Foot and Ankle Care for Runners

Running can be really bad for you.

It’s roughly 1,500 steps in a mile….

Hello, overuse injury!

Sh@t can literally scar your heart and kill you….I’m actually being serious here.

But, that’s the extreme, chances are you’re just gonna go run a couple of miles a few times a week and be miserable tell people how awesome it is, but we all know that’s a lie.

Creds to weheartit.com

Even the inspirational posters say it sucks…“It won’t stop hurting”…????????

The only place where you’ll see people running and having a good time are TV commercials and fitness magazines.

When was the last time you actually saw someone running with a smile on their face?

Yeah, me neither.

They normally look like they’re a few steps away from death.

But it’s getting nice out so people are going to lace em’ up, head out, and jack themselves up in the process.

Basically there are two types of runners:

“Runners come in two types, those who are injured and those who are getting over an injury” -Mike Boyle

This happens for 3 reasons:

1. Too weak.
2. Too much sitting around doing jack sh@t all winter.
3. Poor preventative maintenance.

Gone over reason one, and two is pretty self explanatory, but three, three is where even the “smart” runners get into trouble.

Not taking care of things like:

• Ankle and foot mobility
• Arch strength/ foot strength/ dexterity
• Ankle strength
• Tissue quality

Will all play a role in getting injured eventually.

But runners, like most athletes, pull this card:

“I’ll just play my sport (run) more to train.” or “I’ll stretch more.”

And doing the same thing expecting different outcomes works well I hear.

Ohh, stretching, well yes, that’s actually part of the answer. The same way eggs are part of a cake.

1,500 steps a mile adds up quickly…

That means the stress on the tissues adds up quickly and adhesion form, compensation patterns are made, and tissues adapt to the stress, becoming tighter or looser depending on the tissues and your stride things get jacked-up.

Plus you have to remember:

1. Most of us are Jacked-Up from our day job, ……sitting too much.
2. Most of us have muscle imbalances and movement issues to begin with.
3. We have stressful lives and stress is cumulative and non-differentiated. That means: EVERYTHING is stressful, the body doesn’t care how you perceive it, perception only influences how much of  the stress response occurs.

So, most of us are adapting, creating “efficiencies”, around “programming” that’s faulty to begin with.

We have to “deprogram” the faulty code, we can help do this through regular, preventative maintenance.

Running maintenance 101:

Foot and Ankle mobility:

Poor mobility here can lead to: Bone spurs, sprained ankles, plantar fasciitis (a recurring theme), sprained toes, sore knees, hips and back.

Ankle Alphabet:

Wall Ankle Mobilizations:

Arch Strength/ Foot Strength and Dexterity:

Poor Arch/ Foot strength and Foot Dexterity can lead to: Plantar Fascitits, pulled/ sore arches, neuromas, turf toe

Towel Crunches:

Ankle Strength: 

Poor Ankle Strength can lead to: Foot strike issues, knee pain, Achilles tendinitis, ankle sprains

Calf Raises:

Steam Boats: 

These are WAAAAAAY harder than they look. 

Toe Walks:

Heel Walks:

Tissue Quality: 

Poor tissue quality in the Plantar Fascia, Calves and Anterior Tibialis can lead to: In-proper tracking of the Achilles tendon (Achilles tendinitis), plantar fasciitis, heel spurs, pulled arches, sprained feet, sprained toes, sprained ankles, ankle stiffness, ankle looseness, cramped/ pulled calves, improper striking of the foot on the ground, improper articulation of the Tibia and the calcaneus….this sh@t can jack you up.

The Stick on Calves:

The Stick on Anterior Tibialis:

Lacrosse Ball on Plantar Fascia:

Yes, the SMR (last three) will hurt….that’s just the way it goes….

I know, you’re thinking,

“WTF? These issues all result in the same problems?”

You’re right, that’s because everything is connected.

All of these issues “play” off of each other and affect each other, which is precisely why it’s important to take care of ALL of them.

What you’ll usually find is that if one of these is present, a few are present.

If you can find the 30-60 minutes a day to go be a hamster on a treadmill you can find the 15-20 minutes a few times a week to make sure you’re keeping the hardware in good working order.