How to avoid Compartment Syndrome
By Gus Kaeding
Compartment syndrome cases have been on the rise in North America. I am in a unique position to be able to help others avoid cs. I was diagnosed with cs last fall and have gone through a fast and complete recovery. Fast recovery is great but the real trick is avoiding cs completely. Admittedly, my hindsight is not perfect 20/20 but I do have a few thoughts on what I would have done differently to avoid cs.
To begin, why is cs in North America so increasingly common? I have given this issue lots of thought and I blame global warming. Seriously though, that is not my focus here. It is very much a related issue but an issue for another day nonetheless. I can only speak to why I think I got cs and what I would have done differently if I could go back in time.
My skate technique (or lack thereof) was a major contributor to the development of my cs. “Ankle flexion” or “shin angle” are common terms in technique these days. Although modern skate technique has become somewhat unnatural, there should be no danger if it is done right. My pitfall was my mental cue. I was trying to increase my ankle angle without worrying about how, so I though about pulling my toes up towards my knee. Doing this increased my ankle angle but I unknowingly was skiing with my shins tight. My shins were flexed without a contract and release period when I was skiing. Ankle flexion is important but, it should be just that, flexion. Muscles are not meant to be held static rather, they should contract and relax. If you are skiing and your muscles aren’t relaxed and loose at some point in your stride, something is wrong. Legs are meant to work in a specific fashion, correct mechanics bring not only strength but health. Try and envision a leg pushing off the ground with a correct power application, then incorporate that image into your skiing. Incorrect technique is definitely the largest contributor to cs but there are a few other factors that are worth noting.
Make sure your shoes are big enough. I used to wear my ski boots and running shoes tight. After some time I began to notice my toes were curled up, not stretched out like they should have been. This puts unnecessary stress on the shins and doesn’t allow proper relaxation. Since my surgery I have switched to bigger shoes and boots and eventually my toes flattened back out. Weird, I know.
Next, watch for large training increases in terms of volume and intensity. My problems started shortly after I left college and started training full time with CXC. It was considerable more training than I had done in the past and I may have simply stepped it up too fast.
The shins are very hard muscles to stretch. Sometimes I sit on my foot on a couch to lengthen the the shin as much as possible. But the best way I’ve found is investing in one of those roller sticks. You can roll it up and down and determine which parts are tight and which are loose.
Some ideas are obvious, like stretching. I asked Morgan Smyth for some input, as she had the same surgery this past summer and she emphasized stretching the calves. Are those legs or small cows? I can never remember. Either way, I agree and having loose calves allows the shins to in turn, reeellax.
My last ideas centers around leg strength. Skiing is mostly a straight forward and back sport. There is obviously lateral movement involved in skating but it is done to propel yourself forward. Lateral movement in other sports is meant to move horizontally strengthening the smaller perimeter muscles of the legs. Soccer, basketball, ultimate frisbee, etc are all sports that involved a lot of “cutting” and moving in somewhat unpredictable directions.
To sum this up, if your legs are tight or flexed for too long at a time, that is bad. Your muscles should have a relaxation period in whatever your activity. If there is further interest in this topic, I could certainly write more. Also, I would be happy to answer any questions as there was a time when I certainly had quite a few. Either post a comment or hit me up at akaeding9860@yahoo.com.
Skiing with the boyz pre surgery summer '08
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WremiReumsrix 6:57 am on January 16, 2010 Permalink |
А мне блог понравился
WremiReumsrix 8:27 am on January 18, 2010 Permalink |
блин…писал-писал, а сообщение не отправилось и не сохранилось :) вообщем блог понравился. админу удачи в развитии.
Aaron Halberg 6:19 pm on February 10, 2010 Permalink |
Gus,
I know this post has been up awhile, but I just read it and was glad to learn that Compartment Syndrome is not the fear of small overhead bins on airplanes as I had previously thought. I’ll have to address that issue somewhere else. All seriousness aside, are you recommending some cross training in the other sports you mentioned for developing leg strength that is not so focused on the front and back muscles of the lower leg?
The silver lining you didn’t mention: CS recovery can allow you to really focus on your double pole technique and strength, which can come in handy when outlasting the world’s most decorated skier (Bjorn who?) to the finish of a 54k Classical Race on Main Street in Hayward. ;-)
Thanks for sharing about your experience!