WODdoc Episode 98 Project365: Fixing Plantar Surface Foot Pain
Today I had fun teasing Niki, (our rehab specialist in the office) but, I was really trying to make a point. Her mechanism of injury is similar to so many of you out there. We have a relatively good athlete who hasn’t done activities of high demand in some time and jumps into a competition setting too quickly. It’s not that the athlete can not preform the activities. It’s that their tissues have not been put through the proper “graded exposure” and therefore can not properly acclimate to the new demands. Excessive tissue irritation and/or damage occurs and pain is the result.
The example of joining a soccer league cold turkey is an easy one to see but, others can be a little more cloudy. Take the athlete that is on a strength program and hasn’t done a metcon in 10 weeks. His buddy asks him to do a partner comp that has 100 box jumps in it. He figures he’ll smash it because he put 20lbs on his back squat but, instead he winds up snapping his achilles. No graded exposure… No tissue acclimation … Bad things happen.
Today’s WODdocket:
1. Roll Calves – Full broad passes = Scanning roll (1-2mins)
2. Spend some time concentrated on heel cords. Isolate one foot at a time (1-2mins)
3. Use large therapy ball to scan bottom (plantar) surface of the foot (1-2mins)
4. Perform ischemic compression to hotspot area of foot (1-2mins)
5. Finish with ice bottle rolling (Roll until plantar surface is numb)
Don’t Mash Blind… Know Your Anatomy
Highlight tissue from left to right: Superficial intrinsic plantar musculature, gastrocnemious, soleus
