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| Yes I have balls. |
Before I injured "The Calf" as we are now calling it, I had never heard of Trigger Point, and as for self massage....well, let's not go there shall we? Dr Wagenblast's staff at Active Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation (Stacy and Daniel rule!) [Note, my blog will NEVER have paid endorsements!] introduced me to the above tools and I picked up my own kit to use at home and the gym. There is a full kit that adds a larger "roller" like the one in this picture for the quads/hamstrings....I'll pick that up soon. The kit I have is the lower leg/foot kit. The balls are harder than tennis balls, softer than baseballs which is actually pretty important. I tried with tennis balls and there is no comparison. The kit came with two short and very informative videos. Any major running store will carry them, most here in Austin do too.
I won't go into great detail here but feel free to email me at perryhuntley@gmail.com if you have any questions and I can try to answer them. The basic idea is you self massage the calf muscles and foot flexors and extensors....to keep them more elastic and thereby eliminating pain that usually presents itself at "insertion points" on the leg bones and under/aside the foot itself. Think of these muscles like elastic ropes instead of a solid rope. If the "rope" or muscle is not able to stretch properly, it will pull at the insertion points and trapped nerves will cause pain.
What I am so grateful for these tools is that not only are there therapeutic ways to manipulate the damaged muscles - which combine deep tissue massage with stretching in unison - there are preventative measures that will aid me in not getting this injury again. After all, once is enough!!! I hope that using the techniques I'm learning will really help my running and cycling.
Dr Wagenblast teaches a free clinic at Hill Country Running on North Parmer near FM 620 on Monday nights at 7pm - FREE. Again, not a plug for either but hopefully helpful info for my friends that are local. I'm willing to bet this is more than a passing fad - check out the top athletes that are already using these techniques at Trigger Point's website.
So after over working The Calf during my Saturday run (8.44 miles!)....I hit the Trigger Point stuff hard the last few days. The proof is NOT in the pudding, that is a stupid quote I have no idea the meaning of, the proof is in the results. I was able to do 45 minutes on the elliptical last night and another 1 hour on the spin bike and sure I feel some stiffness in it, but I can walk normally, including up/down stairs. Nothing short of amazing to me! The kit is not what I'd call cheap, but considering how well made it is and how often I will use it, totally worth the $.
Hopefully this did not come off as a infomercial! But when I find something exciting that I think will improve my training and/or recovery, I plan to share it. Of course, if you are injured, see a Dr!!!!
Here is The (happy!) Calf this morning!
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| The infamous Calf ! |
