Archive for the ‘Media Coverage’ Category
AFX Highlighted in Globe & Mail
Thursday, August 18th, 2011ALEX HUTCHISON
From Globe and Mail August 14, 2011
During a one-hour run, your feet push off the pavement about 10,000 times — enough of a workout to build some pretty impressive foot muscles, you’d figure.
“Considering the countless miles that runners put in, most think that they have very strong feet,” says Matt Ferguson, the president of Vancouver-based Progressive Health Innovations. “And they do — but for only one motion.”
Running does wonders for the muscles involved in plantar flexion – pointing your toes toward the floor — but leaves a host of other small muscles throughout the foot and ankle weak. The result is an increased risk of common running injuries like plantar fasciitis, shin splits, Achilles tendon problems and even ankle sprains.
“What many don’t sunderstand is that all those miles running straight forward on flat ground can cause very significant muscle imbalances,” says Mr. Ferguson, whose company recently introduct an all-in-one foot strengthening tool called the AFX Ankle Foot maXimizer. “Those imbalance can affect their performace and be a major source of injury.”
To read the complete article from the Globe & Mail please click here: G&MAugust14
Video Interview: Ankle Foot Strength – Not Just for Athletes
Wednesday, April 27th, 2011This morning, Bob “Kingpin” Eres spoke to Matt Ferguson, founder & CEO of AFX, Ankle Foot MaXimizer about his company’s innovative product that’s been designed to strengthen the foot & ankle. The point of this exercise equipment is to use high quality materials to deliver a work out to both the foot & ankle from a seated position. It is intended for use by both professional athletes, physical therapists and even the average couch potato. Unlike traditional bands used in therapy, the product is made of higher quality materials used by therapists and is better at producing a full range of motion workout.
Professional athletes have found that they’ve improved their balance, agility and jumping after working with the equipment. So, whether you have suffered a sprained ankle or want to avoid one, check out this video on the all inclusive equipment that can improve your flexibility & prevent or treat Achilles’ tendon, shin splints & sprains.
To watch the complete video interview please click here: Ankle Foot Strength: Not Just for Athletes
Ace! AFX Featured in Tennis BC Magazine
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010Excelling on court means having excellent agility and dynamic balance. Changing direction and position of the body quickly and effectively while under control, especially in side-to-side directions is agility. Dynamic balance is the ability to maintain balance while the body is in motion. Dynamic balance is critical for performance in tennis and reduces the risk of ankle sprains which account for about 75% of all injuries in tennis.
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Video: GlobalTV Fit Tip with Shaun Karp
Monday, May 10th, 2010A Giant Leap for Foot Strength
Monday, May 3rd, 2010By Pete Estabrooks, For The Calgary Herald, April 29, 2010
I would think the transition from winter running and activity to spring would be an easy one — that those long slow runs slipping on icy trails and trundling over Calgary’s less than stellar snow-plowed streets would have honed my feet and ankles into engineering units rivalling anything they would have thrown against the Six Million Dollar Man.
Unfortunately, such is not the case.
Come spring, there is the inevitable trail run where one foot or the other rolls over a rock, stump or root, and I tumble into gravity’s hungry jaws.
This year, however, I have a tool in my repertoire that will relegate falls to the “yes I am uncoordinated, but man do I have strong feet” category.
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ELITETRACK: Athletic Development for Injured Athletes
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010Mike Young, owner and founder of ELITETRACK, wrote a blog series on returning injured athletes back to the field of play, specifically after ankle surgery.
To read the complete blog please click here: Athletic Development for Injured Athletes: Part 2 – Ankle Surgery
Tri-City News: Device helps athletes build strength
Monday, March 8th, 2010A strong base is essential to a stable structure and the human body is not exception. Images of strong, healthy athletes tend to focus on awesome abs, bulging biceps and chiseled chests, but a new exercise device promises to strengthen the part of the body from where most kinetic originates.
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IMPACT Magazine Features AFX in ‘New Tools of the Trade’
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010How the CoreX and the Ankle Foot MaXimizer are helping Olympic training.
By Rob Williams for Impact Magazine January/February 2010
Not so long ago, athletic conditioning was a field devoted to power squats, hang cleans, and other Olympic lifting moves. Depending on an athlete’s particular sport, a coach might integrate activities involving items like medicine balls or box platforms for plyometric training, but weightlifting dominated the scene. Strength, after all, is an important factor related to performance in most sports.
Although there is a place for these lifts in the strength and conditioning program of any athlete, today’s competitors are notably more sophisticated when it comes to training techniques.
Athletes like Tricia Smith, current vice-president of the Canadian Olympic Committee, are acutely aware of this evolution. In her own fitness training, Smith has recently been exposed to a new generation of conditioning products, including the CoreX, a unique training device developed by physiotherapists Alex McKechnie and Rick Celebrini, and the Ankle Foot maXimizer, or AFX, conceived by Vancouver chiropractor Dr. Jordan Myers. The underlying premise of both of these training tools is that you’re only as strong as the weakest link in your kinetic chain. Strong legs or arms won’t necessarily translate into power or athleticism during competition if you can’t maintain core stability, or if your feet aren’t able to provide an effective base of support. These devices allow practitioners, athletes, and the general public to effectively target comparatively weak or dysfunctional parts of the body.
SFU Helps Alums Grow New Business
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009December 11, 2009
Matt Ferguson and Rick Hall’s connections with SFU did not end after they received their respective master’s degrees in geography (’97) and kinesiology (’00).
In fact, since co-founding Progressive Health Innovations (PHI) along with Dr. Jordan Meyers in 2005, the two alumni have been working with the university on a number of fronts.
The Province Newspaper Features AFX: Be one step ahead
Thursday, November 5th, 2009Strengthen the all-important foot muscles
By Rob Williams, Special to The Province October 28, 2009
When I use the term “bag of bones” it’s understandable that you might think I’m referring to something from a Halloween costume, but I’m not. I’m talking about the complex structure at the bottom of your leg known as your foot. Unfortunately, many people’s feet are no longer functioning the way they should. For a variety of reasons, muscle atrophy and weakness have left them like a bag of bones.
To read the complete article, please click here.