Athletico Health Resources

Running season has arrived and a lot of you wanted to hit the ground running, but instead, you hit the ground hurting…hurting on the outside of your knee. If that’s the case, you could have iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS) or IT band syndrome for short. IT band syndrome is an overuse injury that is common in endurance athletes like runners and bikers. It affects a tissue that runs from the side of your hip all of the way down past your knee. Most of the time, the inflammation manifests itself as pain on the outside of the knee. It can be incredibly painful and is typically a frustratingly stubborn injury to deal with.
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Plantar fasciitis can be a real pain in the foot. Plantar fasciitis is the medical term for inflammation of the plantar fascia, which is the connective tissue that runs along the bottom of your foot. If you’ve ever had pain in the bottom of your foot with the first few steps out of bed in the morning, you’ve probably had some experience with this painful condition. (more…)

*Editor’s note: Today’s post was written by Melissa Boger, ATC, CSCS, NASM-PES/CES.

When I am working with golfers, the number one complaint that I hear is low back pain (LBP) while golfing. Many golfers think that LBP is something that they just have to live with or play through. The good news is that LBP during golf can be prevented or significantly reduced by taking some simple steps to help your body move in a healthier more efficient way. LBP can be caused by a number of different reasons ranging from muscle weakness to muscle inflexibility to poor golf posture, but no matter what the reason is, most LBP during golf can be treated by improving on 3 major components:  Mobility, Stability and Strength. (more…)

*Editor’s note: Today’s post was written by Brad Kleine. Brad is a Certified Athletic Trainer, Performance Enhancement Specialist and Certified Kinesio Tape Practitioner.

Those of us with the fishing bug are starting to think about getting out on the water. The thought of the blue gill and crappie spawn and the idea of the bass moving into shallow, sun-warmed water along the edge of our favorite lake or pond starts getting us excited and anxious for spring to fully arrive. We start to re-spool our reels, spend hours in the fishing aisles at the sporting goods stores looking at lures and new rods and wonder when it will be time to take the cover off of that boat to get it ready to get out on the water. (more…)

It’s baseball and softball season and that means three things to me as an athletic trainer: hot dogs, bleachers and shoulder pain. While all three of those cause discomfort in their own way, I find shoulder pain to be the most pertinent to be addressed by my skill set. I’ve found that a majority of shoulder pain stems from a few of the following avoidable mistakes made by overhead athletes. (more…)

For a team that has a hooved mascot, the Bulls have had their fair share of toe injuries. One particular injury, turf toe, has reared its ugly head more than a few times over the past few seasons. I know what you’re thinking. Why is an injury that happens on the court called turf toe and not court toe? Well, since this injury was initially common due to the nature of early versions of artificial turf, it quickly got its alliterative name “turf toe” even though it can happen on any surface. Luckily, modern artificial turf has improved to a point that it no longer carries an increased risk of this injury, but the name has stuck around. (more…)

New Year’s resolutions to become more active are great. I hope everyone who made a resolution to be fit is starting to see a difference. That said, if someone has been pretty sedentary, and he or she jumps into a new fitness program too quickly, overuse injuries can occur. Understanding how to pace yourself while getting fit is key. (more…)

The off-season. For some teams, it seems to come too quickly too often. While this may have somewhat negative connotation for fans, for athletes the off-season is a necessary part of the training cycle. With year-round sports and athletics becoming more prevalent, the incidences of injuries due to overuse are increasing, especially in youth athletics. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with specializing in one sport year-round, it does present a problem when there is no time taken to let the body properly recover. (more…)