3D stretching- Calf Muscle
If you read our blog ‘We Are 3D Movers’, you would know that all our joints and muscles go through three planes of motion: the transverse plane (rotation or twisting movement), frontal plane (side to side movement) and sagittal (forward and backward movement). Most of the time we forget about the two first planes (transverse and frontal), as a large majority of our daily lives revolve around linear movement due to our home, work setups and a large majority of gym workouts and equipment.
The way we stretch ideally needs to prepare our muscles for all three planes. This is one of the main concepts covered in the Gray Institute’s GIFT program, which both our Osteopaths at Everything’s Connected have completed in America. In today’s blog, we will start to explore this by looking at the calf complex, particularly gastrocnemius division. In addition to just performing the traditional calf stretch keeping our stretching leg back leg straight, we can tweak our foot position to incorporate elements of the transverse plane e.g. pre-positioning the back foot toed out, which will give us more external rotation and toeing the foot in, allowing more internal rotation. We can also add a body slide to this pre-positioning to incorporate the frontal plane. These are just some ideas to start making your stretching more 3D.
This blog post was written by the osteopaths at Everything’s Connected Osteopathy. Everything’s Connected Osteopathy is your premier osteopathic clinic located in Camberwell Melbourne on Riversdale Road. Everything’s Connected Osteopathy are osteopaths who use movement to assess and treat musculoskeletal disorders. At Everything’s Connected all osteopaths have nutrition qualifications and are focused on an active treatment and management plan. Our clinic sees patients of all ages, ranging from children to the elderly. Common conditions typically presenting to the clinic include sports injuries, osteoarthritic related aches and pains, neck pain, back pain, weight loss and upper and lower limb injuries. To find out more about us at Everything’s Connected Osteopathy, click on the link here. Everything’s Connected Osteopathy is located at 734 Riversdale Road, Camberwell. We are a short 5-minute drive from Camberwell Junction and a 2-minute walk from Riversdale Road Train Station. Appointments can be made by calling us on 03 98886176 or emailing reception@everythingsconnected.com.au.
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