I love when two good things team up!   Bauerfeind (makers of stylish compression socks) is partnering with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and GOING PINK!  Bauerfeind will donate $5 to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation for every pair of limited edition Pink Compression socks sold!

We started carrying the Bauerfeind Training Sock this spring and it has become one of the most popular compression socks with our clients.  We will be carrying these limited edition colours until the end of October.

Just a little bit about the Bauerfeind Training Sock:  Designed to offer compression as well as greater ankle stability, it is reinforced around the ankle to mimic taping. It also features a muscle toning zone in the upper calf that is designed for reducing muscle vibration.   The Training Sock is available in four colours and now in two limited edition colours.

Check out our compression socks blog to see some of our selection, or check out the Bauerfeind site for more of their products.   Or even better, call the clinic to make an appointment for a fitting by one of our specialists.

Support Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation

Link to Bauerfeind website for Compression training sock

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A panel of experts in patellofemoral pain have published a paper with their recommendations based on the most up to date research in the field.  This paper is available in an Open Access format and can be downloaded from the British Journal of Sports Medicine and you can download the pdf version for free.  There are several recommendations including exercise therapy and custom orthotics.

Custom foot orthotics are recommended for the treatment of patellofemoral pain, but the panel cautioned that a proper gait and strength assessment must be performed first to determine whether they are suited to the patient’s foot and lower limb mechanics.

The article spends a lot of time on exercise rehabilitation and specifically recommends strengthening of the hips (glutes) and not just the knee.

Other recommendations include patella taping and bracing.

As with all sports injuries, especially the chronic ones, it usually takes a combination of treatments to get back to performing activities pain free.  A proper assessment including strength and functional tests as well as gait analysis can pinpoint areas of weakness and poor mobility and inform clinical treatment.

At Align Orthotics and Rehab we excel at gait analysis, orthotics, and exercise rehabilitation, but we also collaborate with local physiotherapists, massage therapist, and personal trainers to provide the most complete treatment.  As the BJofSM article stresses, not all patients will require all treatments, meaning that sometimes the best treatment can be a referral to the appropriate practitioner.

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My go-to shoe recommendation is the Asics Gel-Contend (available in laces and alternate closure).  It is light-weight, has ample support, and lots of room for toes to wiggle and it also comes in six colours.  If you can’t find a colour in this shoe that your child likes, the Saucony Ride is another great choice.

For a bit more stability and support I like the Asics GT 1000.  The GT 1000 is a great shoe for kids who have flatter feet, and tend to break down the inside of their shoe quickly.  The Saucony Guide also offers a really nice supportive fit and more durability for kids with weak ankles. (Runner’s Choice in Kingston carries the Saucony Guide).

If your child needs a wider fit I would suggest checking out New Balance.  I really like the New Balance 880, which comes in a standard and wide width.  (I know that Runner’s Choice in Kingston carries New Balance in Wide).

If you are looking for a shoe that has a bit more cushioning but is still supportive, the Asics Gel Nimbus is our other household favourite.   It is a bit more expensive but it fits well and is a really nice running shoe.  We recommend the Nimbus for our little runners in running clubs or for cross-country practice.

I often get asked about lower profile shoes or ‘training shoes’.  Kids seem to like them because they are light-weight and colourful, and young athletes like them because they usually have a big-name athlete in their commercials.  While the flexibility of these shoes challenges the muscles of growing feet, I am not a fan of these for really active kids ages 8-12.  I find the soles too flexible so they don’t support the arch well, and the low heel to toe offset to easily irritate soft tissues in the foot and calf, or the growth plate in the heel.

As parents we have to balance our kids’ wants with their needs. The flashiest colour and lightest sole is not always what is best for active feet.

And please remember to donate gently-used shoes to the ReRun Shoe Project @rerunshoeproject

ReRun Shoe Project

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The treatment for turf toe is conservative in nature.  The injury has to heal, so there will be a time of reduced weight-bearing and immobilization of the joint so the athlete does not aggravate the injury when walking.  Physiotherapy to promote healing of the soft tissues is important, as athletes want to get back to playing as quickly as possible.

When it is deemed that an athlete with a turf toe injury is ready to return to practice, a therapist will often tape the toe to minimize stress to the big toe joint and surrounding ligaments.  At Align Orthotics and Rehab we use Dynamic Tape which has an elastic recoil to help the rest of the foot absorb some of the forces acting on the big toe.

An example of taping a turf toe using Dynamic Tape (image from Dynamic Tape Facebook page)

In cases where the symptoms are persistent, or re-injury has occurred, a custom made orthotic can be fabricated to control dorsiflexion of the big toe.  Forces several times the athlete’s body weight are borne by the big toe and its main joint, during propulsion.  Sports that require pushing off (most sports) can aggravate a turf toe injury and make it difficult for an athlete to sustain their performance.  In this specific case, we will fabricate an orthotic with a rigid hallux extension (the shell of the orthotic extends under the big toe).  This does not sound particularly comfortable, and you might ask whether you could wear such an appliance playing sports, but you can!  If the orthotic is made properly so that the extension fits smoothly under the big toe (and we add some padding) this device can be worn for sports.

One of these orthotics has a rigid hallux extension, and the other does not. Can you tell the difference?

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If you are in Confederation Basin in downtown Kingston, come and visit us at our tent.  We will have some compression gear on display, including our brand new Bauerfeind socks, which have compression and support for ankles and Achilles tendons.  We think runners will be very excited about these compression socks.

We will be hanging out with our pals from Kurtis Marlow Massage Therapy, Hydrathletics, Conquer Training, and Runner’s Choice.  We always love seeing the other sponsors of the Limestone Race Weekend, as these are great professionals that we refer to on a regular basis.

We look forward to seeing you on the weekend!

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My favourite quote from the article is “One of the runners we studied, a woman who has run multiple marathons and never been hurt, had some of the lowest rates of loading that we’ve ever seen.  When you watched her run, it was like seeing an insect running across water. It was beautiful.”  – Irene Davis, a Harvard professor who led the study

Your running tip for today is to gradually change your running stride so that you strike the ground with less force.  Incorporate some strategies to absorb the shock of hitting the ground, and you are less likely to be injured.  Of course, for those of you worried about your performance, this may have an adverse effect on your speed, but if you want to keep running injury free for years, read the article below for inspiration.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/10/why-we-get-running-injuries-and-how-to-prevent-them/

Run Softly

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Here’s a pic of Cole and some pals before the race:

Cole and friends before the big race!

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Here is a picture of the real-time biofeedback screen in its current iteration.

Biofeedback screen

The screen shows the subject their hip adduction angle in real-time so they can make adjustments in their alignment to keep this angle within a prescribed range while they are running.  The hope is that subjects retain this movement pattern when they run after the study, and correct gait abnormalities and/or asymmetries.  When the study has been completed, we hope to use this as a tool to rehabilitate injured runners in our clinic.

Subject marked up for real-time biofeedback

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Last week we had the crew from Station 14 at our clinic as part of their Healthy Living in Kingston theme.  Station 14 is a Kingston based internet station that delivers local news, current events, and promotes local events and companies for people who like to get their news from the internet instead of traditional TV. Host Chelsea McDermott and  producer Keenan Weaver came to our clinic and in less than an hour grasped the concept of our unique set-up at Align (we do orthotic assessments, exercise rehab, gait analysis, orthotic fabrication, etc.) and were able to interview us by asking questions that would lead us to explain how things work here in a nutshell.  In a comfortable Kingston way, Chelsea and Keenan were big city slick: they came in, asked us a bunch of background questions, turned on the cameras and started filming.  Chelsea was a great sport and agreed to be marked up for a 3D Gait analysis  and went for a run on camera!  Now that’s dedication to the job.

We couldn’t be happier with how it turned out, and we had a great time getting to know the Station 14 crew.

Here’s a link to the segment on their website:

http://www.station14.ca/video.html?id=945

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The folks at C-Motion have provided us with a working model that we are now testing in the clinic.  It’s amazing technology, giving real-time information to a runner about their alignment so they can make corrections to their gait.  Clients will come to the clinic approximately 8 times and run with their “corrected” gait in order to change their style permanently so they can overcome an injury.

Here is a sample of the feedback screen that you will see while running:

Screenshot from knee angle biofeedback

And here is a shot the treadmill with a subject watching the screen and adjusting his gait according to the feedback he is receiving on his knee angle:

Feedback screen

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