Crossfit: How Manual Therapy Can Get You to Regionals Next Year (or just keep you out of pain)!

Whenever I notice Rich Froning, or Jason Khalipa, Julie Foucher or any one of the bigger named crossfitters in the middle of a competition, I always marvel at how effortless their technique looks.  They really have fantastic form and technique, which creates less stress on their body so they can perform faster and harder than....well....you.

If you find yourself doing all the corrective exercises and stretching in the world but it still doesn't make the difference, you'll want to read this.  You'll find out how you've been trying to eat your bowl of soup with a fork....it just doesn't work.

"My shoulders are just too tight".....Not anymore!

When you injure yourself, whether in a specific event (like a hamstring strain) or over a long time (like 'I've always had tight upper back muscles), your body lays down what we call 'fibroblasts' in your muscle due to the lack of oxygen deliverance.  What happens when you accumulate fibroblasts?  Instead of your muscles and soft tissue being stretchy like a rubber band, they end up being tough like a piece of leather. 


Then suddenly you find yourself saying 'I'm just not flexibile enough' or 'I'm just too tight'.  Well...you are.  The problem is that corrective exercise cannot get rid of the fibroblasts.

So what can?  Manual therapy!

The two manual therapies I'd like to highlight in particular would be Active Release Technique (ART) and Graston Technique.

Active Release Technique - a hands on technique performed by a chiropractors or physical therapist that brakes up fibroblasts through tension techniques in which you move your own body during the treatment. 

Graston Technique - a steel instrument used over the skin designed to soften up scar tissue, and re-start the inflammatory process which will normalize your muscles and other tissues.  It's perfect for tennis elbow, plantar fasciitis, achilles pain, and other more tendon-based injuries.

Both of these techniques are designed not only to improve flexibility, but also too relieve your pain and decrease injuries.  Maybe it will make the difference in the depth of your squat, how far you can get your shoulder back during a kip or overhead squat.  Maybe it'll even get you into regionals!

If you are in the Boca Raton area and would like ART or Graston, please visit me at www.Mobility-4Life.com

Injury Free- Box Jumps

Box Jumps are a fantastic way to exercise.  It's a whole body exercise that works on your strength, power, conditioning and burns fat.  Unfortunatley many people struggle with them and end up hurting themselves.  Here are a few quick tips to get you in performing box jumps without hurting yourself (and having better performance too!)

1.  Swing Your Arms
        When one jumps, it's not the ability to push the ground down that has you jump high.  People with huge squat one rep maxes aren't the people that can jump the highest.  It's the ability to coordinate all your forces upward while transferring your forces through your core.  A highly effective way of accomplishing that is by getting a great deal of momentum going with your arms.  The more force your arms create, the less your hips, knees and ankles have to.  It's a fantastic way to keep the stress off your body.

2.  Don't Let Your Knees Travel Inward

Whether its your takeoff, or your landing, don't let this happen.  You might even want to concentrate on having your knees travel to directly away from each other, as this increases stability in the foot, ankle, knee complex.  It will minimize the stress on your body.

3.  Step Down
         Now if you're a highly competitive Crossfit type you might not like this one.  It's true that if your just going for performance, jumping down is faster.  However it adds so much force to the calf, achilles tendon, ankles and plantar fascia that it significantly increases the chances of you injuring yourself.  Alternating which foot you step down off the box will allow you to minimize the stress on your body without wearing down either leg.  

If you have any questions or are injured, please email me at drscotthoar@gmail.com.  If you are in the Boca Raton area, you can visit us at www.Mobility-4Life.com

CryoSauna Therapy

There's an exciting new option available in the sports medicine community for those that are looking to recover quicker and have their bodies feel better.  It's called CryoSauna therapy.  In just 3 minutes, you give your system the jolt that it needs without any chemicals or harmful ingredients.

Cryo therapy has been around for years in the form of Ice Baths (Picture old time NFL players).  The purpose was to decrease inflammation in the body, stimulate increased healing rates of old injuries and improve overall energy in the body.  To read more about the historical ice baths click here.

CryoSauna therapy benefits

• Prevents Injury
• Speeds Recovery
• Keeps Muscles Limber
• Clears the Meridians 
• Repairs Muscle
• Decreased inflammation
• Feels Good Afterwards
• Decreased Muscle soreness/stiffness
• Decreased joint pain
• Burn 500-800 calories in 3 minutes!

But now we have the ability to get even better benefits from way less of a commitment.  The CryoSauna delivers all the same benefits in just 3 minutes by spraying subzero gasiform Nitrogen onto the skin and getting the desired reaction.

Now there is some controversy these days regarding ice therapy vs. heat therapy and if ice therapy is even beneficial to people.  At this point what we recommend is that it is for some people, and it's not for everyone.  Some people swear by ice therapy and feel as though they get fantastic results.  If that's not you...then this isn't for you.

The theory of this treatment is that when the cold nitrogen is sprayed onto the skin, the body thinks it's in a subzero environment and blood flow gets altered from the extremities, into the internal organs.  While it's in the internal organs, the blood gets oxygenated from the internal organs and lung blood vessels which carry the highest oxygen content of blood in the body.  Once the treatment is complete, the highly oxygenated blood is re-delivered to the extremities leaving you feeling like a million bucks.

It's like a highly effective RE-SET button on your body!

This gets great results with runners, triathletes, football players and anyone else that is putting a great deal of stress on their bodies.

If you have questions or are interested in CryoSauna therapy, you can call our office at 561.997.8898 or email me directly at drscotthoar@gmail.com.  To check out more visit www.Mobility-4Life.com