Damn it Jim! I've Got Plantar Fasciitis!

So now I can officially add plantar fasciitis to my laundry list of sports related injuries , most notably being my torn ACL and achilles tendon tear. I am doing just like the rest of many of my patients do and playing thru it, albeit with some caution and I am playing soccer but not running on the road. The next post I put up will show an ultrasound of my partially healed fascia. I got he new F^ sock , have been keeping up with yoga and stretching back my toes. I tried a new running shoe on the treadmill the other day but after 3 minutes I could feel a twinge. I am wearing my orthotics for sports and flip between crocs and sneakers with orthotics at work,, I have tried a l3 laser treatments which temporarily made it feel better. The question Is whether it would have stayed bet err had I stayed away from the Saturday soccer match ritual. In short I am not that far from the rest of you suffering weekend warriors- just armed with a little bit more knowledge on what to do and not willing to go completely idle for the time being...

The Cult of Crossfit

 The crossfit Mantra is to go paleo.  I don't have a problem with invoking paleo mentality to training.  I was inspired when I saw Rocky bust up ribs in the meat packing locker.  I can tell you that the body is designed to take so much stress and then it breaks down. i end up seeing a host of inuries including stress fractures, plantar fasciitis and tendonitis.  Now I know your coach at crossfit is telling you to reject anything supportive for your feet while you are enduring the workouts. Working out with intensity does not mean you ignore the pain. Make sure your body can handle it.

Being In the Moment

I came across an old news clipping from a high school athlete that I knew.  She won the Penn Relays on her last jump and broke the high school record.  When asked how she did it she said she did not focus on how far she had to jump, she just concentrated on correlating what she had to do on her final jump .  I was surprised to see a high school athlete be able to express what was the difference on her final jump that gave her the victory.  I have been involved with athletes on my former biking team who would choke on the exchanges flying off the the bike  decelerating very quickly and I know the difference was not that they could not do it but they were overly concerned about failure and thus were not able to correlate their body movements in those split seconds.  It's all about being in the moment and the great ones figure out a way to do just that.

It's All in The Footwork

Specialist quarterback coach George Whitfield , Jr.  couldn't make it in the NFL and after 2 years in arena football turned to coaching.  He new there was much more to the position than coaches were providing particularly with the footwork.  Much like the what trainers have done with boxing for years and the Hall's have done with swimming like training he has broken the the motion of the sport to fundamental tasks.  The key are the moorings in almost every sport whether it be skiing, soccer, boxing or fencing.  Agility drills that address the unique requirement to a sport and are going to make you a better player and may save you from injury.  RGIII took a pass on Whitfield and may have ended up in the same spot had he employed him but his injury was precipitatate by a misstep.
 Whitfield has his quarterbacks train on the beach in the sand and water as well as timing drills with cues ranging from brooms to  beanbags.  It's not surprising that he has had clients like Cam Newton and Andrew Luck as at the end of the day a smart player and team are going to find what is necessary to make them perform better.  It takes discipline to train this way but it may be the edge you need.