Archive for the ‘Tendonitis’ Category
Can a pair of shoes give you a better butt?
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011
We see them everywhere. Sketchers, Reebok and New Balance make them. The athletic shoes with the rounded soles that promise to help us burn more calories and build stronger butt muscles. Several celebrities are saying that they work for them. The shoes cost $60-120 depending on the brand. Are they worth the investment? Do they help people lose weight?
First of all, the research behind these companies claims that their shoes burn more calories and strengthen muscles is very limited and the studies were sponsored by the manufacturers, which makes us question their results. It’s interesting to also note that most people do not walk properly in these types of shoes (they avoid striking their heel on the ground), which minimizes the addition “muscle activation” that the ads claim will occur without stepping in the gym!
Second, many patients find that the rocker action of the shoe can either flare up an existing ankle, leg or low back problem or create one as they try to walk on the unstable surface. The reason that these shoes can increase injuries is because the rocker shape of the shoe forces your ankle to dorsiflex (the tilting of your foot back towards your body — like doing a calf stretch) more than a normal shoe. The majority of adults have a lack of dorsiflexion in their ankles due to old sprains, injuries and tight muscles. When they walk in this shoe, it forces them to move in a direction that they cannot easy do — creating stress on the achilles tendon and calf muscles.
To compensate for this lack of mobility, most people will start walking more on their forefoot or toes, throwing off the alignment of the legs, hips and low back. The end result is tendonitis in the ankle/calf, knee, hip or low back pain after wearing the shoes for several weeks. Because most people wear these shoes all the time, they don’t even realize that their shoes are the culprit, causing their pain.
My advice is to save your $100 for a good pair of running shoes that are fitted to your foot/arch and skip the hype/injuries associated with these fad shoes. Besides they look a little silly, don’t they?
The problem with stress balls…
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
How many of you squeeze stress balls to strengthen your hands? Stop! It’s a big mistake. Using stress balls on a frequent basis has been linked to tingling in the hands, weakness in your grip and a variety of tendonitis complaints including tennis and golfer’s elbow.
From a doctor’s view, stress balls should have a warning label on them (as should cell phones, computers and video games) telling the unsuspecting public that they are hazardous to their health. Since the FDA is unlikely to mandate these labels in the near future, let me explain the dangers and let you decide for yourself!
When you squeeze a stress ball, you strengthen the flexor muscles of the forearm that run along the inside part of your elbow to your palm. These flexor muscles already tend to be over-strong and tight in the majority of the population because we use our hands all day to write, type, text or handle materials at work. The stronger the flexor muscles become, the weaker the extensor muscles on the opposite side of your forearm become.
If your flexor muscles are over-strong, they can compress the median nerve that runs inside of your carpal tunnel, causing tingling in your hands. In addition when you have the imbalance of tight/weak muscles in the forearm, it leads you open to tendonitis such as tennis and golfer’s elbow — which are not fun!
So instead of strengthening the over-strong flexor muscles, start strengthening the extensor muscles of your forearm by putting a tight elastic band around all of your finger tips and stretching open all of your fingers at once. We even have special elastic bands available at our office, free of charge, and can show you how to do this exercise safely and effectively.
The next time you see a co-worker using a stress ball, tell them the risks and get them a band to use instead!