Thursday, July 21, 2011



Haven't missed a tour since high school, but this one will be tough.  Two nights in NY on nights I have soccer games.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Video of Dr. Luigi Stecco performing Fascial Manipulation

For those who want a look at the Fascial Manipulation technique...he doesn't begin actually performing the technique till about 9m into the video.  In FM, you treat AWAY from the injury site, which is a bit different from other myofasical techniques.
http://youtu.be/dPgzwNEbcMU

Sunday, July 17, 2011

2nd Annual ATSNJ Concussion Summit

Some great points made by Dr. Robert Cantu,
...you will not know the true severity of a concussion until the athlete returns to their baseline.
...concussions are not created equal.  One may be too many, while three may not necessarily prevent an athlete from future competition.
...the football helmet will never be the end all in concussion prevention.
...the most sever concussions involve blows directly to the head.

Neuropsychologist Reuben Echemndia presented research indicating post concussion neurocognitive testing (Impact et al) is beneficial even in the absence of baseline testing.

At the roundtable discussion I asked the possibility, based on the research by Sandra Black and David Viano, of neck strengthening playing a role in concussion prevention.  The consensus was, at least from a theoretical standpoint, yes.  But what kind??

Friday, July 15, 2011

Makes ya go hummmm...

"Motor Neuron Pool Excitability of the Lower Leg Muscles After Acute Lateral Ankle Sprain"- Klykken et al, JAT 6-11.

I'm really impressed at the quality of the research in the Journal of Athletic Training in the last decade or so.  This was a good one.  The researchers took 10 athletes with recently sprained ankles, placed them in a relaxed prone position, then measured the motor neuron pool excitability of the soleus, anterior tib, & peroneus longus.  The soleus was facilitated, the anterior tibialis inhibited, & no difference in the peroneus longus.

The authors go on to explain the reasons for the results.  Included was the possibility the CNS was re-organizing to compensate for the loss of posterior talar glide, ie loss of dorsiflexion in the ankle.  In running & gait, remember the soleus is a knee extensor.  So in this scenario it is helping to limit the degree of knee excursion to control the degree of ankle dorsiflexion at the ankle joint.

A thought:  What if this loss of dorsiflexion is not restored?  Could the facilitated soleus persist? Could the articular complications resulting from an unresolved ankle sprain(s) be a culprit in chronic calf cramping in middle age runners?