Avoid Injury – Recover Quickly – Achieve Ambitious Goals
Dr. Lavine has nearly 35 years expertise helping the serious endurance athlete achieve ambitious goals. His focus is on improving body awareness, alignment, and movement control, releasing tight connective tissues, and restoring normal joint play – all with the goal of developing an efficient and stress-free running style.
How Dr. Lavine helps the endurance athlete
Begin with a thorough evaluation of your running alignment, lower extremity biomechanics, spine posture, and freedom of joint play. Your initial visit isn’t complete until Dr. Lavine is sure you understand some specific therapeutic exercises or changes in posture and running mechanics you can institute to address your condition.
As a long distance runner, I’ve had bad IT Band issues over the past several years and Ron has helped me work through and past that injury. I’m back to my normal training routine and see Ron monthly to help with alignment. He also provides great exercises for me to do on my own that focus on strength and stretching. Allison P.
Then, continue with an ongoing treatment plan – a potent combination of corrective exercises, release of connective tissue restrictions, and, as needed, mobilization of the joints. Custom foot orthotics are also provided in select situations.
Ask about special pricing for runners when you book your appointment.
Why 20-30% of entrants to the NYC Marathon don’t even show up at the starting line
Because they’re injured due to overtraining and repetitive stress on their joints, muscles, and connective tissues. Here are some of the common problem areas for runners that Dr. Lavine could help you with:
Iliotibial band friction syndrome
His research into problems of the IT band led to the Dec. 2010 publication of Dr. Lavine’s article “Iliotibial Band Friction Syndrome” in Current Reviews in Musculoskeletal Medicine. The article illuminated the differing views of this common overuse injury of runners and in particular debunked the overly simplified notion that a tight IT band was a major cause.
In fact, common IT band stretches are only marginally effective at targeting the band in the first place. Moreover, a taut iliotibial band is a necessity in order to support proper alignment of the torso as the body shifts weight side to side during running.
Instead, a comprehensive approach to treatment of IT band friction syndrome requires the practice of complex patterns of lateral weight shift, maintaining freedom of motion of the hip joints while activating the hip joint rotators.
Patellofemoral syndrome
This common cause of knee pain is often attributed to tight quads or an imbalance of the inner versus outer quads, leading to poor patellar tracking.
Dr. Lavine helps you strengthen the body’s movement control systems to organize the alignment of the knee and pelvis over the foot with each gait cycle. You build awareness of this fundamental building block of running alignment by starting with simple knee-bending exercises, progressing to more complex patterns, and integrating proper motion control into your running gait.
Plantar fasciitis
Painful tightness of the sole of the foot is another problem common in runners. It can be frustratingly persistent. Deep friction massage of the plantar fascia, stretching of the Achilles tendon, and custom foot orthotics can all work to interrupt the pain cycle.
However, an overlooked factor in plantar fasciitis is restricted joint play of the joint above the heel bone, between the calcaneus and talus. “In addition to adjusting the subtalar joint when needed,” explains Dr. Lavine, “I also palpate the fascia in the region just below the inner ankle bone. If it’s tight, it can impinge on nerves that feed the sole of the foot.”
Other problems of the legs and spine
Dr. Lavine’ methods are also effective for:
- Meniscus tears
- Achilles tendonitis
- Recurring ankle sprain
- Hamstring strain, hamstring tightness
- Shin splints
- Low back pain and sciatica
- Sacroiliac, piriformis, buttock pain