Brian Schiff’s Blog

Well, I have become somewhat of a runner in the past 2 years.  I have run two half marathons and have been training for a third.  That is until my right lower leg has gotten in the way.  In May, I ran 1:40:08 at The Flying Pig Half in Cinci (tons of hills).  Not bad for a 184 pound former football player, right?  My goal was to crush that time in Columbus on 10/18.

About 5 weeks ago I felt intense pain near the medial head of my right calf during the end of a 4.5 mile run.  I iced immediately afterward, but I knew something was wrong.  I had to take about 10 days off from running.  I had recently made it back to 4-5 days per week running and thought all was fine.  I even completed an 8 mile run in 60 minutes without incident two weeks ago.

But alas, the pain returned last week on a 10 mile run.  Only 2 miles into it I felt horrific sharp pain just below the calf.  I had to hobble back to my car.  This is a frustrating and defeating experience to be sure.  While I suspected a small medial head gastroc (calf) tear, I wanted to get my friend and orthopedic surgeon’s medical opinion.  So, I went and saw the man I send all my hurt athletes to yesterday.  I wanted him to confirm that my achilles tendon was indeed OK.  That he did.  Whew!!  What a relief.  X-Rays revealed no stress fractures either.

We talked and decided I would wear a heel lift to off load the calf for a short while and try to run in the half on 10/18.  As I continued to marvel at my scenario today, I began testing my leg and thinking, “Why can I do a single leg calf raise and single leg hop without pain if my calf is injured?”

Then the light bulb went on.  It dawned on me the pain was deeper and perhaps just below the calf.  The thing that hurts the most is descending stairs.  Of course!  The injury (or strain if you will) is of the soleus, a smaller muscle deep to the calf and responsible for assisting the calf with push-off and preventing excessive dorsiflexion (foot moving toward to head) of the foot with gait.

You see the pain is almost non-existent when my knee is straight.  But, once the knee bends and I transfer weight forward over the foot I feel significant pain/weakness.  Yes, the soleus is not quite right.  The calf is less responsible for controlling the body weight as the knee bends which makes sense to me based on the symptoms.  I can honestly say I am not sure I have treated anyone with a soleus strain.

See the soleus in red below:

So, what is the course of rehab?  Cross training on the elliptical this week and then gradual integration of running again.  The real challenge for the soleus occurs at heel strike to foot flat as it works to slow the dorsiflexion down and take all the weight of the body during single leg support.  Ouch!!

The good news is my tendon is fine.  The bad news is that the half marathon involves so many steps it may become an endurance based issue.  I will be adding knee bent stretching, single leg calf raises (straight and bent knee), anterior reaches, step downs and lunges into the program as pain allows this week.

So, for all the runners out there keep in mind pain around the calf may actually be related to a soleus strain.  Identifying whther the pain occurs mostly with a straight or bent knee will be key in finding the tissue at fault.  The two may be linked as I had a bad medial calf tear many years ago.

The take home message is listen to the body and develop the right strategies to maximize recovery and rehab.  Hopefully, I will still hit that goal on 10/18.  Then, perhaps I will take a short hiatus from distance running until 2010 to allow it to heal 100%.

Have questions and want answers to your sports training issues or injuries?  Let me know and I will attempt to answer them as part of my blog posts.

In this final post, I will show two simple yet very effective reactive drills I use with one of my clients training for Saber fencing for the 2012 Olympic games.  In terms of reactive agility training, you can utilize  audio, visual or even kinesthetic cues.

As it was difficult to video myself and the client, I chose to use audio cues for this post so you could see the drills.  I also use visual cues to train her with these same reactive movements.  In this drill, the focus is precise quick footwork in a linear pattern.  I have also added in some left and right linear movements as the athlete does lunge or attack off center in certain instances during a match.

In many cases, success in fencing is defined by inches.  The ability to anticipate the opponent’s movements and react faster is crucial.  We use several of these drills to work on her footwork in space.  Keep in mind that the progression from simple planned agility drills to more complex reactive agility training yields optimal results. 

With that said, strive for repetition and mastery fo the most crucial movement patterns/skills and avoid temptation to get too creative.  Use drills that train precise movements in applicable spaces for appropriate time intervals.  Focusing on this mix will elevate performance and get those inches you need in sport.

In the first two posts on this topic I have shown you predictive agility drills.  These are great for the beginning phases of training and early pre-season conditioning.  Once athletes understand how to move properly, it is time to turn your attention to reactive agility as this more appropriately mirrors sport.

There are countless games and drills you can use with your athletes.  I have certain “go to” drills if you will but am always looking for new ones or more importantly the best ones for each athlete or group of athletes I am working with.

Today I included some video taken from a field hockey speed clinic I held last month.  A primary goal was to show the team a bevy of drills they could use to improve speed, agility and quickness.   Another important goal was to make the hard work seem FUN.  

You see I was an athlete not so long ago and I know athletes really don’t get very excited about conditioning because that usually involves running, sweat and fatigue, right?  So, anytime you can introduce games and competition to get maximal effort from your players or clients, it becomes a win-win for all involved.

In the video clip today, you will see a friendly game of partner tag.  Is this ingenious?  Absolutely not.  But, I strategically placed cones in a circle and then asked about 12 players to move within the circle trying not to get caught.  Group one worked for 30 seconds while group two rested and then we switched.

So, the pairs designated an initial “it” person and when the whistle blew the offensive player tried to evade while the defense pursued.  This timed drill accomplishes all of the following great things:

·         Unpredictable movement

·         Variable speed

·         Variable cutting cutting angles

·         Acceleration and deceleration

·         Multiple bodies in the same space (very game like)

·         Great anaerobic conditioning

Some may say there is a greater risk of injury by confining the athletes.  I simply respond by saying the playing field has boundaries and in sport there will be collision at times as well as the very real need to maneuver tightly and quickly around people to avoid collisions and score.  By the way, not one person collided in our drill.  Safety or the lack thereof with tag comes down to preparation and proper instruction prior to starting.

Leading up to partner tag, I always initiate more basic partner mirror drills for linear FW/BW running, shuffles and combinations in a 4 cone pattern (smaller area with only two at a time).  These simpler condensed drills lay the foundation for an all out reactive game of tag.

The take home message is that reactive agility must be a progressive part of your field or court training to help refine proper movement patterns, reduce injury risk and maximize athletic performance.  In my final post, I will reveal an even more specific reactive agility drill with an Olympic level fencer I am training for the 2012 games.

I recently relased an article on coaching mistakes in our local market.  In it, I talk specifically about 5 critical mistakes coaches make with respect to athletes.  The article will likely ruffle some feathers.  I am not anti coaches in any way (I am one).  However, I do believe coaches need to be educated about how to integrate training to maximize sport performance and reduce injury risk.

Today, I witnessed another example of how good intentions coupled with lack of proper insight about the impact of conditioning can harm an athlete.  We had a new lacrosse athlete in our facility today working with one of my performance coaches.  At the end of the session, my coach asked me to look at the athlete’s knee as the client apparently had anterior knee pain.

The staff member and father informed me that the lacrosse player’s coach was having everyone on the team not participating in a fall sport train for the Columbus half marathon coming up in October.  The aim was simply to accomplish team building (an admirable goal) and keep them fit.  You may know where this is heading.

I performed a movement screen on the athlete and discovered decreased hip strength and reduced ankle mobility.  The player had obvious imbalances on both sides, left greater than right.  The player then mentioned shin splints on the left leg as well for the past week (now 3-4 weeks into the 1/2 marathon training).

So, after performing a thorough knee eval, I concluded the athlete has anterior knee pain and left sided shin splints related to muscle imbalance and overuse with the recent addition of 4 days of distance running.  Is running bad?  In a word, no.  But this type of running for this particular athlete is not helping further performance goals.

The father enrolled the athlete in our program to work on speed, agility and power for lacrosse.  The bottom line is that this 1/2 marathon training is going to work against the very training adaptations my staff is working to achieve, not to mention now causing more knee pain and shin splints.

I am not opposed to the idea of scheduled conditioning for athletes not participating in a sport.  However, coaches need to step back and ask themselves what is the best way to condition their players for optimal performance and injury prevention.  In this scenario, I have all the confidence in the world the coach has the very best intentions for his players. 

Unfortunately, the results may be less than expected here – more importantly they may be counterproductive as the wrong energy system training and adaptations are being emphasized, while some players may suffer injury.

In my professional opinion, the player should probably consider dropping out of the half marathon training for three very important reasons:

1. Resolve pain and shin splints
2. Focus on fixing muscle imbalances
3. Maximize the training with us

This seems so simple, right?  Well, I see situations like this every week in my facility.  I see too many injured athletes.  Why?  In many cases it has to do with faulty conditioning principles or over training.  My mission is to educate coaches about how best to blend injury prevention with performance conditioning relative to their respective sport.  We have to remember that one size never fits all either.

Thoughts, comments or questions?  Let me know.  I am happy to address them in a constructive and positive public forum.

In last week’s post I revealed my core lower body reaches using one leg for stance and the other leg fro dynamic movement.  Today, I will show you 3 fundamental upper body patterns I use with many of my athletes.

They include anterior hand touches, ipsilateral hand touches and contralteral hand touches.  You may progress from a 12″ cone all the way to tape on the floor.  The rotational reaching should only be added after the other two progressions have been mastered.  Perform 1-2 sets repetitions for these exercises.

The purpose of these exercises is:

1. Increase strength
2. Increase stability
3. Improve proprioception
4. Improve mobility
5. Reduce injury risk

I highly recommend incorporating some of these simple yet effective training strategies if you are a field or court athlete or someone who works directly with this population.  In addition, any clients prone to ankle sprains or with a history of knee injuries should be doing some form of these routinely if they are still actively competing.