

Posted on October 14, 2022 by Admin

Shin splint pain occurs when the muscles, tendons, and fascia covering the shin bone (tibia) become inflamed. This frequently happens when first starting a running program, but is also common among seasoned athletes who run long distances or participate in sports like basketball or soccer that require sudden stops and starts.

Failing to warm up before exercise, wearing poor-fitting shoes, or over-fatiguing/stressing the calf muscles (or having extremely tight calf muscles) can all be causes.

Just like with other painful conditions that interfere with athletic training, sports chiropractic care can provide safe, effective options for preventing and treating shin splints.

Sports massage, soft tissue manipulation, and dry needling can all loosen tight muscles and make them more pliable. It can also reduce scar tissue and improve blood circulation to the area.

Strategically applied sports tape and, when necessary, orthotic shoe inserts that address pronation issues or arch support can reduce stress on the shin during activity.

Stretching and strengthening exercises add balance to lower leg structures so that they work together instead of in opposition to each other. Here are a few to try at home:

If You Already have Shin Splint Pain:

Flex/Point

Sit on a chair, bench, or another stable surface with one foot firmly planted on the ground. Bend the other leg up to hug your tibia (shin bone) against your abdomen. Slowly point the toes toward the floor and hold the position. The goal is to both stretch the muscle over the shin bone and constrict (tighten) the calf muscle. After about 20-30 seconds, flex the toes back up toward your face and hold. This position may be more uncomfortable if you already have pain but stretch through the best you can. Repeat several times and then switch to the other leg.

Toe Drag

From that same sitting position, reach one foot behind you underneath the chair or bench with your toes facing the floor. Press the top of the foot into the ground and, with resistance, drag the toe toward you until you feel the stretch in your shin. You may have to slightly rotate the foot internally or externally just a bit to feel the stretch in the right place, but you’ll know when you get there! Hold for up to a minute and then repeat on the other side.

To Prevent Shin Splints:

Diagonal Wall Stretch

Stand with your palms on a wall or railing and step back with both feet to a slight diagonal plank position. Place one foot slightly in front of the other with the knee slightly bent, and press into the back, straight leg with intention, pushing your heel as close to the floor as possible. Repeat up to ten times and then stretch the other leg.

Diagonal Heel Raises

Starting in the same diagonal wall plank position, keep both feet back and both legs straight. Slowly raise as high onto the balls of your feet as possible and hold that position before slowly pressing your heels back down against the floor. You should feel a stretch in each direction. If you want a deeper stretch, slightly bend the elbows so the torso is closer to the wall, or step the feet further back away from the wall.

Toe and Heel Walks

Prior to physical activity, take a few minutes to walk only on the heels of the foot with toes pointed toward the sky. Then work the opposing muscles by walking only on the tip toes for the same amount of time. This stretches out and warms the lower leg muscles to prepare them for activity.

Your team at Dynamic Sports Medicine can instruct you on proper technique in a variety of injury-preventing and rehabbing stretching exercises. We can also evaluate your gait, show you how to apply sports tape, and discuss the merits of sports massage to keep you free from shin splints during training.

Hamstring Injury

Posted on September 16, 2022 by Admin

Better Healing in Less Time

The hamstrings are a group of three tendons that run down the back of the thigh to attach the thigh muscle to the bone and help you bend your leg at the knee.

They are very strong bands of tissue, so injuries to this area can be painful enough to not only halt your athletic training but also make standing, walking, and straightening the leg uncomfortable and difficult. This type of injury is very common among athletes of all types and generally occurs when running, jumping, or performing explosive activities that require bending the knee. And once you’ve done it, it’s more likely to happen again.

Sudden starts and stops, sprinting and lunging can overstretch or otherwise damage tissues leading to injuries that range in severity from a pull or strain to a partial or complete tear.

There are a number of reasons a person might suffer from a hamstring strain including failure to warm up properly before activity and poor overall flexibility. Regularly stretching and strengthening muscles before and after training, and even on rest days, reduces the risk of this type of injury.

Muscle imbalances are another common factor contributing to the likelihood of hamstring injuries. To work most efficiently, the hamstrings must work in partnership with the quadricep and glute muscles. When quad and glute strength don’t match what’s going on in the back of the leg, hamstrings can become overloaded and fail under the stress.

Worse still, after an injury to this area, the hamstrings tend to protectively constrict, becoming tighter and furthering inhibiting movement, making active recovery difficult to do on your own.

Sports chiropractic care can help in both the prevention and rehabilitation of hamstring injuries. Through specific strengthening and stretching exercises, the hamstrings can be better prepared for the regular stress of training. In addition, sports massage can break up constrictions in inflamed tissues so they are more pliable and have better mobility. Flexibility and range of motion are both enhanced after myofascial release and other soft tissue work because the muscles are more relaxed and blood flow to the area is increased.

At Dynamic Sports Medicine we can evaluate your body mechanics for full functionality in movement and ensure balance in major muscle groups. If your quads are too strong or your glutes too weak in relation to the condition of your hamstrings, we can offer specific strength work to balance you out.

Don’t let a hamstring injury keep you out of your game. Sports chiropractic care during rehab can lead to better and faster recovery outcomes.

Contact Dynamic Sports Medicine today.

Quad Strain? Dynamic Sports Medicine Can Help!

Posted on August 31, 2022 by Admin

The quadriceps are a large group of four muscles on the top of the thigh that are heavily called upon to perform almost any athletic activity, from running and cycling to team sports. A quad strain or other injury to the area can seriously interfere with your training program, especially if not rehabbed properly because it can lengthen healing time and increase your risk for re-injury.

While recovery modalities will vary depending on the type and severity of the injury, sports chiropractic care can be a key component of a quad strain rehab program leading to more complete healing and better overall function post-injury.

Ice/Rest

Whether you have pain, bruising and localized swelling from a hit or other impact to the muscle, or an acute strain that occurred during activity, ice is always the first line of treatment. A cold compress/ice applied to damaged tissues reduces inflammation in the area and helps numb the pain. Ice should be applied off and on for the first 24-48 hours.

Stretch

After this initial resting/icing phase, it’s important to return regular motion to the quadricep muscles through gentle stretching and use. Otherwise, scar tissue will begin to form around the injury and muscle fibers can shrink. When you go to stretch them at a later date, the now-shortened muscles have a greater risk of re-injury.

A good way to stretch the quads is to stand on the uninjured leg facing a wall, chair, or railing and use the same-side hand for support. Grab the foot on the injured leg from behind and gently pull it back against the hamstring until you feel a slight stretch in the quadriceps.

Don’t overstretch the strain, especially at first. The goal is to maintain length in the muscle while not further damaging tissues. Hold this position for several seconds and then gently release. Repeat throughout the day.

This stretch can also be done lying on the stomach if preferred. If you can’t easily access the foot for some reason, a friend or training partner can gently push the foot inward toward the glutes.

Sports Massage

Once the initial swelling has gone down, chiropractic sports massage and soft tissue adjustments can help reduce scar tissue formation in the affected area and keep muscles pliable throughout recovery. It increases blood flow to the area which not only encourages faster healing but helps with pain relief. With the active release technique used by sports chiropractors, we can manually break up adhesions surrounding the injured tissue to assist in full mobility.

Strengthen

Along with guided stretching and soft tissue manipulation, it is important to begin strengthening the injured area as soon as it is ready. Depending on the individual injury, we may recommend strengthening and stability exercises like squats, modified lunges, and stationary cycling to fully rehab quad injuries.

With proper post-injury care and sports chiropractic rehabilitation, your quad strain will heal more quickly and completely.

At Dynamic Sports Medicine, we specialize in helping athletes of all kinds fully recover from injury and safely return to training.

Chiropractic Care for Back-to-School Stress

Posted on August 18, 2022 by Admin

Back-to-school season is bound to be stressful for many. Normal school-related stressors like having and making friends, handling coursework, and functioning on, what is often not enough sleep, is only compounded when added to Covid-related anxieties like wearing masks, social distancing from classmates, and the threat of quarantine.

Add all of that to the physical stress of carrying heavy backpacks, sitting in non-ergonomic chairs for hours at a time, and before/after-school sports activities, and you have a perfect, stressful storm. Over time, this stress can actually lower the immune response, making you more susceptible to illness and disease including Covid 19.

Chiropractic care can address both mental and physical stress associated with the start of a new school year. Not only can chiropractic treatments relieve uncomfortable physical symptoms like muscle tension and tightness and lower back and neck pain, it can induce feelings of relaxation and calm.

Fight or Flight

When stressed, the body initiates a protective physiological reaction known as the fight-or-flight response in which a rush of hormones and emotions flood the body in an effort to prepare it for necessary action. Some people are hypersensitive to this response and maintain high levels even after the actual triggering event has passed. This sustained state of heightened awareness can leave students and teachers alike not only with the physical manifestations of stress, such as stomach issues and headaches but also with a tendency to focus on the negative nature of the event.

In addition, these stressful situations result in muscles tensing and contracting, often to the point of constriction, and that can create enough pressure on bones, nerves, and organs to cause misalignments.

Chiropractic care is great at soothing the nervous system and reducing the effects of the fight-or-flight response. Massage therapy and other relaxation-related chiropractic treatments relieve muscle tension and activate the parasympathetic nervous system — the rest-and-repair response — to calm the mind and body.

When done regularly, these treatments can provide a mental reset.

Postural Stress

Heavy backpacks and constantly looking down at phones and other devices takes a toll on posture, as evidenced by all the students we see with rounded shoulders and heads jutting forward. Carrying stress in the neck and shoulder area, which is common, exacerbates this hunched-over posture resulting in the body being thrown off balance. The skeletal system compensates for lack of balance by adding pressure on the lower back. Over time, this unnatural postural position compresses the rib cage, which not only decreases the amount of oxygen going in and out but leads to skeletal misalignment.

For students involved in athletic training, the physical toll on alignment is even worse.

Chiropractic rib and spinal adjustments can relieve pressure, tension, and compression that impairs functionality and mobility. By making body and limb movements more natural, everything from daily activities to athletic performance is more comfortable. Ensuring proper alignment drastically improves nerve communication for better overall body function, including an increased immune response.

Chiropractic Care for Stress

Incorporating chiropractic care into your back-to-school routine can help you manage both mental and physical stress. Through proper body alignment, relaxation techniques, and foundational nutrition and supplementation support, optimal body functionality can be achieved for a healthier, more energetic, and less stressful school experience.

Call Dynamic Sports Medicine today to see how we can help you manage back-to-school stress.

Chiropractic Care Offers Basketball Players The Competitive Advantage

Posted on March 2, 2022 by Admin

Sports chiropractic can help athletes in all sports maximize their performance and reduce the risk of injury. Basketball players are no exception.

In fact, because of the dramatic bursts of energy and the frequent stop-start motions required in hoops, basketball players often find regular chiropractic to be particularly beneficial.

Jumping, landing, sprinting, and suddenly stopping on hard court surfaces mean the lower back and legs take a lot of abuse in practice and in play. The impressive on-court maneuvers fans appreciate often result in skeletal misalignments in players that can affect the range of motion and flexibility, as well as cause muscle strains, sprains, and tears.

Players who include sports chiropractic as part of their training routine report improved overall mobility and flexibility as well as freer nerve communication, both of which are important for a player to perform optimally.

Chiropractic adjustments realign the body for pain-free play, and eliminate undue physical stress that can lead to common basketball injuries such as those to the lower extremities (foot, ankle, and knee,) hip and thigh strains, and back and neck sprains, among others.

It seems obvious that mobility is extremely important for a player to be able to quickly bend, twist, jump and otherwise maneuver on the court. However, many underestimate the role that nerve communication plays in hand-eye coordination and effective body mechanics. If nerve flow is impeded by spinal misalignment, not only will mobility be affected, but the information transfer from the brain to the body can be delayed.

Along with spinal and limb manipulations, sports chiropractic utilizes myofascial massage, a variety of instrument-assisted rehabilitation techniques, as well as exercise, stretching, and dietary assistance to improve speed, flexibility, strength, and balance on the court. In doing so, the risk of injury is reduced and performance is naturally enhanced.

What’s more, if a player already has an existing injury, sports chiropractic can work alone or in conjunction with orthopedics to shorten recovery time, leading to faster, more complete healing.

If you want the competitive court advantage no matter your level of play, let Dynamic Sports Medicine be part of your training routine.

Immediate Help for Teen Sports Injuries

Posted on September 3, 2021 by Admin

Many people suffer sports injuries each year for which they don’t feel the need to seek treatment, particularly young athletes. Fear of being sidelined leads them to think that because it only hurts a little or only during certain activity they can safely push through the pain during workouts, or “treat” the injury themselves with ice, wraps, pain relievers, and self-designed workout modifications.

But over time, minor knee, shoulder, or elbow pain not treated properly can become lingering discomfort, or even a permanent health problem, despite the fact that complete recovery is possible.

It’s vitally important to seek early and proper treatment, and chiropractic rehab is increasingly relied upon by youth and teen athletes of all levels for full and faster healing of sports injuries.

With specialized training and knowledge of sports-specific body mechanics, sports chiropractors can restore functional integrity and stability to affected areas to provide faster pain relief and prevent minor pain from becoming exacerbated or chronic.

“Proper” Treatment is Not the Same for Everyone

Every injury and every athlete is different. While two people may have the same complaint, the events that led to the reported pain may be different, as are the health, lifestyle habits, and body compositions of the patients.

Sports chiropractic utilizes thorough evaluations of posture, alignment, and body mechanics to formulate an individualized rehab regimen for each patient consisting of a number of therapies and modalities. To recover fully, patients must achieve an intricate balance of rest, activity, and lifestyle support, along with proactive sports rehab.

Rest: Activity. Rest equals repair, but while the immediate point of injury may need a period of inactivity, it’s important to strengthen the surrounding soft tissue, ligaments, and tendons with appropriate stretches and exercises. Sports chiropractors utilize proven tools and therapies that speed healing and often leave injured areas stronger than they were before.

Lifestyle Factors. To restore an injured part of the body, the athlete needs adequate sleep and healing nutrition. While most teen athletes can consume vast amounts of junk foods without gaining weight, diets high in sugary, processed foods don’t assist repair. Not only will vitamins, minerals, and proteins energize the body for rehabilitation, they will prevent other illnesses like colds and viruses from demanding important immune-system attention. Likewise, smoking/vaping, drinking alcohol, and overusing OTC pain meds slow the regeneration of injured tissues and interrupt the healing process.

Sports chiropractic rehab. While it’s tempting to think minor injuries can be self-treated, it’s important for young athletes to seek guided professional care. Because youth and teen athletes are still growing, not properly taking care of issues early on can damage growth plates and affect development. In addition, athletes who have been attempting to play with minor injuries tend to have altered techniques to compensate for pain, affecting their performance and creating bad habits that can contribute to future injuries. Alleviate pain with sports chiropractic allows the body to function more optimally to enhance performance.

Sports injuries are a natural part of sports. Whether you have a new injury or are dealing with lingering pain from a previous one, chiropractic sports rehab can help you heal more quickly and get you back in the game.

Back To School With Chiropractic Care

Posted on August 5, 2021 by Admin

Even with so many unknowns in the world today, there are some things you can always count on when heading back to school:

* Backpacks will be heavy
* Back to school means back to sports
* Excitement equals stress for parents, students, and teachers
* Boosting wellness is vitally important

Regular chiropractic care can help!

Backpack Basics

While style, brand, and color may be your student’s primary concern when shopping for backpacks, yours should be size, shape, and construction. That’s because book bags fit and weight distribution are very important for reducing stress on growing bodies, as well as for maintaining spinal alignment. Look for backpacks with ergonomic straps that are wide (and preferably padded) and can be adjusted so that the bag doesn’t hang too loosely or too far down the back of the body. Encourage the use of both straps when they have them, or regularly rotating the side it’s carried on when they don’t. Crossbody bags may be an option as well so that the whole load doesn’t hang off of one shoulder all the time.

Getting in the habit of regularly cleaning out backpacks is also a great idea. Often, much of the weight of a book bag’s contents are comprised of things that no longer need to be in there.

Overburdened backpacks can eventually present in uneven shoulders and hips, as well as other skeletal problems that can lead to pain and affect growth. Spinal adjustments and routine monitoring for alignment issues can address many of the problems caused by heavy backpacking through school hallways.

Sports Conditioning

Whether your student-athlete took the season off or trained their summer away, sports chiropractic care can be extremely beneficial for entering Fall practice in peak shape. There’s a reason so many professional sports teams have a chiropractor on staff and this is it: when the spine is properly aligned, and areas of muscular weakness are identified, performance can be improved, and injury much less likely. Chiropractic care can make a dramatic difference in the health and performance of athletes of all ages and levels. With regular care, football and soccer players, cheerleaders, and swimmers, among others, all can experience greater strength, flexibility, and mobility, along with the reduced risk of injury, to help keep them on the field, court, and track all season long.

Stress relief

Back-to-school time is exciting, but it can also be physically and mentally stressful. Social, academic, physical, and health-related stressors, like sitting for long periods of the day, subconsciously adopting a hunched posture when anxious or uncomfortable, and overtraining in after-school sports or other activities can leave young bodies drained and misaligned, and young minds mentally stressed. It’s important to eat well, get plenty of sleep, and ensure kids are not over-scheduled. The addition of regular chiropractic care to other healthy lifestyle habits can reduce tension and improve circulation, keeping bodies — and minds — in a more relaxed state.

Overall Wellness

We all want to keep our families as safe and healthy as possible, especially in the face of Covid-19, seasonal flu, and even the common cold. Regular hand washing and other hygiene, proper nutrition and exercise, supplementation when necessary, and appropriate social distancing contribute to our efforts toward better wellness. Chiropractic care can support all of those efforts. By encouraging spinal health, restoring joint function, and supporting nervous system communication, all body systems can function more optimally. Spine and limb adjustments when necessary, therapeutic massage, transcutaneous electric nerve stimulations (TENS), and many other proven treatment modalities can relieve pain and stress, allowing for better overall body function, including immunity. Of course, we aren’t saying that chiropractic care cures Covid, but it is a great preventative tool for both improving the body’s natural ability to resist and recover from infection. We can even assist with nutrition counseling and lifestyle modification plans.

While making what are sure to be many back-to-school checklists this time of year, put chiropractic care at the top. Dynamic Sports Medicine can help ensure that your students (and you) are ready to face this school year in the best way possible!

Exercises to Alleviate Pain from Plantar Fasciitis

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Admin

Plantar fasciitis is a disorder of the connective tissue (fascia) that reaches from the heel of the foot to the toes. While its primary job is to support the arch of the foot, it also helps determine a person’s balance and gait. When it becomes overstretched or inflamed it can cause varying degrees of pain in the heel and the bottom of the foot on impact with the ground, particularly when first bearing weight after a period of rest.

Several things can cause the condition, including long-distance running and other exercises that place a lot of stress on the heel area, individual foot mechanics, ill-fitting shoes, obesity, and age. Plantar fasciitis generally comes on gradually, is fairly self diagnosable, and treatable with rest and conservative therapies that don’t further stress or stretch the plantar fascia.

Following are some recommend exercises if you suffer from plantar fasciitis.

Foot Flexion

These gentle movements can be done before ever getting out of bed to help ease top-of-the-morning pain. Lying on your back, slowly flex the foot and toes back toward your face, and hold them in that position for three to five seconds. Repeat multiple times to help loosen up the heel end of the fascial tissues that may have tightened overnight. This can also be done from a chair before getting up after long periods of sitting.

Toe Extensions

From the same prostrate or seated position, try to curl your toes inward toward the balls of your feet as tightly as you can before unrolling them and spreading the toes apart as wide as they’ll go. This stretches the upper part of the band.

Foot Rocks

Upon standing, but before walking, grab onto support and gently rock back and forth from heel to toe to increase blood flow to the area and loosen up constricted tissues. Remember, the condition partly comes from the band being overstretched and not offering necessary support, so the goal is not to go super high onto the tips of the toes, but simply to achieve a gentle rocking motion.

Toe Pick-ups

From a seated position, place pencils, marbles, or other small objects on the floor and attempt to pick them up with your toes and hold them for a few seconds before dropping them again. This is a more active version of the toe extensions discussed above and is good for strengthening the fascial band.

Calf Stretches

Because the plantar fascia connects to the calf at the back of the foot, pain from plantar fasciitis often extends into the calf, and vice versa. Stretching the calf muscle can help relieve pain in both areas. A gentle way to stretch the calf is to stand on a step or curb, and let your heel hang off the back. Make sure that the edge of the step is not placing pressure on the arch of the foot and that you are holding onto something or someone for balance.

Remember that these movements are intended to be gentle so as not to further stress the plantar fascia and lengthen healing time. For this reason, deep massage, which is often helpful for other fascial pain, is not a good idea for plantar fasciitis. Mild rubbing or comfortably rolling the foot over a massage ball or muscle roller can help smooth out constrictions and relieve pain, but intense pressure to the area is not advised.

Even though pain is more likely to occur after physical activity than during, temporarily discontinue exercise that places stress on the heel or that further aggravates the injury. Rest, ice, and conservative therapies are best.

If you would like help diagnosing or treating plantar fasciitis, we at Dynamic Sports Medicine are here for you. We can show you which of the above exercises are best for you and the correct way to do them, as well as offer adjustments and other therapies, pain management techniques, and imaging to speed healing and reduce your risk of future injury.

Don’t let foot pain keep you down. Call us today.

The Importance of Strong Ankles

Posted on January 6, 2021 by Admin

Targeted Exercises for Strength & Balance

When trying to reach peak physical fitness and prevent sports-related injuries, an often overlooked area of concern is the ankle.

In fact, unless you’re actually experiencing pain, it’s easy to forget what a huge role the muscles supporting the ankles play in practically all physical activity.

As one of the body’s most major weight-bearing structures, the musculature of the ankle affects the ability to perform activities like running, jumping, and balancing, as well as the likelihood of developing a variety of lower leg injuries, such as ankle sprains and strains, shin splints, Achilles heel tendonitis, and associated discomfort in the calf and foot. Having strong ankles can also reduce the likelihood of painful rolling of the joint from falls, slips, and trips, and improper landings, that, once they occur, are more likely to happen again.

The multiple muscles that cross the ankle work together (or not) to enhance mobility as well as stability, so it’s important to regularly challenge them for strength and balance.

While often the appropriate ankle exercise depends on the athlete’s preferred activity and current pain situation, there are many helpful exercises you can easily add to your routine. Aim to do three sets of 10 reps each, even if you have to work up to that.

Standing Heel Raises
This one is as easy as it sounds. Stand with your feet hip-width distance apart in front of a counter, banister, or other stabilizing surface and slowly raise yourself onto the balls of your feet and back down. This should be a controlled movement to fully lengthen and contract the muscles of the ankles and calves.

Single-Leg Balance
Start by standing on one foot on a hard, stable surface for 30 seconds at a time. If that proves to be too easy, move to a carpeted area or another soft surface to increase the challenge, eventually trying to stand one-footed on a balance board, Bosu ball, or another less stable surface. Additional challenges include tossing and catching a ball in the air while balancing one-footed, or tossing a ball to and from a workout partner while in the same position. It is common to have better balance on one foot than the other. If this is the case with you, work the less stable foot for an additional set.

Squat Jumps
This one adds some intensity but is great for strengthening not only the ankles but the hamstrings, quads, and glutes as well. Standing with your feet hip-width apart, slowly lower to a full squat, and then jump straight up with fully extended legs and pointed toes before landing again in a squat position. This can also be done on a balance board or ball without actually leaving the ground. Just push up with force from a full squat to a standing position while working to maintain balance.

Rehabbing the Ankle
If you already have ankle pain, it’s important to begin with non-weight-bearing exercises that improve range of motion and mobility. These can be done while lying supine on the floor or on a mat.

Ankle Rotations
With the resting leg bent and the foot flat on the floor, extend the working leg toward the ceiling. Slowly rotate the foot/ankle in a clockwise position 10 times, followed by a counter-clockwise rotation the same number of times. Switch legs and repeat.

Dorsiflexion/Plantar flexion
With the legs stretched out in front of you, point the toes with intention, holding the position for two-five seconds before relaxing again.

Follow that by a series of foot flexes, pulling the toes back toward the nose and holding two-five seconds before relaxing.

Ankle Inversion/Eversion
Lying on your back with your legs straight and hip-distance apart, engage the ankles muscles by rotating the ankles/feet inwards toward each other. Hold this inverted position for two-five seconds before relaxing.

In the same position, evert your ankles by turning them away from each other, holding the outward turned position for several seconds before relaxing.

While ankle pain is common with many athletes, if you have constant or recurring ankle pain there may be something bigger going on. Improper body alignment, myofascial dysfunction near the ankle muscles, or undiagnosed injuries should be addressed before starting or continuing a targeted exercise program. If you are experiencing ankle pain in spite of regular strengthening and balance work, contact Dynamic Sports Medicine for evaluation.