Today was the day to dig into what is new in the research world.

To be honest, I started it in yesterday’s blog post.

In yesterday’s blog post I talked about new research in muscle imbalances.

Yes, there is research about it. More and more keeps coming out.

Now to today’s research.

Harrington S, Padua D, Battaglini C, Michener LA, Giuliani C, Myers J, Groff D. (2011). Comparison of shoulder flexibility, strength, and function between breast cancer survivors and healthy participants. J Cancer Surviv. 2011 Jan 12. [Epub ahead of print]

I know this is a little new for me, to be talking about breast cancer and exercise.

I have been having more questions about this of late, plus it reminds me of the group of breast cancer survivors that I trained while working in Penticton, BC, Canada.

The ladies were a group from a local Dragon boating team that were all cancer survivors.  It was amazing to train these ladies and they were so much fun.

Here we go into the research.

What They Looked At:

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There is a lot more awareness when it comes to muscle imbalances.

The incredible success of Muscle Imbalances Revealed 2.0 has really taken the industry by storm.

Trainers, coaches, and therapists from around the world have been using it to help their clients overcome injuries, bust through fitness plateaus, and prevent injuries.

It has been amazing to see how this little product has helped thousands of fitness & health professionals, which in return has helped hundreds of thousands of people.

Sad to say, the battle continues.

We need to do more to better understand, assess, and prescribe exercises to eliminate muscle imbalances.

In 2011, there will be more and more emphasis on muscle imbalances.

Muscle Imbalance is my #8 Exercise Rehabilitation Prediction for 2011

 
In fact, I just got approached by an Australian outdoor magazine to write an article on muscle imbalances and how it can affect the outdoor athlete.  Very cool.  I will let you know how it goes.

With the media starting to focus on it, so has the research.

Muscle Imbalances in the Research

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I know these days we all get lost surfing the internet.

A site I visit, and visit to often, is Pub Med.

Pub Med is a site that is full of the latest and oldest research.  I always go to take a look at what is new when it comes to exercise and injuries.

I know, kind of strange.

One injury I have been seeing more of is tendinosis.

Just last week I got an email from a fitness professional that does group fitness classes that has had 5 months worth of Achilles tendinitis issues from all the step classes she has been doing.  My guess, it is Achilles tendinosis.

So, I will call the increase in tendinosis as Prediction #7 in Exercise Rehabilitation 2011.

Tendinitis versus Tendinosis

The first step is to define what tendinitis is and tendinosis is.

Better yet, I found a table that describes it much better than I could.

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I took an hour off to head into the coffee shop and look at some journals.

I am sitting here, listening to Christmas music and checking out what is new in the journal world.

Here we go with the first article.

Do the Buns in a Pitcher Affect the Shoulder?

What They Looked At

They looked at the relationship of how the movement of the pelvis and torso (trunk) affected the shoulder in high school pitchers during the pitching movement.

Cool Points

I like reading the discussion of a research paper as there are always really cool things in there, like this:

- the trunk leads to 50% of the kinetic energy and force produced during throwing

What They Found

They found that the rate of torso rotation strongly related with the shoulders.

Baseball pitchers may exhibit a decreased ability in controlling torso rotation which increases the risk of shoulder injuries.

They feel high school pitchers, when performing their strength training, should focus on creating a strong core, including gluteus maximus, in an attempt to control the rate of torso rotation.

Take Home Message

I think the above results can translate over to others, even if you are not a high school baseball player.

Torso Rotation – Working on torso rotation is important for all.  Doing exercises that work concentrically, eccentrically and isometically is very important to prevent shoulder and lower back injuries.  You can do this with plank variations.

Gluteus Maximus Work – It is important to do gluteus maximus work in your exercise program.  It has to be more than just squats and deadlifts.  Single leg work is more transferable to real life when it comes to gluteus maximus.

Where to get more info – Oliver GD, Keeley DW. (2010). Pelvis and torso kinematics and their relationship to shoulder kinematics in high-school baseball pitchers. J Strength Cond Res. 2010 Dec;24(12):3241-6.

I go through some of the gluteus exercises I use in The Most Effective Gluteus Maximus Exercises :

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I hope you are having, or had, a great Thanksgiving if you are from the USA.

I know the year is coming to an end and many times trainers, coaches, and therapists are looking for courses to attend in order to get great practical information and earn Continuing Education Credits before the year is up.

I do have a few courses coming up but before I talk about them, have a look and see what others have said about my courses.

What People Say About Courses By Rick Kaselj:

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I have been doing research this week.

A colleague, Brenda Adams, emailed me and asked if I had any reference on what muscle is being used during the bench press.

I know what muscle works, but I did not know if what I knew was right; so I hit the books.

I found the answer but also some information on grip and bench press; plus which is better  – machines or free weights – when it comes to the bench press.

Enjoy!

What Muscles Are Working during Different Bench Presses?

What They Looked at

This experiment investigated the effects of varying bench inclination and hand spacing on the EMG activity of five muscles acting at the shoulder joint.

What They Did

Six male weight trainers performed bench presses under four conditions of trunk inclination and two of hand spacing at 80% of their predetermined maximum.

What They Found

- The sternocostal head of the pectoralis major was more active during the press from a horizontal bench than from a decline bench.

- The clavicular head of the pectoralis major was no more active during the incline bench press than during the horizontal one, but it was less active during the decline bench press.

- The clavicular head of the pectoralis major was more active with a narrow hand spacing.

- Anterior deltoid activity tended to increase as trunk inclination increased.

- The long head of the triceps brachii was more active during the decline and flat bench presses than the other two conditions, and was also more active with a narrow hand spacing.

- Latissimus dorsi exhibited low activity in all conditions.

Where to get more information – Barnett C. (1995). Effects of variations of the bench press exercise on the EMG activity of five shoulder muscles. 1995 Nov;9(4):10-14. (Yes, it is an oldie but a goodie.  Let me know if you have something more recent.)

If the research above interested you, make sure to get my free seminar that I did on exercise and shoulder injuries, you can get it here.

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

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Exercise Rehabilitation of the Elbow & Wrist

DESCRIPTION:

OBJECTIVES:

Hey, it is Friday, lets ramble.

Well, let me ramble.

More Rambles about Facebook

It is very cool to get comments like this on my Facebook account:

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Exercise Rehabilitation of the Shoulder

DESCRIPTION:

“Nearly 6 million people a year visit their doctor for shoulder pain, strains, dislocations or other shoulder related problems”

 

In the Exercise Rehabilitation of the Shoulder course, functional anatomy of the shoulder joint will be reviewed. In addition, common shoulder injuries (frozen shoulder, shoulder impingement, rotator cuff tear and shoulder instability) will be discussed, and rehabilitative principles and exercises for each will be presented.

OBJECTIVES:

Foundations of Upper Body Conditioning

DESCRIPTION:

OBJECTIVES:

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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As you know, I am really big into scapular exercises and teaching an effective rotator cuff exercise program.

I have another perspective on the shoulder for you.  It is a guest blog post from Tara Keller.  It is the third part of her series.  Enjoy!

Addressing Shoulder Dysfunction Beyond the Shoulder Itself

By Tara Keller, BSc.(KIN), MES

Part III: The Silent Triggers

Leading into this final segment of this article we have discussed the kinetic chain response and how cueing can play an integral role in the retraining of functional movement. This week we are looking beyond the shoulder to the silent triggers of shoulder dysfunction.

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What’s My Cue? (Part 2)

I have another interview for you today.

It is with Eric Cressey.

Eric is the author of a great resource for fitness professionals, called Assess and Correct.

Here is a testimonial that I sent Eric about the great resource he created:

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Today I have an interview of me to share with you!

When I was in Orlando at the Fitness Info Summit, I ran into a Fitness Professional that had taken some of my courses.

His name is Belton Lubas and he is from Seattle.  In the fall of 2008 he came up to Vancouver and attended a series of courses that I had.

Belton did a quick interview with me on exercise programs for clients recovering from injuries and what to do with a client with a shoulder injury.

Enjoy the interview.  There is a mix of a transcript of the interview and  video.

Interview with Belton Lubas

Belton Lubas: Hey this is Belton here of Element five Fitness. Basically we’re here at the Fitness Info Summit. I got Rick Kaselj. What’s up, Rick?

Rick Kaselj: I’m doing great.

Where Do Fitness Professionals Fit In When Working with Clients with Injuries?

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I am a bit of a journal geek.

I like reading journal articles.

My wife has House & Home and I have journal articles from PubMed Central.

I wanted to share with you an article that I read.

I will try to filter through all of the mumbo jumbo and highlight what you need to know in order to help your clients.

A common injury found in active people is shoulder impingement.

Many times the focus of their exercise program is to increase the range of motion in the affected shoulder.

Is this the right thinking?

Should the focus be on decreasing the tightness of the posterior aspect of the shoulder?

Read on to find out.

Range of Motion versus Decreased Shoulder Tightness

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I was at the NSCA Washington State Fall Clinic.

It was a great event.

Let me share a few of the highlights.

Dave Suprak of Western Washington University was there chatting about shoulders.  I picked up a few great tips from Dave.  He had some great information on what happens to the scapula and scapular stabilizers when your client has poor posture. He gave me some great resources that will help me improve the scapular stabilization exercise program and effective rotator cuff exercise program.

One presenter that I wanted to see was Guido Van Ryssegem. Guido was presenting at the same time as I was, but I got a copy of his presentation. Wow, it was packed with high level shoulder exercise information!  When I get home, I will have to digest it more.

During our learning lunch, Susan M. Kleiner had an evidence based talk on proteins and amino acid supplementation.  Some great information!

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What I am going to chat about today is rotator cuff exercises and why/when/how to use a towel when performing rotator cuff exercises.

When I was working in a large rehabilitation centre, I work with a wide variety of physical therapists. They all had different ideas on exercises for the rotator cuff. The majority of them would not support the elbow when performing rotator cuff exercises but the odd one would.

Rotator Cuff External Rotation Exercise Set Up

How I  set up a client for the rotator cuff external rotation exercise would be to have the client stand with feet hip width apart and toes pointing forward. The core would be activated in order to prevent any trunk rotation. Upper arm would be at the side and elbow bent to 90 degrees. The pulley or tubing would be adjusted so it was parallel to the floor. The focus of the exercise would be external rotation in the shoulder from 0 degrees to maximum.

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Dumbbell Lateral Raises - Long Arm (End)

A lot of my rotator cuff clients complain about rotator cuff pain with the lateral raise exercise.

Before I talk about what  you can do to relieve lateral raise rotator cuff pain, let me explain why I do the lateral raise exercise with my rotator cuff clients.

Why I give my rotator cuff clients the lateral raises exercises?

The movement of lateral raise is abduction of the shoulder joint (glenohumeral joint).  For clients with rotator cuff injuries, often times this is a movement that is weak.

I want to improve the strength in abduction of the shoulder joint from 0 degrees to 85 degrees of abduction.  I can do this with the lateral raise exercise.  I can the exercise use dumbbell, tubing or pulleys for resistance.

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