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Olympic Secrets: Achilles Tendonitis, Shin Splints, Plantar Fascitis — these hard-to-treat, often career-ending injuries strike fear in the heart of many an athlete. In this article, you will discover how and why a little-known and often overlooked muscle, the soleus, is the hidden cause behind these debilitating injuries. Injury to the soleus muscle is the primary cause behind the majority of Achilles tendon, shin splint, and plantar fascia injuries. Perhaps no other muscle in the body has a more global effect on athletic performance. The Soleus Cascade The soleus is the small hand-shaped muscle behind the large calf (gastrocnemius) muscle. Most athletes will only stretch 15-30 seconds — long enough for the calf to loosen, but not long enough for the soleus to relax as well. Over time, the soleus muscle shortens, leading to microscopic tearing and the formation of scar tissue. This in turn pulls on the deep flexor muscles of the foot, which run down the inside of the leg behind the tibia bone and in front of the Achilles tendon, then behind the ankle bone and attach on the bottom of the foot. The deep flexor muscles will then shorten and also form scar tissue. With the soleus and the deep flexors shortened and forming scar tissue, a tremendous load is placed on the Achilles tendon, resulting in its own shortening and formation of scar tissue. This Soleus Cascade is the number one cause of Achilles tendon, shin splint and plantar fascia injuries. Healing and Prevention In order to prevent or heal these injuries, start by warming up the soleus and deep flexor muscles with moist heat for 15 minutes. You can use ultra-sound, a hydroculator, or soak a hand towel in very hot water from the sink. Next, massage the soleus for five minutes. As you rub the muscle, feel for band-like areas that are tight, tender, or painful. Only use moderate pressure and pay close attention to the amount of pain that you feel. Pain usually means tissue damage. If you are too aggressive you may create more injury. On a 1-10 pain scale (with 1 low and 10 high), never exceed a “6.” Then, carefully massage down the length of the peroneal muscles. It should take ten minutes to go from mid-calf to the ankle bone. Next, stretch the quadriceps and hamstring muscles, holding for 60-90 seconds. It is important to stretch the gastrocnemius longer ( 90-120 seconds), so that the soleus will release. After these steps, you can do your workout. Make sure to keep your lower legs warm — wear tights, sweats, or leg warmers. After your workout, repeat the stretches as described above; then ice massage the soleus and peroneals for 12-15 minutes — but do not over ice. Fill up some styrofoam cups with water and keep them in your freezer. When you need to ice, cut off the top two inches of the styrofoam, but leave the bottom inch to hold onto for insulation. Repeat this treatment twice a day, every day until the injury is gone. Tissue Repair While the scar tissue is being broken down and the muscles, tendons, and connective tissue are being rebuilt, amino acids play a vital roll in repair of these tissues. The muscles, tendons, and connective tissue are all made of protein. Protein in turn is composed of amino acids. Research has proven that high levels of amino acid supplements will greatly accelerate the healing rate. As the treating chiropractor at the Olympic Games, World Gymnastic Championships, and hundreds of other events over the last 18 years, I have found that my patients heal faster and perform better when I give them high levels of amino acids. The highest quality, best-absorbed amino acid supplement available today is BioBuilde. BioBuilde is composed of the eight amino acids that play the most important role in muscle building and repair. Dose- and effort-specific, BioBuilde can be tailored to each athlete's specific needs, whether he or she is a weekend warrior or an elite athlete. For Achilles Tendonitis, Shin Splints, and Plantar Fascitis, the above treatment protocol, along with BioBuilde, will get you back out on the road doing what you love to do. Track and Field athletes know that protein plays a vital role in performing better, recovering faster, and in the prevention of injury and illness. But how can you maximize the benefits that protein has to offer? As a sports medicine doctor, athletes come to me to increase their performance. They are injured or almost injured or never injured, but they all have the same goal: to perform better. Last summer my current patients competed in 19 events in Athens. They came home with 12 medals: 7 gold, 3 silver, and 2 bronze. In over 18 years of practice, whether I am working with an Olympic athlete, treating at the World Championships, or helping an up and coming young colt, one of my major tools is helping my athletes achieve optimum protein intake. Perhaps the most important factor in athletic performance is protein intake optimization. Athletes need protein to improve strength, power, speed, recovery, and even immune system vitality. Protein is essential because it makes up our muscles, bones, organs, nerves, hormones, and immune cells. Proteins are made up of smaller building blocks called amino acids. In nature there are 22 known amino acids. But our bodies only need 8 of them to construct all of the proteins we use. These 8 are called essential amino acids, because they must be part of our daily intake. Training and competing depletes the body of amino acids. If we don't replace them we risk decreased performance, illness, and injury. After exercise, the muscle cells need to rebuild their proteins. If the amino acids they need are not readily available to the cell, those proteins will not be rebuilt. New muscle growth will be delayed or will not occur. Thus the training benefits that the athlete works for do not happen. Even worse, breakdown and injury will follow and the immune system will weaken. After a hard race or training day, if there is not sufficient amino acid intake to complete the repair process AND keep the immune proteins at their optimal level, the athlete can even get sick. You’ve probably all experienced this. The body needs a quality amino acid source to achieve optimum function and peak performance. We know that not all protein or amino acid sources are created equal. I recommend a relatively new, totally safe amino acid supplement that gets the best results I’ve ever seen. It is certified by one of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers in the world to be free of any drugs or illegal additives, and it contains a special patented blend of the 8 essential amino acids.
Protein quality is based on having all 8 amino acids available and in the correct proportion. This quality can be measured by a test called Net Nitrogen Usage (NNU). The NNU reflects what percentage of a dietary protein actually gets turned into protein in the body. Among foods, whole eggs have the highest NNU at 48%. This means that 48% of the protein of the egg can be used by the body to make the proteins it needs. It also means that 52% of that ingested protein will be turned into burnable calories and waste. Take a look at the chart below and you will see the NNU of some common protein sources. Of note is that whey protein has an NNU of only 18%. This means that 82% of whey-based protein is not made into body proteins. It has to be burned as calories or stored as fat. Additionally, large amounts of nitrogen waste are created that must also be handled by the body. The product I have been using has an NNU of 99%. This means that 99% of it is turned into body structure and less than 1% is waste or calories! It is called BioBuilde, and looking at the chart you can see that no supplement or food has even 50% of the strength of this product to build protein.
BioBuilde requires no digestion. It is absorbed into the bloodstream in about 23 minutes. BioBuilde delivers all 8 essential amino acids, in the correct proportion, so the necessary protein can be made right away. This translates into faster and more complete recovery, greater strength gains, improved lactic acid clearance, improved immunity, and stronger bones, tendons, and ligaments as documented in published peer-reviewed medical studies. So if results are what you are looking for, then optimize your protein nutrition. BioBuilde works for my athletes and it can work for you too. |
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