Doctorate of Physiotherapy
Author: alignmentwithhome
Iceman 2014!
I took 13th out of 88 in the 19-24 age group. I’m impressed with my performance and am amped for next season. Ready to train hard!
Mobility Work for Injury Prevention
How I got rid of my knee pain (PFPS, Knee tendinitis, lateral patellar tracking)
(EDIT: 2017 – The Knee pain was due to the misalignment of the bone structure due to the L5-S1 spondylolisthesis and spinal alignment. Upon relocating it into a Spondylolysis, performing knee exercises and utilizing a cannabis anti-inflammatory and awareness regimen, the knee pain cause was resolved.)
Athletes love to abuse their bodies until damage occurs. Then comes the way of fixing what we broke…
What I’ve done for my knee and back pain in the past:
- Medical doctor for steroids
- Chiropractor treatments
- Massage therapy
- Physical Therapy (on multiple occasions with the wrong goals)
- stretching
- foam rolling
- strengthening surrounding muscles
- running
- corework
- biking…not biking
- resting
- icing and heating…..
….and the list goes on..
I would have flare ups of severe knee pain when I was riding my bike and have residual symptoms throughout the day, akin to a chronic condition of knee pain. The problem is that each of these treatments addressed a little piece of the puzzle. Think of it like adding a cup full of water to a blazing camp fire. Is it going to stop it? No..but, it will calm it down a little.
Here’s how I fixed it and how I’m maintaining:
After starting PT school, I began my studies of the PT world and a DPT by the name of Kelly Starrett started popping up every once in a while. Soon I began to watch his YouTube videos of his MWOD’s where each day he shows you a way to help increase your mobility. His philosophy is that if you have complete joint range of motion for your body without any muscle restriction, while maintaining good posture, you can be pain free.
Its that easy so let me explain. Your body is connected, right? That means if you have a tight ankle, this can cause you back pain. If you have tight hip flexors, you can have ankle and knee pain. Crazy to think about, I know! The philosophy of going through your entire kinetic chain and looking for restriction is crucial.
I bet you wouldn’t and couldn’t last 10, 15, 20 years of driving your car without maintenance. Your body is the same way. This is a young boy squatting down without any restriction. Notice how his heels are on the ground. Why are they on the ground? Because he has proper hip and knee flexion, and ankle dorsiflexion given to him at birth (like the rest of us). I bet he doesn’t have back pain or any other chronic pains.
So you may be asking yourself, don’t all people bend over like this?
Nope. They sure don’t.
People lift with their back, never activate their gluteus muscles, and somehow magically think they get pain. The stress of daily life and activities lock your joints and muscles. Unless you’re proactive about undoing the damage every day, you have a long road ahead of you.
Here’s how average people squat down:
Notice something similar about these people? They all have short heel cords! This means that the flexibility of their gastrocnemius (calf) is poor. The calf is a two joint muscle meaning, it has impact on the knee and ankle. This now means you compensate at the hip which will in turn affect your back and spine. Most likely these people will develop some kind of pain up their kinetic chain in time. If they are an athlete, the injury time will be expedited.
Lets say you work at a desk all day. You’re slowly putting yourself in a hip flexed position where stabilizers get weak and muscles become extremely tight.
Now its your turn to try a 10 minute squat test and see how long you can last with both feet planted firmly on the ground:
You probably have some work to do…
Do I sound convincing yet?
Becoming pain free is simple. Have good posture (learn how to bend over and squat properly), a tennis or lacrosse ball, a stretchy band, a foam roller, neuromuscular re-training (have someone teach you how to reprogram your muscle groups to activate them at the proper time), and internet stalk this guy named Dr. Kelly Starrett on YouTube.
If you don’t recognize the terms of smash, tack and floss, test /re-test, or mobilize, lets talk about it.
First: Start by educating yourself with Dr. Starrett’s Channel
Second: Here’s his book, BUY IT NOW!
I can’t wait to have a full season of mountain bike racing as I go back to the Expert class to battle while being pain free!
PT School Has Changed My Life and I’ve Just Started
(EDIT: 2017 – The Knee pain was due to the misalignment of the bone structure due to the L5-S1 spondylolisthesis and spinal alignment. Upon relocating it into a Spondylolysis, performing knee exercises and utilizing a cannabis anti-inflammatory and awareness regimen, the knee pain cause was resolved.)
Eight months ago was the start of my patellofemoral pain from a training injury preparing for the upcoming mountain bike season. I have been struggling with knee pain ever since and I will say if it wasn’t for the knowledge I’ve been getting in PT school, I would not be on the road for recovery. After only learning just a little bit about proper biomechanics and speaking with one of my professors and an upward trajectory is here.
All it took was learning how to properly engage the gluteus muscles. Having weak posterior chain muscles significantly increases injury in cyclists.
Honestly, I am feeling stronger just by bending over properly EVERY SINGLE TIME and really paying attention to how my body is positioned in space.
The main thing that I did to change my power on the bike was to use my glute muscles to initiate, continue, and finish the stroke. This takes pressure off of the knees, thereby allowing your body to limit its tension on the knee.
Proper biomechanics along with intensive foam rolling of my muscle groups has truly impacted my quality of life.
How do I know I’m on the right track?
I just completed back to back rides on my Hardtail on singletrack without any pain afterwards in 40 degree temperature. This was not possible before the PT school intervention!
I cannot wait to get back to racing my bike for next season.. I will be even stronger with all this knowledge of injury prevention.
Strength From Repetition.
August 2012:
Leadville 100. I’m so glad I could be a part of the pit crew for my friends. Happy to see each one of them finish!
Turns out I racked up enough points to win the Michigan XC series for Expert 19-29! First huge accomplishment of the year!
September 2012:
Mad Anthony CX 2012:
High intensity cross racing is wild! I managed to get 16/45ish people. Not too shabby for a great day at Detroit’s historic Fort Wayne!
Lake Orion CX Day 1 and Day 2:
It was time to lay down some power down on this course. Day 1 I worked my way up to 7th and was content with that. The next day I pushed hard at the end while everyone was fading. I managed to gain several spots on the last lap after having my mountain bike skills on lock-down during some technical sections. I wound up 3rd place after a hard fight!
My first Cross podium ever!
Iceman 2012:
This is the golden race of the year and everyone looks forward to it being the culmination of a long season. I started off in wave 4 way in the back after getting to the start line later then I wanted. I immediately put the hammer down as the wave went off and found myself sitting 3rd wheel to the group of 100 riders. It amazes me how many people were pushing hard in the beginning and as soon as we started climbing baby hills, the large lead group trickled down to several riders. I found myself working with 3 other people during half of the race. We did get slowed down considerably by a tandem in the single track but that wont happen next year since my time of 1:57 will probably get me into wave 1 :)! I found myself riding with some of my teammates during the race which was a nice cap to the season. The snow towards the last half of the race was amazingly beautiful as it blanketed the trees! I wish I had time to take pictures and stop to appreciate the beauty.
I finished in 5th/96 for the 19-24 age group which made this my first time on the podium at Iceman! I can’t wait for next year as training has already started.
My next pressing question is should I stick with Expert or join the big leagues and step up to Pro? Riding with faster people only makes you more powerful… Only time [and a successful winter training program] will tell. Scratch that, it takes a total commitment to race Elite and I will push myself until I achieve the highest level possible.
Until Next time!
University of Michigan Graduation
VO2 max test in Exercise Physio Lab
Finally got to do a VO2 max test. The last minute I could have done without 😉
VO2 max of 64 mL/kg/min, Ve of 138.13 L/min, and an RER of 1.23
Addison Oaks TT, STXC, XC
This past weekend was the 2 day stage race at Addison Oaks. The weekend hit full force with the first day consisting of a time trial and then a short track. The next day was an XC.
Full Results here:
Day 1 Results, Day 2 Results
TT:
Saturday’s TT was over very fast. I will say that I was at the upper level of my heart rate with an average HR of 202 and a max of 210! I managed a 1st place in this race!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/180040970
Short Track XC:
This was definitely my FAVORITE race of the weekend. All of the experts started off in a mass start. I started off in the lead pack and continued to hammer on. After several laps I was still in the lead pack with 3 other top Expert riders (Don Cameron, John Osgood, and Jim Bonnell) and the field was all behind us. How did this happen!? I kept trying to channel out the pain considering I averaged a HR of 202 and a max of 211! I managed to get 1st place in my age group and 3rd place in the entire Expert field.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/180040960
These photos are credit to John Osgoods blog:
For winning overall on Saturday, I also got an endless bowl of Coldstone Creamery so when I feel like really splurging, I can go all out!
XC:
Sunday came around but the legs did not seem to be content with yesterday’s beating. I felt the efforts I put out on Saturday and I had to deal with it. I tried getting to the front of the field as we started and that worked for around a lap of the course. I could not keep up the pace that Kelly Sugg was dishing out and had to slow down or I would suffer later in the race. During the 2nd and 3rd laps I was able to hang with Brad Lako and John Osgood for some time. I took the 4th lap easy.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/180329949
Had a great weekend. Can’t wait for the next race and the Leadville 100!
Leadville 100! This Year1
This is my second time entering the Leadville 100 lottery and I received another rejection email for the second year in a row. I was bummed but one of my teammates; Tom Lining, suggested I check out the Facebook page of Platypus Hydration because they were having a contest where they put together a team of 8 riders who get a entry to the race, a team kit, and a hydration pack.
I was picked to race the LT100 this year with Team Platy, I’m so stoked!
This was last years team at their photoshoot and now the journey begins for me…
