All human movement is generated by the muscles and soft tissues acting on one another. A muscle contracts across a joint, pulling the segments toward one another, creating movement in that joint. In order to get better movement, we should train the muscles, right?
This weeks blog is not going to be on your typical New Year’s Resolution. AHH sure everyone resolves to eat better and nearly everyone resolves to exercise more in 2011 than they did in 2010.
I am here to tell you that your first resolution should be to move well first before moving often. What I mean is having people realize that more often than not the reason why they keep getting on and off the their fitness kicks is largely because they move inefficiently. The old mantra coined by Nike, “Just Do It.” is good and all, but just do what? It may be implying that we should just move and that is good…if you can. It should preface, move well first, then move often.
It is obvious that exercise has all the potential in the world to help improve us physically, emotionally and psycho-socially but if there are significant limitations in movements like squatting, lunging, pushing or pulling due to previous injury or deconditioning, the body will take the path of least resistance (the law of facilitation). Eventually this will cause injuries elsewhere and thus cause a person to fall off the band wagon, get discouraged and give up as they have in the past.
To have a fit plan for life, each person needs to know what their respective weakest links are with respect to movement. We all know what are weaknesses are for foods i.e. sweets, junk food etc., but not too many people know what types of movements causing more harm than good. As a result they “play it safe” by starting with a little cardio on the bike or on the treadmill largely because peoples options for movements are limited so we go with boring, mundane exercises that just reinforce bad movements and expedite the process of falling off the fitness bandwagon. Exercise should invigorate us but instead most people act like hamsters on a wheel for 20 or 30 minutes while they read gossip in the weekly tabloids. Not to say that is a bad thing entirely, but not being cognoscente of what’s going on with the different parts of your body while you’re moving is setting you up for failure. I’m not saying that you need to be a yogi or Tai Chi guru, but tuning yourself out and ignoring what your body is telling you is not a good idea.
So don’t just resolve to go to the gym, resolve to move well first, then move often. Restoring the authentic movement you had when you were younger is not an impossible feat, it simply takes effort and focus. In the long run, you’ll be really happy you did.
Happy 2011
Having spent years in the health and fitness industry and training at private studios we have had complete control over of what our clients do and how they do it. In those years we have realized that there is a void not only in our industry but also in healthcare all together. We know this by going over our clients’ health history to find out exactly what they have been doing to help themselves. Outside our facility an example is when we go to a traditional gym and look around, the majority of members are not only doing the wrong exercises but improperly performing them. It is a real eye opener. What this means is the members are strengthening their muscle imbalances and reinforcing their faulty movement patterns. This in turn is actually making things worse. In our healthcare fields most of the professionals are treating symptoms instead of addressing the underlying cause of the symptom. At Myoforce we typically say that a symptom is exactly that; a symptom of an underlying problem. When you treat a symptom you never really get at the root problem.
Is it possible?
By: Aaron Brooks
I am going to go outside the box here a bit and suggest the textbook definition of what muscles qualify as hip extensors falls a little short. If you ask me your quads and calves should be added to the list, because I’ve repeatedly witnessed that addressing these two muscles will not only increase hip extension, but overall hip mobility as well. As you already know, the generally recognized hip extensors are glute maximus, the three hamstrings and to lesser degrees the adductor magnus and glute medius. Because you know those muscles are hip extensors you may be prone to specifically address them in attempts to increase hip extension. However, I feel that the muscles that are considered antagonists to the hamstrings, glutes, etc, can actually be synergists to their actions. As you will see later in the article, the antagonist and synergist relationship will dictate how and why I sequence the exercises in a particular manner—the end result being not only increased hip extension but also overall hip mobility as a bonus. Read more
5 points to consider when looking for the source of pain
How many of your clients come to you with a diagnosis from their doctor? Let’s use the diagnosis of elbow tendonitis as an example. The patient complains of pain on the outside of their elbow. The patient describes their pain; the doctor evaluates the patient and comes up the diagnosis of tendonitis of the elbow. The next steps are usually anti inflamatories for swelling or a cortisone shot and/or a prescription to physical therapy for strengthening, soft tissue work and e-stim for quicker healing. What happens when the drugs and shots do not work? The physical therapist follows the doctor’s orders and does the best they can but the patient still does not get better? Keep in mind that the patient has been diligent about staying consistent with their appointments and have continued with the exercises that their physical therapist gave them. Most times the patient’s symptoms are a result of an underlying cause that no one addressed. Up to this point everyone was focused on the elbow. That was not the problem. The key point here is to look past the point of pain. Look at the joints beyond the elbow such as the shoulder, mid thoracic spine, cervical spine or even the pelvis. Most times this is where you will find the problem that is causing the elbow pain. Next step is to identify things your client may do during the day that is continually irritating their pain. Read more
Are You Making Things Worse?
Have you ever wondered why you experience pain either during your run, following your run or maybe during the first 10 minutes of your run? You may say or have been told that you are over training or that your shoes are worn out or maybe that you need orthodics. Those are good points, however, more times than not I have had clients come to my office and say those exact things to me. Most of those clients have already taken time off from running to let the body heal. They have also spent countless dollars on different types of inserts and orthotics for their shoes and on new running shoes. Why do they still have pain? Read more
How many of you have looked at yourself in the mirror and thought my goodness is this what I have become. Many of our clients will say something along the lines that they do not want to end up looking like their 80-year-old mother. Or have to worry about all the health concerns that their parents are going through. My coworker read this article and thought I was being too harsh. Maybe but it is the truth and it is what we hear on a weekly basis so I thought why not tell it the way it is. Read more
Hip Instability Gives New Meaning to Hip-Hop
Six Must Have Exercises for Hip Stability
When our clients tell us about the pain they feel in their lower body when they workout or run it is often very easy for us to concentrate on those parts of the anatomy from the hip joint down. We typically address hip mobility, knee stability, or ankle mobility because when we visualize the motions associated with these types of movements we think about these parts as fulcrums that allow for these activities. But fundamentally we all know that ideal motion is about stability just as much as it is about mobility. This is precisely why hip stability is an issue that deserves a greater focus. Of course these other points of consideration are very important because if they are not addressed, lower extremity as well as lower back issues can result. However, this article is intended to identify the impact instability has on the hip in order to bring attention to this less talked about factor in identifying and assisting chronic pain clients and athletes.
When trying to address your athlete’s or client’s limitations due to pain or joint restriction, a pelvic rotation finding can be an extremely valuable. If you look at most clients/athletes that have some type of chronic pain or inhibited joint function you will more than likely find a varying degree of pelvic rotation in the transverse plane. A rotation of the pelvis will affect many joints above and below the level of rotation. You might be saying yeah right, how can pelvic rotation affect the shoulder? This is only one example: let’s say the pelvis is rotated left to right. You note the left shoulder depressed because the torso is over compensating by rotating right to left. This counter rotation causes the left lattisimus to shorten as well as the spinal erectors on the left side. The left shoulder depression will alter the scapula, thoracic spine and glenohumeral joint mechanics and cause rotator cuff impingement. If a client or athlete had rotator cuff impingement some professionals would target the cuff with strengthening and stretching exercises. I would address the pelvic rotation first and then focus on shoulder, thoracic spine and scapular work. If you look at your client’s body as a whole, keep in mind that the body works in kinetic chains rather than individual parts, you will see the correlation between a rotated pelvis and compensations in other joints throughout the body.
Aaron Brooks
We live in a cause and effect world. If I touch fire, I get burned. It’s that simple. Yet, it seems that when it comes to identifying the cause of a person’s pain most doctors and other health care professionals still focus only on the effect without ever investigating the preventable cause. In this case it would be, “don’t touch fire to prevent burns.” This is the logic behind the work I do with clients that come to Perfect Postures and Myoforce.
Most of my clients come to me at the stage where they have tried almost every other pain relief option out there. A typical story may go something like this: “I went to my doctor for shoulder pain and he diagnosed me with rotator cuff impingement. I was prescribed an anti-inflammatory and sent to physical therapy. My doctor said if this course of action did not work he would give me a cortisone shot. And if that did not work he would explore the surgery option.”
When I finally see the client they have explored the options given to them with no success. The drugs and shot may have worked temporarily but the pain came back and the physical therapist gave them rotator cuff strengthening exercises along with some type of modality. But after some time, the minimal relief leaves the client frustrated and feeling like there is no hope. This isn’t to say that some people are not helped by these measures or that their pain does not become more manageable. We all have our success stories. But, for people like me who have always been highly active, we do not want to simply manage our pain if there is the possibility that we can be relieved of it by identifying the true cause.
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