Welcome our newest doctor to the Ask the Docs forum, Dr. William Charschan!

Welcome Dr. William Charschan!

Please give Dr. William a warm welcome to the BRS Ask the Docs forum. He will be helping to answer your questions about barefoot and minimalist living and running health!

Thank you, Dr. William, for joining us!


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Dr. William Charschan has been in practice since 1988 and has helped hundreds of people with problems such as sciatica, back pain, neck pain, headaches, sports injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome and many other acute and chronic conditions. He is a Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician and is the medical director for USA Track and Field New Jersey since 1991. He has been a physician at many national events such as National Aerobics Championships, Pro Bowlers Tour, Ultimate Frisbee, Fencing, Tae Quon Doe, Soccer tournaments and the Garden State Games. He has been a casual runner since being a student at the National College of Health Sciences in 1980 and has focused his practice on helping runners stay on the road, avoid injury and understand their bodies so they make better healthcare decisions.
Dr. Charschan is certified in sportsmedicine by the ACBSP and in 2012, authored Cheating Mother Nature, what you need to know to beat chronic pain which is designed to educate people on why they hurt and how to avoid chronic pain. He is currently working on a book specific to runners, running styles and avoiding running injuries. He also plays in the band Midlife Crisis which keeps him out of trouble and works with many local musicians to help them with their problems as well.

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William D Charschan DCCCSP
"The body mechanic"
Charschan Chiropractic and Sports Injury Associates
www.backfixer1.com
www.njrunningdoc.com
www.politicalpostures.com
www.whypeoplehurt.com
 
Welcome Dr. Charschan! I was wondering if you have treated fat pad syndrome? I have it on both heels and keeps flaring up as soon as I use my heels like running and jumping. It happened in July and I can't seem to shake it. Thanks!
 
Welcome.
 
Welcome Dr. Charschan.

My issue is as follows, I have been an ardent adherent to the "too much too soon" approach to barefoot running. Despite the best efforts of everyone on the internet, I've done my best to disregard the sage advice of the people who have come before me. As a result, I've made all of the newbie mistakes and continue to behave in a way that matches the romantic image that I have of myself as an adept barefoot runner despite maintaining a pretty consistent injury/pain/recovery cycle. My ailment du jour (self-diagnosed, of course) is Achilles Insertional Tendonitis. Hill running seems to be the main cause of onset. My question is, what would you suggest as the least injury prone method for hill running, given my issue? Would you suggest using only the ball of foot, full foot strike, power hiking? Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,


Tim (Andrew) Maddox,
barefoot brethren
 
Can i ask a question about Elbows? And Welcome of course ;)
Sure. Most people with elbow issues have problems in the shoulder joint and the pelvis. You can email me directly of course at [email protected]. I am now to this forum so there of course if an operational learning curve for answering questions like what is my password (good way to kill 20 minutes :).)
 
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Welcome Dr. Charschan.

My issue is as follows, I have been an ardent adherent to the "too much too soon" approach to barefoot running. Despite the best efforts of everyone on the internet, I've done my best to disregard the sage advice of the people who have come before me. As a result, I've made all of the newbie mistakes and continue to behave in a way that matches the romantic image that I have of myself as an adept barefoot runner despite maintaining a pretty consistent injury/pain/recovery cycle. My ailment du jour (self-diagnosed, of course) is Achilles Insertional Tendonitis. Hill running seems to be the main cause of onset. My question is, what would you suggest as the least injury prone method for hill running, given my issue? Would you suggest using only the ball of foot, full foot strike, power hiking? Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,


Tim (Andrew) Maddox,
barefoot brethren
 
Achillies tendonosis is caused by slamming the feet into the ground when you run. There are likely significant core issues which is shortening your stride and causing you to slam your heels into the ground. While most on this forum have spoken about the form from barefoot or minimalist which tends to push you to more of a forefoot spring off vs. a hard heel contact, we are all different and are all built differently. Keeping this in mind, I am assuming you have core issues, your gluts, erectors and obliques are likely torquing your core which will cause you to slam your heels into the ground.

Keeping the fact we are all built differently in mind, I do not believe that we are all going to prosper the same running barefoot, and although some barefoot runners believe any type of support is inappropriate, I believe from experience that some people may do better with a minimalist shoe rather than barefoot because of the idiosynchroses of their personal body style. You may find that a minimalist shoe with the superfeet black dress shoe orthotic may in fact relieve the condition because it will open up your stride, level your hips and improve the way you run.

You also likely need core work. A good sports chiropractor with knowledge of either fascial release or active release, a style of fascial release can be of great benefit. If you would like, have a friend take a video of you running on a treadmill and email the video to [email protected]. I can give you are more detailed evaluation of what is going on however, if you try what I suggest, minimalist shoe with the superfeet, you will run better and are likely to get some relief. Pure barefoot may be difficult for some because of the way you are built, which is inherited.

Dr. Charschan, The Body Mechanic
 
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Welcome Dr. Charschan! I was wondering if you have treated fat pad syndrome? I have it on both heels and keeps flaring up as soon as I use my heels like running and jumping. It happened in July and I can't seem to shake it. Thanks!

I usually see problems with fat pads at the forefoot, rather than the rear foot. If you are having it on both heels, I am of the opinion that you may have a problem at either the insertions of the achillies tendon (tendonosis - Graston Technique is quite effective at improving the problem) or if it is at the heel itself, you may have a heel spur.

Since you have it when running and jumping, you are likely built asymmetrical, have a torqued core (My book, cheating mother nature goes into this in detail - worth the read to understand your body better) which will tighten the legs, it bands, quads, calves and posterior knee fascia which will cause you to lose shock absorbtion at the heel and achillies and result in tendonosis at both the achillies insertion and also at the heel.

While most barefooters seem to dislike the idea of a foot orthotic (there are some very good off the shelf ones available), they can help in combination with a minimalist shoe. Also, fascial release to the legs, it band can help as well as to the core muscles. A good massage therapist or chiropractor who does fascial release or ART, a trademarked style of this is helpful, as well as Graston Technique which uses tools and works amazingly on tendonosis as I mentioned before.

Foam rollers are good for self application of fascial release. While this will not be as good as a trained therapist, watch my video on it for runners and decide for yourself if you think it is helpful. I have never had a runner tell me it is not helpful. Follow this link
 
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Thanks for that video Dr Charschan. I am going to try those techniques for rolling for a while as they are different than what I had been doing. Maybe it will help me to finally get over this PF completely. I've really minimized it lately and gotten much more control over it, but maybe these different techniques of rolling will help me finally get completely rid of it.
 
welcome. those look some like nice techniques to roll your legs out. any advice to memorize gross anatomy?