I know when I talk about core stability, some people will roll their eyes.

There is always a discussion in the fitness world on what the core is and if we should be focusing in on it.

Well when it comes to injuries, I focus on the core.

It is looking like core stability is playing more of a role when it comes to injuries.

I know in previous Injuries of the Month (patellofemoral pain syndrome, sacroiliac joint pain and piriformis syndrome), core stability has been a component of the exercise program that I have recommended.

I wanted to highlight some research that talked about injuries and core stability.

What They Looked At

They looked at 80 female and 60 male intercollegiate basketball and track athletes.

This was very interesting. They measured core stability by testing:

• Isometric hip abduction strength
• Isometric hip external rotation strength
• Back extensor endurance (modified Beiring-Sorensen test)
• Quadratus lumborum endurance (side bridge test)

Interesting Points in the Introduction

• Decrease in lumbo-pelvic (or core) stability has shown an increase in lower extremity injuries, especially in females
• The injuries that females are at greater risk for are: anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures, patellofemoral pain syndrome, iliotibial band friction syndrome, and stress fratures (femoral, pubic, tibial, and metatarsal).

What They Found

These were the main results from the study:

• Males produced greater hip abduction, hip external rotation and quadratus lumborum measures
• Athletes who did not sustain an injury were significantly stronger in hip abduction and external rotation
• Hip external rotation strength was the only useful predictor of injury status

Rick’s Comments

Often times when we focus on working on the core we think of crunches or bridge variations. It is interesting how this research expands on things further and looks at core function in different planes of movement and different movements. I like the fact that it highlights the importance of looking at hip abduction and hip external rotation strength. Many times this is not mentioned or covered in an exercise program.

Here is an exercise that I give to work on hip movement and strength:

A few comments on the exercise.  The exercise can be used for:

• Educating the movement of hip movement from the rest of the body.
• A dynamic stretching of the hip rotators.
• A body weight active hip rotator exercise.

The directions given and the cueing can change the function of the exercise.

Where to get more information – Leetun DT, Ireland ML, Willson JD, Ballantyne BT, Davis IM. (2004). Core stability measures as risk factors for lower extremity injury in athletes. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2004 Jun;36(6):926-34.

If you are looking for exercises to strengthen the external rotators of the hip, these are what I use:

Easy and Effective Exercises for Tennis Elbow

I am working on this month’s Injury of the Month. It is Tennis Elbow.

I was doing my research on the injury and came across this article, which was interesting. It talks about isometrics for an injury and really highlights the new trend in exercise rehabilitation.

What They Looked At

They wanted to see if isometric exercises were as effective as medication for pain relief in those with lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow).

They had two groups:

• Group 1 – Were shown the exercise and then they did it at home
• Group 2 – Began the exercise after 4 weeks of medication

Interesting Points in the Introduction

• An increase in symptoms from exercise will decrease the compliance rate to the exercise program
• Performing the exercises too aggressively can increase the risk of irritation or injury
• The above two points are obvious but nice to see them highlighted in an article

Tennis Elbow Exercise Performed

The researchers only gave one exercise.  Here are the details of the exercise:

• The subjects did the exercise in a sitting or standing position with the arms flexed to just below shoulder height.  Then the wrists were moved in a slow controlled manner into extension with the fingers relaxed. The focus was on moving the middle finger towards the elbow in order to target extensor carpi radialis brevis.
• The exercise was performed without pain and in a controlled manner.
• Four sets of 50 repetitions with each repetition being held for 10 seconds, done daily.

What they Found

• After one month, group 1 had a greater decrease in their pain levels compared to group 2
• At 3, 6 and 12 month follow up there was no difference between the groups
• Those that did not feel any benefit from the exercise program after one month were referred on to shock wave therapy

Rick’s Comment

Interesting to see the benefits of isometric strengthening on an injury, specifically with lateral epicondylitis. Isometric exercises are not exciting but effective when it is comes to an injury and the safest of the three types of contractions.

A lot of the research out there focuses on eccentric exercises for tennis elbow. This article highlighted the benefits of an isometric exercise which is less stressful on an injured area.

The number of repetitions was a surprise to me. Over a day performing 200 repetitions or about 33 minutes of exercise sounds like a lot. This is a trend that is occurring in exercise rehabilitation. The standard used to be 1 set of 10 repetition but this is fading away and does not correlate well with what many people do during the day (number of movement cycles performed in a day). Performing low load (isometrics) more frequently transfers more over to what one does on a daily basis and assists in recovery.

Just so you know, the tennis elbow exercise program will be coming out at the end of the month.

Where to get more details – Park JY, Park HK, Choi JH, Moon ES, Kim BS, Kim WS, Oh KS. (2011). Prospective evaluation of the effectiveness of a home-based program of isometric strengthening exercises: 12-month follow-up. Clin Orthop Surg. 2010 Sep;2(3):173-8. Epub 2010 Aug 3.

That is it for another edition of the research review.  I hope this helps you out when it comes to core stability and injuries, plus a great little tennis elbow exercise.

Rick Kaselj, MS

Another year has passed, wow.

They just keep truck’n on by.

It is always nice to stop and take a look at the year that is just about to pass.  Before I look at the year, I wanted to see how far this little blog has come.

Looking Back at ExercisesForInjuries.com

I started this Exercises For Injuries thing on February 26, 2009.  My first post was Keeping Up with the Bones .  It was a bad post.  I had no idea of what I was doing, but I just started writing.  Nearly 3 years later, I am well past my 400th post.  Things have improved drastically but there is still a lot more that I can do.

Rick and YouTube

One other way that I have been helping getting the word out when it comes to injuries and exercise has been my YouTube channel.  I started it on December 25, 2008.  Looking at the channel, I am getting very close to 250 videos.  Not sure what I was doing starting a YouTube channel on Christmas Day but I am happy how it has progressed over the last 3 years.

Facebook and Rick

I might as well finish off with the last place that I spend my time when it comes to getting the word out on exercises and injuries.  It is Facebook.  I started my fan page this year and I am still figuring it out.  Just like my blog and YouTube, I will:

1. Keep delivering the best content that I can
2. Help people in any way that I can
3. Stay consistent with what I do
4. Try to improve with every day

If you plan on doing this blog/YouTube/Facebook  thing, remember those four things as I think they are very important and have helped me out a lot.

Okay, lets get to the list.

Top 7 Posts for 2011

Read the rest of this entry »

A great article for you today.

It is a guest blog post from Nick Rosencutter.

Enjoy.

Take it away, Nick.

Injuries are no fun.

They are a pain, literally.

They can stop you from doing something you love.

They can cause nagging aches and pains.

They can affect you mentally.

They can ruin your day.

They are something that most people try to avoid.

On the other hand, they can also be a blessing in disguise. This is something that I have realized first hand.

The Rush of Training

I absolutely love training, especially powerlifting. I love the thrill and rush of stepping on the platform to compete. I love pushing my body past limits and growing stronger both physically and mentally when I push past barriers with my training. I love being in great shape and moving weights that most people can only wish to move. I’ve loved training (notice I said training and not “working out”) for over 12 years without a break (which really isn’t that much and I still have a long way to go).

When I’m not training, I’m helping others train, reading about training or dreaming about training. The deadlift happens to be my ace and pretty much my favorite thing to do in the world. In my opinion, there is absolutely no better feeling than locking out a heavy deadlift as you feel every muscle in your body tighten up to make it happen.

The hip drive, grip strain, the glutes coming through, the back locking out, the traps stabilizing, the intrinsic foot muscles gripping the floor, the blood rushing through the veins and the rush that flows through the body and mind; just an amazing feeling that only certain people will understand. Not being able to do this for a period of time was devastating.

Great little video from Nick on Gluteus Medius Exercises:

Training Stupidity

Flash back to November of 2008. I had just done my fifth meet in about seven months, which was probably a little too frequently. I was on pace to pull my first 600lb deadlift at a bodyweight around 178-180. Training had gone well as I had pulled 610 with band tension, tripled 540 and had made good progress on most of my assistance work. Well, I ended up missing 570ish at the meet when I had nearly locked out 585 a few months earlier. Part of the problem was just training stupidity. I had gone too intense for too many weeks before the meet and had competed too many times. But I knew that couldn’t be the only issue at hand because when I made that attempt, the weight was coming up smoothly; I thought for sure that I had it locked. Then as I approached lockout, I just couldn’t finish it. I was upset to say the least.

The Injury was in the Details

So at this time, I was in my last semester in the exercise science and strength & conditioning program at UW-La Crosse. Luckily, I was surrounded by some very knowledgeable people who knew their stuff. I spoke with one of my mentors, an amazing strength coach who knows a thing or two about the iron game. I showed him a video from my missed deadlift. He immediately pointed something out that I hadn’t noticed or really even thought of. My left leg began to shake as I approached lockout. He looked at another video of a 560 pull I had made easily a few months earlier. I had some rotation occurring through my hips and trunk as I pulled the deadlift. It was subtle, but you could sure see it.

So what the heck was going on?

He evaluated me and found out that:

1. my left glute was not firing as well as my right with hip extension
2. my right shoulder had some issues as well
3. my subscapularis was very fibrotic and was stopping my scapula from moving as efficiently as it could

If you have ever read any of Thomas Myers’ stuff on fascia and exercise, this should make you think of the spiral line: opposite hip and shoulder.

I’m assuming that many who read this page know about the book, Anatomy Trains, so I won’t get into tons of detail, but the spiral line is a line of fascia that wraps around the body and at a certain portion of its path, connects opposite hip and shoulder together; basically meaning that an issue with one can affect the other with various movements.

This had implications with the rotation that was occurring with my movement. So he did some ART on my hip and shoulder (left TFL and right subscap among other things) and gave me a few corrective exercises to fix this imbalance that I had. This was probably my first real personal experience/encounter with the world of muscle imbalances and corrective exercise.

I had been decently well versed in every strength and conditioning modality imaginable but had apparently slacked on this whole other department. I was determined to fix my imbalance and get better. I decided to take some time off of competing and hammer these things out for a little while. The January following this encounter, I would embark on my full time internship in order to finish up my degree, which would turn out to be one of the best experiences of my entire life.

Muscle Imbalances that Affected My Lifting

Enter Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training with a couple of guys named Mike Robertson and Bill Hartman. I learned a tremendous amount about training during my amazing time there and was totally immersed into the world of analyzing and addressing postural faults and muscular imbalances. I had no choice but to get better.

They discovered some of the same that my mentor at La Crosse had plus more:

• left glute medius was weak
• left glute max had gotten a little better but still wasn’t great
• external obliques weren’t where they needed to be, which meant that I didn’t have optimal control over my pelvis and trunk and was leaving pounds on my lifts
• lower traps were weak, especially the left side, which meant that my scapulae were not as stable as they could have been (implications for all of the big lifts)
• I had a slight shift and rotation with squats and pulls, which was definitely part of the issues listed above.

Those were some of the main problems for me. So I hammered out lots of special exercises to help balance things out and get my lifts up. I did however, make one mistake. I still trained too intensely, too often. I picked a meet that I wanted to do that May and trained for it.

Little clip from Bill Hartman’s Presentation in Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Lower Body Edition:

Now, these issues that I had were things that were probably going on for a long time. In my early days of training back in high school, I really had no true idea what I was doing (though I sure thought I did) as I pretty much just taught myself and learned from random gym rats and magazines back then.

The shifts and rotation that I had with my squat and pull were subtle enough that an average eye would never notice them, so who knows how long that had been going on. While I had gotten along fine and had built up to a respectable strength level and build, fixing some of these things earlier could have saved me lots of trouble and probably helped me to hit bigger weights easier. I mean, locking out a max deadlift with one glute firing versus two glutes firing is kind of a big deal. So anyhow, I was training hard and lifts were going up, etc. until…..

===========================

That is the end of part 1.  I got part 2 coming up very soon.  Big thanks to Nick.  We all have an in jury story.

About the Author

Nick Rosencutter, CSCS, NSCA-CPT, LMT – Nick is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Certified Personal Trainer through the National Strength and Conditioning Association and is also a Nationally Certified and Licensed Massage Therapist. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Exercise and Sports Science with a Fitness emphasis and Strength and Conditioning Concentration from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse, and received his diploma in Massage Therapy from Lakeside School of Massage Therapy in Milwaukee. He has worked with all varieties of clients ranging from fat loss to various levels of athletes and is also a competitive powerlifter. He currently trains clients at Southridge Athletic Club in Milwaukee and offers corrective exercise and movement training at Miller Sports and Wellness Chiropractic in West Allis. You can learn more at his website www.rosencutterultrafitness.com

Rick Kaselj, MS

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Great article for you today on the joint by joint approach.

Thank you, Sam, for sending it over.

Take it away, Sam…

Coaching the Joint-by-Joint vs. Talking About It

Preface: I am purposely keeping the text in this article short to allow for lots of applied content via the illustrations involved. The redundancy is on purpose. Enjoy!

In modern training jargon the “joint-by-joint” has made its way into colloquialism. By now most who speak it understand the implications. Michael Boyle introduced it to the training world after discussions with Gray Cook  and thus was born the Joint-by-Joint Principles (1).

A little while after, Dr.Charlie Weingroff elaborated and optimized the model to satisfy the nay sayers and thus was born the Advanced Joint-by-Joint (2) and Advanced Principles (3).

If you’re reading this and aren’t quite familiar with such things, please review those articles before continuing reading here. You can get the links to those articles at the end of this article in the reference area.

For those who are familiar and want a deeper understanding, I recommend products (4) put out by Charlie Weingroff, Shirley Sahraman, Gray Cook, and a few select others you can find on my resources page (4).

So let’s get into it. Throughout this profession you’ll find coaches claiming the manner in which they cue exercises is optimal and satisfies the joint-by-joint principles, ensuring utmost safety and transfer of training stimulus to the desired structures/tissues. However, many times what is said and what is shown in their articles, blogs, social media, etc. are two different things, revealing their thought process drops off at the distal body segments.

Most understand, for example, the “shoulder blades back and down” coaching cue because the scapula-thoracic joint is a “stable” joint. It’s just as obvious via the anatomy that the lumbar spine is a “stable” joint and should not be cued into large flexion/extension/rotation moments during an exercise. What’s not so obvious for some, still, is things like the foot, hallux (big toe), cervical spine, etc. How should you coach these joints during exercises? Below is a “quick hitter” display of optimal coaching examples that I feel often go unnoticed even by well intentioned coaches.

The Hallux

The hallux is built for mobility and a lack thereof causes compensations further up the chain like a mobilized mid-foot (which should be stable), stabilized ankle (which should be mobile), and continues even up to the hip and beyond causing a lack of hip extension (via the mechanisms discussed in reference 3 ) and consequently increase lumbar extension. We could elaborate further but I think you get the idea. All of these processes are not good and in the long run (sometimes short run) wears passive structures down to the point of breaking pain threshold. Notice I didn’t say “injured”, as they may already be damaged but simply haven’t reach pain threshold yet. (This thought process extends to all areas of the body discussed throughout this article, not just the hallux)

Half-Kneeling: Non-Optimal Coaching

Half-Kneeling: Optimal Coaching

Tall-Kneeling: Non-Optimal Coaching

Tall-Kneeling: Optimal Coaching

Quadruped: Non-Optimal Coaching

Quadruped: Optimal Coaching

Hopefully the pictures served their purpose in elucidating the point. The correct hallux position applies for any exercise you would perform in the half/tall-kneeling, quadruped, front/side plank, etc. positions.

The Cervical Spine

The upper cervical spine is built for mobility and the lower cervical spine for stability. How do you coach this? By getting your client to pack-the-neck/make-a-double-chin/make-a-surprised-look/neutral/whatever-you-want-to-call-it. The reasons why and what happens if you don’t have already been elaborated in reference #5. Below are some uncommon and common mistakes I see most often made throughout coaching strength exercises and mobility exercises. Note that it’s incredibly effective/important to stabilize the neck during a thoracic-spine mobility drill because it shifts the mobilization right to where we want it – the thoracic spine! If you left the neck “loose” some of your mobilizations would get shifted upwards toward the cervical spine. This is not what we want, obviously.

Front/Side Plank: Non-Optimal Coaching

Front/Side Plank: Optimal Coaching

Chop/Lift: Non-Optimal Coaching

Chop/Lift: Optimal Coaching

Front Squat: Non-Optimal Coaching

Front Squat: Optimal Coaching

Deadlift: Non-Optimal Coaching

Deadlift: Optimal Coaching

Bent Over T-Spine Rotation: Non-Optimal Coaching

Bent Over T-Spine Rotation: Optimal Coaching

Doorway Wall Slides: Non-Optimal Coaching

Doorway Wall Slides: Optimal Coaching

Chin/Pullup: Non-Optimal Coaching

Chin/Pullup: Optimal Coaching

Pushup: Non-Optimal Coaching

Pushup: Optimal Coaching

Quadruped Extension-Rotation w/Internal Rotation: Non-Optimal Coaching

Quadruped Extension-Rotation w/Internal Rotation: Optimal Coaching

Bench T-Spine Dips: Non-Optimal Coaching

Bench T-Spine Dips: Optimal Coaching

T-Spine Extension on Foam Roll: Non-Optimal Coaching

T-Spine Extension on Foam Roll: Optimal Coaching

Just like the principle regarding the hallux, the principle of neutral cervical spine can extend to many other lower/upper body exercises as well core training exercises.

After reading this article the “glass half empty folks” might think to themselves – “how much does this seemingly minutia stuff matter in the grand scheme of things?” The obvious answer is– why NOT do it – seriously, why not? What are you getting out of NOT implementing these strategies? Should we be ok with just not caring if we have a good amount of reasons to support these benefits of these coaching cues? If you’re going to do something, anything, why not optimize it? Sometimes the combinations of doing things just a little bit better makes the difference in the long run. I hope you found value in these illustrations and a novel appreciation for some of the smaller aspects of coaching. If so, please pass it along to your colleagues so we can all get better at what we do.

All the best,

Sam Leahey is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist from the National Strength and Conditioning Association and a Certified Personal Trainer through the National Council on Strength and Fitness.

He is an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Springfield College. Prior to that he was an assistant strength and conditioning coach at American International College.

Currently pursuing a masters degree in Strength&Conditioning as well as manual therapy licensure, Sam also holds a BS in Exercise Science from Becker College in Massachusetts and a BSE in Physical Education with a minor in Sport Coaching from Arkansas State University.

While being a serious collegiate athlete himself at both the division 1 and division 3 level, he maintained the highest academic honors and graduated Summa Cum Laude.

It is back to Rick.

Great info, Coach Sam.

This is one of the best posts on Exercises For Injuries.

Thank you so much, Sam.

Before I go, if you like the info above, watch for Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Upper Body Edition where Tony Gentilcore, Dean Somerset and Dr. Jeff Cubos will be sharing their tips, tricks and exercises when it comes to upper body training.  Mark down the date, it will be coming out Tuesday, August 9, 2011.

References

1. A Joint-by-Joint Approach to Training by Michael Boyle
2. Expanded Joint by Joint by Charlie Weingroff
3. Foot-Related Interview
4. Recommended Resources by Sam Leahey
5. Packing in the Neck by Charlie Weingroff

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I think it is Friday . . . well, maybe it is. Maybe not.

Here are some random things from the past week:

Muscle Imbalances Revealed 2.0

I received some surprise feedback from a hockey coach - very cool!

What a Hockey Coach Says About MIR:

“I found the ideas presented in Muscle Imbalances Revealed as a comprehensive way to reach trainers who are just starting out, right up to those of us who have been at it for years. I see this as a great tool for trainers and strength coaches. If this is an area where you are lacking, I suggest you check this out.”

Maria Mountain, MSc
Owner/Strength & Conditioning Coach
HockeyTrainingPro.com
London, Ontario

You can see the article HERE, where she talks about how MIR2 can help ice hockey goalies.

here are some more kind words about MIR2:

“Being a personal trainer, it’s difficult to set yourself apart from the “Norm”.   The Muscle Imbalances DVDs I received through the mail are fantastic, and I find ExercisesForInjuries.com invaluable. I constantly refer to the information you post and send in your newsletter daily.”
LuAnne Platt

Hey, People Read My Stuff

Some days you wonder if anyone is reading your stuff and if it is helping anyone.

It is great when you get surprise Facebook messages like this.

Thank you, Nicole and please keep them coming.

“I always love your posts and hearing what you are up to with writing. Very inspiring and informational to fellow fitness pros, like myself.”
Nicole Ciarlelli Almeida
Personal Trainer

I work I do what I can to help fitness professionals work with injuries and exercises.  I am so glad that I am helping out.  It looks like it is helping Dannielle as well:

“I find your products really useful & recommend you to my trainers, instructors, & clients. (Although I haven’t posted feedback for you yet – I’ve been spreading the word.)  Thanks Rick.”
Danielle Briggs
Personal Trainer & Fitness Director

What People Think of the Scoliosis Manual

I just shipped out manuals to Taiwan and Hawaii, so I am happy to report that the program is helping people around the world.  Here is what one fitness professional said:

“After completing Effective Exercises for Scoliosis,  I will use the information from the course to help my clients with scoliosis incorporate proper exercises for their situation.  I will be better educated now about how to address clients with a scoliosis issue”
Kathleen D Thomsen

What is New on Facebook

I took a break from Facebook for a bit, but now I am back.

It is great to see things like this on my wall:

I think that’s it for today.

Have a great one.

Rick Kaselj, MS

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I have a guest video blog post for you today.

It’s from Justin Price.

Justin answers the most common question he is asked during his courses and at the conferences he presents:

What Causes Over-Pronation?

In the video, Justin shares with you:
- What over-pronation is
- What causes over-pronation
- How the shoes you are wearing can be making your pronation worse
- The influence of gluteus maximus on pronation
- How the illiotibial band and tibia affect pronation

Here is the “What Causes Foot Over-Pronation?” video from Justin Price.

Justin Price will be coming to Vancouver to present his course for the first and only time in March of 2011.

In this course, Justin will focus on Day One on the assessment side of things, and on Day Two he will focus on what exercises to give based on the assessment.

I selected Justin as one of the international experts to bring to Vancouver because I have learned a lot from him when it comes to lower body assessment, and his assessments of the foot have been very helpful.  Plus, I find his corrective exercises very unique and quite different from others I have seen.

That’s it for today.

On Wednesday, I will have a very exciting announcement for you – I can’t wait to tell you about it!

Rick Kaselj, MS

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I just want to give you a heads up on a course that I am hosting next year.

I will have full details soon, but here is a sneak peak into what will be covered.

Structural Assessment and Corrective Exercise Program Design with Justin Price

Course Description:

Main Objectives of the Course:

I got an interview with Mike Robertson for you.

3 Keys to Remember when Assessing Your Client with Mike Robertson

Enjoy the interview.

Mike Robertson goes through:

- Why assessments are so critical to the fitness professional
- What kinds of assessments that Mike goes through
- The boundry a fitness professional has when assessing a client
- Tips for your assessment
- The number one trap that fitness proffesionals fall into when assessing a client.

Read the rest of this entry »

One of the presenters of Muscle Imbalances Revealed, Eric Beard, just finished up this great video:

Read the rest of this entry »

I just got the latest issue of BCAK Kinnected magazine.

There were a lot of great articles in it and they also were kind enough to publish one of mine on abdominal hallowing and hamstring injuries.

I don’t know why I keep typing hallowing, it should be hollowing.

Since it has been printed in the magazine, I am now able to share it with you.

It is one of those research summaries that I have done a number of times and fitness professionals have liked them.

Lower Abdominal Hollowing During Prone Hip Extension May Prevent Hamstring Injuries

What is the Big Deal?

Details of the Study

Foundations of Upper Body Conditioning

DESCRIPTION:

OBJECTIVES:

Here is another edition of Rick’s Rambles.

This has been fun to do.

You can see one of my past ones, here.

Have a look at this one, it is my 3rd ramble but 151st blog post.

Fun on Facebook

I am big into Facbook.

A lot of times when I am bored, I will go on Facbook to see what others are doing.

I am also adding a lot more stuff on injuries and exercises over there.

I try to put up a quote of the day and an article that I have read that day.  A lot of people are getting a lot of benefit from all the stuff I am putting up.

If you are looking for some more stuff on exercises and injuries, make sure to visit my Facebook page – http://www.facebook.com/Rick.Kaselj

Read the rest of this entry »

On Tuesday, the Muscle Imbalances Revealed will officially go on sale at 9 am EST at the one-time grand opening sale, but…

Today’s your one and only chance to win a copies of “Muscle Imbalances Revealed”.

“Why Muscle Imbalances Revealed would be the perfect resource to finally help you with your clients with injuries, fitness plateaus and prevent injuries?”

It has been a bit of a crazy week.

I have been in Orange County at a Fitness Conference.  It was a little more than a fitness conference, it was a fitness mastermind group.

After the fitness mastermind in Los Angles, I was off to Seattle for a fitness business conference.  The people presenting were Tom Plummer and Bill Parisi.

Just Marked Her Rotator Cuff exam

The great thing about the scoliosis and rotator cuff manuals that I have written, I have been able to help people with these injuries and fitness professionals better understand these injuries.  These manuals have helped people around the world.  I just sent off a scoliosis manual to Seol, Korea.  How cool is that.

Here are a few kind words from a fitness professional in Calgary, Alberta, Canada had to say about the Effective Rotator Cuff Exercises.

“Thanks Rick!  Always great to read your manuals though – I find them very thorough and I really like the progression that you write them in – anatomy, purpose of exercising, etc.”

Fiona Yeoman
Wellness trainer, Kinesiologist
Talisman Centre, Calgary

Read the rest of this entry »

Before I get to the exercise, I got a few videos for you.

What is the Best Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome Exercise?

What is Patellofemoral Femoral Pain Syndrome?

If you are Looking for an Exercise Program to Help you with Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome, check this one out:

What Exercise is Ideal for Clients with Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome due to Muscle Imbalances

Approximately 60% of athletes have patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) sometime in their life, and a long line of research has shown that PFPS is primarily caused by muscle imbalances in the vastus medialis oblique (VMO) and vastus lateralis (VL) muscles.

Highlights of the Study

Other Amazing Stats about Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

These random thoughts things have been fun.

I don’t think anyone reads them but I enjoy sharing and writing.

Hip Replacement

I got an email from a Kinesiologist in Regina, Saskatchewan who specializes in training clients with hip and knee replacement.

She had taken the Core Stability of the Hip webinar and is using the concepts and exercises with her hip and knee replacement clients.

If you are looking at increasing your understanding, confidence and getting some exercises for clients with hip and knee replacements, I would recommend Jody Kennett.

Jody Kennett, is a fitness professional that has a specialization working with clients with hip and knee replacements.

She will be presenting her The Joint Replacement Client: Pre & Post-op Exercise Guidelines on November 6 in New Westminster, BC.

I have taken the course twice and I highly recommend the it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Exercises for Shoulder Impingement

Description:

The shoulder is one of the most injured joints in the body.  One of the most common injuries to the shoulder is shoulder impingement.  A key component in the recovery from shoulder impingement is exercise.  The role of exercise for shoulder impingement is key in helping speed up recovery, decreases pain, improving movement, increasing strength and creating stability around the shoulder joint.  The focus of the Exercises for Shoulder Impingement webinar will be exercise program design and exercises for a client that has shoulder impingement.

What you will learn during the webinar:

- A 12 week shoulder impingement exercise program that you can use right away with you shoulder impingement clients
- The exercises to DO and NOT do when training a client recovering from shoulder impingement
- Essential components of an exercise rehabilitation program when training a client recovering from shoulder impingement
- Recommended and research backed exercises when training a client recovering from shoulder impingement
- Key structures involved in shoulder impingement

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What Makes Up the Lower Back?

It is difficult to fully understand a lumbar spinal fusion without briefly discussing the normal anatomy of the spine. The vertebral or spinal column consists of 33 bones called vertebrae. Each are that stacked on top each other to for them spine. The spine, which extends from the base of skull to the pelvis, has four regions: the cervical spine, thoracic spine, lumbar spine and the sacrum. Between each vertebra are the flat and circular plates of cartilage called the interverbral discs. Intervetebral discs maintain the integrity and continuity of the spine by holding one vertebra to the next. It acts as an effective cushion that absorbs shock and pressure placed by the everyday movements of the back. This disc also makes bending and head rotations possible.

The lumbar spine makes up the lower back, extending from the lumbar curve down to the sacrum. Among the four regions of the spine, the lumbar region endures the greatest stress. Carrying the entire body weight, this region is supported by the five thickest and sturdiest of all vertebrae of the spinal column. It has also been determined that the intervertebral discs between two adjacent lumbar vertebrae are the thickest. Attaching to the lumbar vertebra are some of the largest stabilizing muscles of the lower back, which include the lumbar erector spinae, psoas and quadratus lumborum. Because the greatest amount of work and stress are placed against this region of the spine, the lumbar spine is most susceptible to injuries and structural alterations.

How Common is Spinal Fusion Surgery?

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I just wanted to give you a sneak peak into something that I am working on.

Have a look:

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I was up in my office on Saturday night while my wife was putting our son to sleep.

I took a few minutes to look over some journal articles that came out.  I have highlighted some that may interest you.

Using Core Exercises to Rehab Your Diaphragm?

Adding Balance Training  for a Total Knee Replacement Client is a Good Thing