Thursday, March 28, 2013

Video Gait Anaylsis



After a long snowy winter, it looks like it is finally time to get outside and enjoy what will hopefully be a sunny Minnesota spring and summer.  For some exercise enthusiasts, this means a welcomed transition from the monotonous treadmill running experience to taking advantage of our beautiful running trails and parks in the metro area.  For some, it means restarting their exercise program all together after a winter break.  Either way, it is important to make a plan and gradually increase your exercise intensity and duration to prevent injury and over training.  In this post, OSR Physical Therapy would like to highlight the benefits of having a video gait analysis done BEFORE you begin your outdoor running program for the summer.

Recreational running, whether 5k or marathon distances, is an activity thousands of Minnesotans enjoy to stay in shape and satisfy the desire for competition and achieve personal goals.  Many individuals who currently run, want to begin running, or have no interest in running for that matter, have the belief that running causes injury or even leads to the development of arthritis in the knees, hips, and other parts of the body.  Based on hundreds of scientific studies over the past two decades, it is clear that the act of running itself does not cause injury, bad running form and bad planning do.  

One powerful tool that many people use to improve their running form is video gait analysis.  At OSR Physical Therapy, we have highly trained, experienced therapists that use video gait analysis to identify key muscle weakness, joint range of motion, and running form problems which may be causing a runner to be injured, increase their risk of being injured, or simply limiting their performance or ability to run longer distances.  Based on the results of a video gait analysis, our physical therapists are able to develop a personalized stretching and exercise program, recommend running footwear, and work with a runner on their form to minimize stress to joints and ligaments, decrease energy expenditure, and maximize running efficiency.  Using video gait analysis, and as experts in human movement and corrective exercise, we have been able to assist countless local runners from Olympic level competitors to the causal, low mileage exercise enthusiast in achieving more enjoyment while running as well as improving performance.

Remember, you do not have to be an elite athlete to enjoy the powerful benefits of video gait analysis!  One common mistake people make is thinking this service is extremely expensive and only for the athletes they see on TV.  It is not.  In fact, video gait analysis may be more useful for the beginner who does not know how fast they should run, how long they should stride, what running style they should use, or what shoe they should wear.  The answers are not black and white.  They are specific to each individual runner and having a video gait analysis done is the single BEST way to get started on a successful spring and summer of running!

Please check out these links for information on running benefits, shoes, run clubs, and a quick demonstration of our video gait analysis.






 
                

We are also offering 50% off our Video Gait Analysis at certain times of the month.  If you are interested in learning more about our discounts check out our previous post on Gait Analysis Discounts

For more info on our programs contact:



Friday, March 22, 2013

Video Game Injury Prevention

Enjoy weekend video games? Here are tips for you and your kids on how to stay in the game!


Sunday, March 17, 2013

Rotator Cuff Strength

In follow up to last week's discussion on baseball, one area to focus on strengthening for injury prevention is the rotator cuff. This is not only important for baseball, but also for anyone who plays a sport or performs a daily activity that involves lots of shoulder motion.


 

Here is a video on the proper technique to perform rotator cuff strengthening:



Here is a video of how NOT to strengthen the rotator cuff. This exercise actually works the biceps:
This exercise is for advanced shoulder strength, but does NOT work to isolate the rotator cuff well: