Should schools have athletic trainers? YES YES YES http://t.co/FHfCYSvTyz
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— Marilyn Kaminski (@MarilynKaminski) October 30, 2014
The Race to Nowhere In Youth Sports http://t.co/dPQAi4rFYH
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— Marilyn Kaminski (@MarilynKaminski) October 30, 2014
veruse-injury-epidemic-result-year-round-play-too-many-teams-at-same-time
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— Marilyn Kaminski (@MarilynKaminski) October 27, 2014
3.5 million injuries per year for youth athletes - 50% are overuse injuries that can EASILY be prevented! http://t.co/87SRxmheXb
To le...
— Marilyn Kaminski (@MarilynKaminski) October 27, 2014
Passion is what keeps us moving! Be passionate in all you do!
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— Marilyn Kaminski (@MarilynKaminski) October 24, 2014
Ordinary people can do extraordinary things!! Do not doubt your potential!
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— Marilyn Kaminski (@MarilynKaminski) October 24, 2014
Encouragement for females to be athletes! https://t.co/5hE51RRpUQ
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— Marilyn Kaminski (@MarilynKaminski) October 24, 2014
Great piece from the USA Hockey American Development Model site on recruiting from UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh. Read it whether you have a boy or a girl and, whether they play hockey or not.
http://www.admkids.com/news_article/show/415858?referrer_id=940598
The most important key to recover fast from any sports injury or sports injury related surgery is: EARLY TREATMENT/THERAPY!!!
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— Marilyn Kaminski (@MarilynKaminski) October 22, 2014
In my last article I discussed a new paper looking at Massage and Exercise Induced Muscle Damage. At the end of the article I discussed some of the ways massage can be thought of as a modality to use within the recovery process from competition or during intense training phases. I thought it would be good to put together some more formal thoughts on the topic as recovery is different for everyone and athletes often have individual complaints or needs that have to be met. By altering your treatment approach you may have a better chance of meeting these needs and helping to play a more significant role in the recovery process.
In the left hand column we see a variety of different complaints that an athlete may have and reasons that they may be seeking out massage. In the right hand column there are a few different options for treatment. This is by no means and absolute list. It is just a few ideas to get the therapist thinking of potential treatment effects. Unfortunately, most therapists have a one-size-fits-all approach to therapy and, no matter what your complaint or need is, you are going to come in, lie on the table and get a deep tissue massage (oftentimes leaving the individual more sore the next day). By trying to vary our treatment approach and be aware of the athlete’s complaint, we can (a) meet the athlete’s needs and (b) alter our soft tissue inputs from treatment to treatment, preventing the body from adapting to the exact same thing every time.
Briefly looking at the different types of complaints:
Wrapping Up
As I stated earlier, the treatment approach/modalities in the right column are by no means an exhaustive list. The goal of this article was to provide a framework for therapists to begin to think about and consider how their treatment techniques impact the athlete/client and perhaps can (and should) be modulated based on what the athlete’s symptoms/complaints are. In this way, the therapist can approach treatment with the athlete and hopefully better meet their needs and facilitate a positive recovery outcome.
Sports parents, please read. This could be groins in soccer or hockey. Avoid year round play as long as possible.
The Number One Risk of Arm Injuries Continues to be Year Round Play.
Just thought I’d reblog this one. ( and yes, you could make a case for walking if you train really hard on the other days.)
Originally posted on Michael Boyle's Strengthcoach.com Blog:
This was the second of a series I wrote a few years ago based on my visit to a commercial fitness facility. I was moved to repost/ revise it after I walked by a commercial fitness center in a mall. All I could think of was watching hamsters on the wheel in the HabiTrail.
In part 1 I covered weight training. To review, look at what everyone else is doing and, don’t do it. Pretty simple. The Charles Staley 180 Principle. Everyone benching, think more rows. Just keep telling yourself, do the opposite. Guy does arms for an hour. You should do legs. Just a thought. How many people walked by you on their hands today? My guess unless you went to the circus was zero.
In regards to “cardio”, the same is true. I hate the term cardio. Most of the people I saw in the gym the day…
View original 481 more words
@GoBigBlue_PHS @NickMaxey1234 CONGRATULATIONS NICK!!!! HARD WORK PAYS OFF!! WELL DESERVED!
— Marilyn Kaminski (@MarilynKaminski) October 11, 2014
I do like an opportunity to watch elite athletes in slow motion. They make it all look far too easy!
Here’s a great video showing Kenya’s Dennis Kimetto in the closing few kilometres of running a World Record time of 2:02.57 in Berlin this year.
Clearly this is footage pulled from TV, rather than good quality high-speed camera footage. So we can’t get too into the more subtle areas of running biomechanics. But we can look at a couple of key areas…
Cadence / Stride Frequency:
Earlier the race, I picked a few of the leading group of male runners, and simply counted their cadence (strides per minute). As you’d expect, there was variation between the runners, but all those I observed were in the 180-190spm region. At the pace these guys are running, that shouldn’t come as a surprise.
What I found interesting is that in this footage collected nearly 41km into the race, Kimetto’s cadence is still well over 180spm. That’s over three steps per second – which you can observe using the race timer in clip! Anybody who has really pushed themselves in a race will know that cadence (leg speed) is usually one of the first things to drop as fatigue kicks in.
We can assume that Kimetto had to work pretty darn hard to set a new WR, which makes the consistency in his cadence impressive!
Remember though that cadence is variable in determining running pace, not a constant… more on that here and here.
Stride Length & Foot Strike:
The tongue-in-cheek title of Craig Payne’s article on this run made me smile:
It’s important to remember that not all heel strikes are made equal. Also that there is a big difference between the glancing / proprioceptive heel strike we see from Kimetto, and the heavy, over-striding heel strike we see from many less skilled runners.
I’d also argue that on his left, Kimetto is heel striking a little more pronounced than on his right, which looks to be more on the borderline between heel strike and midfoot… Hard to say with this quality of footage through! This just goes to show how even the elites often display notable asymmetries in running gait.
“Isn’t he over-striding?”
That’s a question I’m often asked when people see elite distance runners and show surprise at how far ahead of their hips they strike the ground.
I’ve been guilty in the past of judging distance runners on whether they land close to under their hips / centre of mass, or not. Using this as a simple marker of whether they’re over-striding or not. This is unfair I now feel…
When working with sprinters, I do want to see them strike the ground as close to under their hips as possible when sprinting at maximal velocity. Marathoners are not sprinters!
When working with distance runners, the over-striding marker I now look for is whether the point of initial foot contact comes as the ankle is positioned underneath a flexing knee (regardless of foot strike pattern). What we don’t want to see is a more extended knee aligned behind the ankle as the foot strikes the ground – essentially running with the brakes on!
Kimetto achieves this ‘ankle under flexing knee’ nicely as the foot strikes the ground.
I’ll cover ‘markers for over-striding’ with reference to the differences between sprinting and distance running in another article 
Feel free to share your thoughts on this footage in the comments section below…
The post Marathon WR in Slow Motion: Dennis Kimetto Running Form appeared first on Run Coaching, Ironman and Triathlon Specialists - Kinetic Revolution.
Why Athletes Should think twice before doing CrossFit http://t.co/2wbF7O3YBd
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— Marilyn Kaminski (@MarilynKaminski) October 10, 2014
My absolute FAVORITE Stretch for years! https://t.co/p4HQNT2BDS
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— Marilyn Kaminski (@MarilynKaminski) October 10, 2014
edical-staffers-explain-it?ref=0ap3000000407140
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— Marilyn Kaminski (@MarilynKaminski) October 10, 2014
NFL is doing a great job exposing the importance of athletic trainers. http://t.co/lyrGBmLIXy
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— Marilyn Kaminski (@MarilynKaminski) October 10, 2014
What Weightlifting For Just 20 Minutes Does To Your Brain http://t.co/uLoxQTx3FM
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— Marilyn Kaminski (@MarilynKaminski) October 9, 2014
Nice LA Times piece on Hilary Knight’s day with the Ducks.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-nhl-ducks-hilary-knight-20141003-story.html
I’ve just stumbled across this excellent video from my friend @DrChrisBarton, in which he demonstrates a relatively simple taping technique that runners can use to manage Patellofemoral Pain (Runner’s Knee) symptoms…
As Christian says in the video; this kind of technique is often excellent for providing immediate reduction in pain during exercise.
While we know that exercise based rehabilitation is the way forward in terms of conquering Runner’s Knee in any athlete, sometimes the painful symptoms preclude the sufferer from being able to perform their knee rehab exercises.
Using the type of taping techniques shown in the video above, we can enable the injured athlete to successfully complete their rehab workouts, facilitating the faster return to full training.
In some situations, we can also use this type of taping as a temporary fix to help a injured runner get through an important race.
If you’re currently struggling with Runner’s Knee (PFP), feel free to try the techniques shown in the video. Let us know how you get on…
The post Runner’s Knee (PFP) Taping Techniques for Pain Free Exercise appeared first on Run Coaching, Ironman and Triathlon Specialists - Kinetic Revolution.
A number of studies over the years have evaluated the potential role massage plays in recovery following exercise or competition, looking at factors such as lactate clearance and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Commonly, the studies looking at massage and DOMS base their outcome on the subjects’ perception of how the muscle feels following the exercise protocol and then how it feels following massage at different time points (immediately following, +12hrs, +24hrs, +48hrs, etc) in comparison to a control group. A recent paper by Shin and Sung took the investigation a step further in order to try and understand how massage affects recovery with regard to muscle strength and proprioception.
Subjects
Twenty one subjects, who did not regularly perform strength training exercises for the lower extremities, were randomly divided into two groups. Eleven subjects were in the massage-treatment group, while 10 subjects were in the control group.
Exercise Protocol
The EIMD protocol consisted of the subjects going up and down a five-story building 20 times. Following the 20 reps, the subjects rested for 5min and then had their lactate levels measured. Lactate levels were measured pre- and post-exercise in order to confirm that the subjects sustained an adequate level of muscle fatigue.
Measurements of Proprioception & Strength
Strength was measured using surface EMG over the gastrocnemius during resting and isometric contractions (pushing against a wall without ankle movement for 5sec while in a prone position). Ultrasonography of the gastrocnemius during the same 5sec isometric contraction was also assessed. Proprioception was evaluated using a dual inclinometer, which measured knee and ankle proprioception via passive-to-active angle reproduction. The subjects completed three trials, lying prone, and proprioception was measured as the difference between the targeted angle and the reproduced angle in the ankle and knee joints.
Intervention
The experimental group in this study received a 15 minute massage to the gastrocnemius, which consisted of light stroking, milking, friction, and skin rolling – all commonly used massage techniques. The control group received sham transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) to the gastrocnemius for 15min.
Findings
> EIMD was confirmed in both subject groups via a significant increase in pre- to post-lactate levels.
> Massage to the gastrocnemius increased activation of the medial gastrocnemius head during isometric contraction following the EIMD protocol.
> Massage appeared to have a positive effect on pennation angle of the superficial layer of the gastrocnemius.
> The massage treatment group increased proprioception at the ankle joint, following EIMD, however the changes in the knee joint were not found to be significant.
My Comments
Massage and soft tissue therapy continue to be recovery modalities sought out by athletes, sports physios, and coaches. While a large part of the result an individual gets from massage following intense exercise may come in the way of psychological relaxation or perception that the treatment is doing something favorable (IE, placebo – which is not a bad thing!), this paper does appear to suggest that there may be other benefits at play. The tests used in the paper are not dynamic in nature, so it would be hard to suggest that perhaps those in the massage group could get off the table and go for another run up and down the stairs; however, it would be interesting to evaluate their ability to repeat their performance, following the protocol, 24hrs later, as this would be similar to what an athlete may be asked to do during a competitive season or during the rigors of a training camp.
As mentioned above, the psychological aspects of any form of touch therapy cannot be understated. The idea of placing your hands on an individual and them producing a response of overall relaxation and them believing in the overall effect is a massive win in terms of shifting that athlete to a more recovered state. That being said, from a more physiological perspective, this is not the first study to look at massage and potential improvements in joint range of motion following treatment. MacDonald and colleagues (J Strength Cond Res, 2013) looked at self-myofascial release massage, using a foam roller, and increases in knee joint range of motion and Forman and colleages (J Body Work Mov Thera, 2014) showed an increase in hamstring range of motion following deep stripping massage with eccentric contraction . Additionally, using trigger point pressure to the gastrocnemius and soleus, Grieve and colleagues (J Body Work Mov Thera, 2013) showed improved ankle joint dorsiflexion in recreational runners .
Finally, looking at the massage intervention in this study – 15min of treatment to the gastrocnemius is a long time to spend on one single muscle. A 2012 study by Crane and colleagues, evaluated the attenuation of inflammation following EIMD using massage therapy . They found that a 10min massage, using effleurage (gliding strokes), petrissage (kneading strokes), and slow stripping strokes to the quadriceps muscle were effective for mitigating the inflammatory response following an intense bike protocol. Perhaps the duration of time spent on one single muscle is a key aspect to attaining certain results when there is excessive soreness or exercise induced muscle damage.
In my next article I will lay out a few ideas surrounding common athlete symptoms, when it comes to high amounts of training, and different massage modalities that may be effective in order to positively influence those symptoms.
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— Marilyn Kaminski (@MarilynKaminski) October 3, 2014
Every Athlete Deserves a Certified Athletic Trainer http://t.co/wlmSTN6l1U
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— Marilyn Kaminski (@MarilynKaminski) October 3, 2014
I know, any time I link to a Mercola article the haters come out. Here’s another thought provoking one. We need to be careful with artificial sweeteners. ( and probably anything artificial)
This Popular Sweetener Could Send You Into a Pre Diabetic State in a Few days
Carl Valle does a great job tackling a tough topic.
Hacking Your Nervous System with Potentiation Methods
