With the New York City Marathon approaching, our Physical Therapist’s in New York are working hard to keep these head strong athletes healthy for peak performance on Sunday. Physical Therapist, Maggie Fogel, currently works with several marathoners who have been coming to her while in training.
“We encourage the athletes to run from within themselves, it’s not only physically challenging what they are doing, there is a huge mental aspect to running. When they are feeling tired, fatigued, ready to give up; we try to encourage them to push past the negative feelings and focus on the outcome.”
Runners from all over the world train for months in order to prepare their bodies for the arduous 26.2 miles through all five boroughs of New York City. Some of the biggest injuries NY therapist Maggie has seen this season has been involving the hip flexors and knees. “When our runners come in with injuries we always try to video record their running form in order for us to get a better understanding of what is going on. We then work with them on changing some techniques such as stride, cadence, or knee drive; the better form they have the less likely an injury will occur.”
Injury prevention is a key component for marathoners, Maggie stresses the importance of foam rolling in order to keep the leg muscles healthy, check out more about foam rolling here: http://www.performbetter.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PBOnePieceView?storeId=10151&pagename=225. “While we always address the area of pain, we also look for other imbalances along the kinetic chain. Many times the cause of pain is from weaknesses or tight muscles in other areas of the body.”
Keeping a healthy body and mind will be crucial in order to cross that finish line with a huge smile of accomplishment!
SportsCare Institute, Inc. would like to wish all the New York City Marathon Runners the best of luck this Sunday…stay healthy and strong!
