CategoriesBig toe Foot Stability Plantar Fasciitis

Step By Step Process For Getting Rid Of Plantar Fasciitis For Good

Anyone who has had that real burning feeling in their heel or underneath their foot knows all about Plantar Fasciitis. It can be a very annoying and painful chronic injury that can affect daily life and limit you from playing sports and simply just walking around. Most solutions involve stretches and massage with a spikey ball to relieve the pain and maybe some calf raises. While this may be effective at managing the pain, they are merely just treating your symptoms and will not actually deal with why you got this problem in the first place. In this article I will show you some of the simple steps we have proven to work with not just plantar fasciitis, but also with other leg injuries and feet stability problems. It is important to follow the process I have laid out this article and not skip steps in order for the body to be fully prepared for each progression.

CategoriesMobility & Flexibility

How to Identify Mobility Restrictions That Create Compensatory Movement

It is very important to understand that it is impossible to fully develop strength or good movement if poor mobility is present. This is why it is the first thing I look at in an assessment and is the first thing I implement in MOST programs. Note that I said “most” for some people do not need more mobility, they may in fact have too much (hypermobile) and do not know how to control it. This is where the mobility assessment can help you see this very early on, before you get into the more complex stability and movement assessments where multiple joints and muscles are used that make it difficult to pinpoint where a problem lies.

CategoriesFoot Stability Sensa Mat

How The Sensa Mat Improves Joint Stability & Your Ability To Walk Efficiently

I have seen some amazing results in my 20 years as a rehab specialist and the past few years have been the most dramatic, as I have worked with many clients trying to learn how to walk again which has really tested my skills and knowledge. Exercises I would often use successfully to improve stability and strength with other injuries like knee pain or hip pain, had very little effect on changing a person’s ability to walk. After months of applying these strength and stability methods and getting nowhere I noticed there was one thing that all these people with severe walking impairments had in common, and that was a very stiff and rigid foot. This rigidity in the foot made it impossible for any other muscle in the leg to function correctly. Working on the foot separately provided some small gains in mobility and strength, but really had no effect as to the way they used the foot when they walked. Sometimes the best ideas come by accident or experimentation and this was one of those times. While I was helping one of our clients walk across a path I noticed how her gait changed whenever she stood on small stones. As her feet were so rigid her foot felt every little stone or bump and instantly reacted to move away from the pain. Her entire gait changed due to the pain in her foot. It was at this point I discovered the benefit of walking across uneven rocky surfaces could play a vital role in restoring motor function. The best part about this is it works almost instantly! This led me to using the Sensa Mat which is arguably the best piece of training equipment I have added to my program over the last 10 years! In this article, I will explain how this works and how you can use it in your own training.

CategoriesAchilles injury Ankle Mobility

How Weak & Stiff Ankles Create A Chain Reaction Of Multiple Injuries

One of the biggest mistakes I have ever made in sporting career is not treating my ankle sprains with enough respect and ensuring I had full mobility, stability and strength before going back to playing and training. I cannot tell you how many times I sprained my ankles, my left ankle in particular suffered at least 3 grade 3 tears plus several smaller tears! Nearly all of us have sprained our ankle at one point in our life and almost all of us are also guilty of under-playing the consequences just like me. After the initial searing pain, we limp home, reach for the pain-killers, get the frozen peas out of the freezer and on the swollen ankle, before resting on the couch with our foot up for an hour or two. After a few days of hopping around we try to soldier our way on, and before you know it the pain has gone, the ankle is a bit stiff, but we feel we will be back to normal in a week or two. It is about this time we think we are okay have got away with just a sprain. But, as I am going to show in this article it is at this time that even the simple grade 1 sprains can create a dangerous chain reaction of compensatory movements that are conspiring to create much more severe and painful problem.