Health blog Category: athletes
What is a Return-to-Sport Program? And Why is it Important?
A return to sport program is an integral part of a physical therapy program that helps you return to your higher-level, sports-specific goals. Here at LSTC, once you have progressed past basic strengthening, are pain free, and no longer need hands-on treatment, you will transition into the return to sport program. You will work with certified athletic trainers to assess your sports goals and get you back to play!
What does the program consist of?
Read full blogWhat are Shin Splints?
“Shin Splints” is a term used for pain in the front of your shins, mostly from overuse in runners, jumpers, or hikers. The pain runs along the tibia (lower leg bone) where the muscles insert. The 2 most common muscles involved in shin splints are the tibialis anterior and the tibialis posterior. Tibialis posterior acts to move your foot inward, and brings your toes away from your nose.
What Causes Shin Splints?
Shin Splints can be caused by several different things including:
- Overtraining
- Increasing mileage or pace too quickly
- Not varying mileage, pace, or surface on which you are running
- Poor Footwear
- Shoes that are worn out
- Incorrect shoes for your type of foot
- Shoes with poor shock absorption
- Poor running mechanics
- Lack of hip strength
- Excessive pronation or supination at the foot
- lack of ankle strength
- Tightness in the calf or hamstring
- Excessive stride length
What Can I Do About My Shin Splints?
Read full blogThe Importance of Strength in Athletes
Why Strength is Important
For athletes being stronger will help them experience a significant decrease in potential for injury. It will also allow them to experience an overall greater ease of activity and movement with everything they do. Typically, there will be no immediate effect to having weakness in a particular muscle in your body. The effects are usually more long term in the sense that “weakness” or lack of proper strength in an area, results in excess friction on the bones in the joint, excessive wear and tear on tendons and cartilage around a joint, and more.
Setting up a Strengthening Program
This all starts with knowing what muscles to work and how to work them correctly.
Read full blogACL Tears and Sports
The phrase that can strike fear into the hearts of athletes and fans is the dreaded “torn ACL.” Automatically, that athlete is put on the shelf for the season and possibly extending into the next. “6 to 12 month recovery” titles popup on our screens, and we wonder if that athlete will ever be the same. We watch the replay, and questions and thoughts pop into our minds.
“What is an ACL?” “Why does it take so long to come back from an ACL surgery?” “Is that what happened to Robert Griffen III?”
There is a tremendous amount of information available pertaining to the “ACL,” and much of it can be confusing and conflicting.
Warm-ups and Adequate Stretching
Do you know what constitutes a complete warm-up? Too often, sports-related injuries occur and could have been easily prevented had the athlete thoroughly prepared their body for practices and games. So what is an appropriate warm-up?
Warm-ups
The warm-up, feeds the body. Whether it’s a run, a jog, a swim or a brisk walk, the change in activity does several things:
- It increased the blood supply to the muscles
- It increases the heart rate
- It begins to produce more lubrication for the smooth joint motion
Now that the body is warm, the next step is to thoroughly stretch.
Read full blogStrengthening and Biomechanics
Strengthening is a key component to focus on when trying to improve an athlete’s performance. However, before any kind of heavy lifting occurs, the athlete must understand the basic movements needed to perform their sport. This is known as biomechanics.
Mechanics of the sport:
- Flexibility
- Technique/Core Work
- Appropriate Strengthening Program
- Adequate Rest
- GAINS
Mechanics refers to the working parts of something.
Read full blogFour Reasons To Take Ankle Sprains Seriously
By: Cierra Washington, ATC
It’s been estimated that roughly 25,000 people in the United States suffer from an ankle sprain every day. When most people hear the words “ankle sprain” they think of damage to the ligaments or stabilizing structure in the ankle joint. Like most injuries, there is a classification based upon the level of damage. Grade I ankle sprains occur when the ligament(s) become “overstretched” but not torn. Grade II and III ankle sprains involve a tear to the ligaments.
Mobility and Stability in the Lower Body
By Alyssa Burke, LPTA
Ankle and foot problems are common and can impact people of all ages and activity levels. Conditions in the foot and ankle can vary from fractures to sprains. When these injuries occur, it is often a result of an imbalance in the joint or surrounding soft tissues in your ankle. This imbalance usually pertains to a lack of mobility and or stability, two very important factors that allow your joints to function properly and prevent injuries.
Inflammation or Discomfort in the Lower Extremities
By Misha Gilani, DPT
Achilles tendonitis is a very common condition that we treat here at Loudoun Sports Therapy and it affects every age group. Achilles tendonitis is the inflammation of the Achilles tendon in your foot. When a patient is suffering from this condition, they will most commonly complain of problems such as pain, limited range of motion, weakness and swelling. They often have difficulty performing daily and functional activities such as ascending or descending stairs, walking, running and pain at night; this pain is due to the inflammation that causes the calf muscles to weaken.
Why is Cross Training Important?
By Xavier Thompson, ATC
Cross training. What is it and why is it important? If you follow the headlines of any sports’ stars in the off season, you’ll likely see multiple stories about how an athlete is doing something besides their professional sport to prepare for the next season. You can find videos on the internet of star basketball players boxing or doing core work. Articles are written about football players taking up ballet or yoga.