User:Wizardfat/sandbox

=Lower Leg Injury= [Introductory material] Lower leg injuries are common while running or playing sports. About 10% of all total injuries involve the lower extremities in athletes. The majority of athletes sprain their ankles, which are mainly caused by the increased loads onto the feet when they move into the foot down or in an outer ankle position All areas of the foot, which are the forefoot, midfoot, and rearfoot, absorb various forces while running and can lead to injuries as well .Running and various activities can cause stress fractures, tendinitis, musculotendinous injuries, or any chronic pain to our lower extremities such as the tibia.

Types of Activities
Injuries to quadriceps or hamstrings are caused by the constant impact loads to the legs during activities, such as kicking a ball. While doing this type of motion, 85% of that shock is absorbed to the hamstrings which can cause strain to those muscles. Jumping is another risk because if the legs do not land properly after an initial jump, there may be damage to the meniscus in the knees, sprain to the ankle by everting or inverting the foot, or damage to the Achilles tendon and gastrocnemius if there is too much force while plantar flexing. Weight lifting, such as the deep squat, is also dangerous to our lower limbs because the exercise can lead to an overextension, or an outstretch, of our ligaments in the knee and can cause pain over time.
 * Jumping
 * Weight Lifting

But the most common activity associated with lower leg injury is running. There is constant pressure and stress being put on the feet, knees, and legs while running by gravitational force. Muscle tears in our legs or pain in various areas of the feet can be a result of poor biomechanics of running.
 * Running

Running
The most common injuries in running involve the knees and the feet. Various studies have focused on the initial cause of these running related injuries and found that there are many factors that correlate to these injuries. Female distant runners who had a history of stress fracture injuries had high vertical impact forces than non-injured subjects .The large forces onto the lower legs were associated with gravitational forces, and this correlated with patellofemoral pain or potential knee injuries. Researchers have also found that these running related injuries affect the feet as well because runners with previous injuries showed more foot eversion and over pronation while running than non-injured runners. This causes more loads and forces on the medial side of the foot, causing more stress on the tendons of the foot and ankle (peroneal tendons). Most of these running injuries are caused by overuse and that running at longer distances weekly for a long duration is a risk for injuring the lower legs

Prevention tools
Voluntary stretches to the legs, such as the wall stretch, condition the hamstrings and the calf muscle to various movements before vigorously working them. But a study has shown that Kinesiology tape gives more promising effect in hamstring extensibility to produce more fluid movement. Thirty previously injured males showed a greater advantage of hamstring extensibility in longer durations with Kinesiology tape, or elastic therapeutic tape However, they were more advantageous in the beginning of the exercise with a voluntary, static stretch or proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, which are stretching techniques specific to optimize the range of motion of the limb. This shows that stretches do help in the immediate time frames, whereas Kinesiology tape helps in long durations to prevent any future injuries from occurring. The environment and surroundings, such as uneven terrain, can cause the feet to position in an unnatural way, so wearing shoes that can absorb forces from the ground’s impact and allow for stabilizing the feet can prevent some injuries while running as well. Shoes should be structured to allow friction-traction at the shoe surface, space for different foot-strike stresses, or for comfortable, regular arches for the feet.

Summary
The chances of damaging our lower extremities will be reduced by having knowledge about some activities associated with lower leg injury and developing a correct form of running, such as not over pronating the foot or overusing the legs. Preventative measures, such as taping, various stretches, and wearing appropriate footwear, will reduce injuries from occurring as well.