Wednesday
Welcome back supple giants!
Today's Mwod is all about your heel cords. Did you know that simple bodyweight loading of the heel cords in movements like the box jump can create forces upwards of 16x bodyweight? That's one big tendon. So how the hell do athletes rupture this beast?
Two words. Dedication. In my clinical practice, I have never seen a tendon rupture that wasn't preceded by a good old fashioned bout of junky/inflammed tissue syndrome (JITS tm).
Today we are going to create some range in those bad boys so that they won't end up shredding due to tightness
10 min cap
Test: Leg Straight, eyeball your dorsiflexion (don't let your knee bend)
MWod: 2 Min of loaded ankle mobility work done before your training. If you are performing the Mwod not in the same hour as jumping, go ahead and squat the whole five minutes. If you are doing the squat before training, only 2 min. Save the balance for POST jumping/training.
--Free up the skin on your heel chords. Take as much time as you need. Remember to test to see if it makes a difference. We usually get upwards of 10 degrees from this alone. (fascial release with percussion...)
--Contract relax your calves with a straight leg bias. Calf stretch on the wall.
Re-test: You should weigh less than a slice of bread...
If I described YOU in the junky tenon arena, take it seriously. Ice that thing and get the swelling down. Limit your crazy loading until your tendons are like those of a baby cheetah.
Kstar
wow. thanks for all this useful info Kelly. i spent today with super sore achillies, came home and saw this post. what a difference. thanks heaps
ReplyDeletekelly this blog is amazing!
ReplyDeletebent leg calf stretch always makes me feel a pinch in the front of my ankle. no stretch in the muscle of the calf. had acl repair on that leg 3 years ago so slightly decreased ROM in knee as well.
basic question: is this something to push through and mobilize? or is this an impingement or something i should just learn to live with?
Quick question to clear up some confusion. You say to shoot for toes forward in the bottom squat stretch position, yet correct squat position calls for toes slightly out. So what is correct? Or do you only want toes forward while stretching and not while acctually squating? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGreat timing, Kelly. I've been battling a sore achilles for the last 2 weeks.
ReplyDeleteHey KStar!
ReplyDeleteI heard that comment at the end. Watch out Mister. I'll be seeing you in Chicago come November!!
Great blog. I definitely need what you preach.
Kelly Moore
Thanks for today's post and dose of rupture warning! It was just enough to motivate me to do something about this nagging achilles tightness.
ReplyDeleteNicole
Big fan here.
ReplyDeleteQuestion for Kelly:
Like poster Nick, I get a pain (rather sharp but tolerable) on the dorsum of the left foot at or just distal to the level of the talus when dorsiflexed. It is aggravated by, for example, the deep catch in rowing and when I bias dorsiflexion in the bottom of a third world squat on that side. It is also aggravated by touch in that area. To reiterate Nick's question, if something hurts more like pain and less like a stretch is this something I have to live with or something to work out? Will more upstream/downstream mobility/strength fix this issue? Also, can you offer an explanation of this problem without seeing it?
Thanks Kelly! Been dealing with some Achilles pain as I train for a marathon (first mistake), and today's video is a godsend.
ReplyDeleteThomas
This was a nice reprieve after sprint intervals yesterday and 400s in metcon today. Monday's MWOD was a gem as well..
ReplyDeleteK-Star It'd be cool to see some magic for anterior cervical business...
SCMs, platysma, etc. I know peeps get tight there from those Oly lifts!
wods this week have been magic! Like unicorn tears sprinkled on top of my de-load week in 5/3/1. You da man k-star!
ReplyDeleteOk, this might be a dumb question, but I know no where else to ask it. With regards to squatting, why, when the knees roll in, is it a result of weak adductors. If the adductors pull the knee in and the abductors pull the knee out, would it be weak abductors, not adductors???
ReplyDelete@Matt, Here we go off the top of my head..
ReplyDeleteThe Adductors do pull the knee in correct, but they also allow you to externally rotate the femur (turns the knee out). As you drop into the squat you have an angle that your femurs get placed into. If you try to slide your feet outwards against the floor while in the bottom squat this is your ABductors working. Meanwhile the ADDuctors keep your legs from rotating, which would not be closing the angle but collapsing the knee, allowing your knees to rotate inwards.. knocked knee.
This is my understanding of it, and hope this is correct.
Yeah I third the anterior ankle impingement question!! Def get a sharp pinch as I go deeper into the stretch, especially with a bent knee. How do you stretch those muscles when you are jamming up?
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks Jared. That makes a little more sense, rolling versus pulling.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the anterior talar impingement:
ReplyDeleteThere are few options here but the most likely culprits are:
a.) Ligament(s) (either anterior-inferior tibio-fibular and/or anterior talo-fibular ligament) that has got thick and ropy and might or might not cause friction against the ankle joint capsule. This could be due to an injury or overuse (bad positioning)
b.) Scar tissue (or "meniscoid") around the ankle (talo-crural) joint from injury or overuse.
c.) Inferior tibio-fibular joint "position error" following an ankle sprain or trauma (could be a badly landed jump or oly-lift for example)
d.) Bony spur
Depending on the cause, there are few things you could try to improve this (at your own responsibility):
- Traction the ankle. Just wrap a resistance band (doesn't have to be that thick) around a pull up bar, then your ankle, lie down and relax while the band de-compresses you ankle. This is more to work on a "compacted" ankle (feels pretty sweet after box jumps or oly-lifting).
- You could try a Mulligan style mobilization with movement on the ankle: Wrap a resistance band around the bottom of a squat or pull up rack (floor level) and the other end around the front of your ankle. You'll be facing away from the band so that it pulls the ankle backwards (posterior shear) and can then go after those ankle dorsiflexion mobs. For some, this will reduce/remove the impingement in the front. I'll aim to film this tonight and will post a link here if I do.
- "More of everything" -> get those hips sorted so you can achieve better positioning when going into ankle dorsiflexion.
- Fancy way to treat this would be to improve your big toe and mid-foot dorsiflexion but gets complex to explain here.
Hope this helps,
Jami
Thames CrossFit
In a world of people selling weak sauce, you are giving away legitness! Thanks Kelly. This is a tremendous resource.
ReplyDelete