– Lumbar Extension – Selling – Pain&Expection – Evolved Shoulder – Posterior Hip Pain – Posterior Chain – Gray Cook – EBP? –

1) Our profession and our society has become so afraid of lumbar flexion that it’s almost a phobia.  This obsession of avoiding lumbar flexion has allowed another problem to slip by – excessive lumbar extension.  I’ve been noticing more lumbar extension dysfunction in the clinic.  Read about it in this months post here.

2) The more I practice the more I start to think the most important aspect of PT is the patient’s mindset.  I look for 2 things in the eval  Continue reading “August Hits”

– Fatigue – High Heels – Motor Learning – Mobility – Threshold – Strengthening – Parachute – Protocols – Armbar – Neuro –

1) I think exercise programs like crossfit and P-90X are great.  They get more people moving and interested in their health.  And in today’s society, decreasing the amount of sedentary people is very important.  However, when exercises are performed past failure a ton of things go wrong.  A new study showed there is a deterioration of lower extremity biomechanics when fatigue hits.  This causes a dangerous cascade of events: compensations, inefficient movement, substitution movement patterns, and an increased risk for injury.  While many of us already know this, many of our patients don’t.  Educate them. Continue reading “July Hits”

– Butler Cliffnotes – Deep Squat – MDT Reset – Hip Thrust – Hamstring Strains – DNS & Powerlifting –

1) So Zac Cupples does Cliffnotes for PT books.  Here’s his post on the Sensitive Nervous System by David Butler.  If you aren’t familiar with Butler and the NOI approach you should check it out.  “Pain is an unpleasant, sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage.”

2) As a deep squat advocate, I loved this post by James Speck.  To perform the deep squat you must have BOTH mobility and stability.  This alone makes it a great assessment and intervention. Continue reading “June Hits”

Language – Hip Hinge – Ankle/Hip – Weingroff – Boyle – Core Exercise – Knee Valgus

1) “An alteration of the language output may be as clinically potent in desensitising pain neurosignatures and it certainly has not been considered as deeply in rehabilitation.”  David Butler discusses how correcting patients language & thoughts relating to their pain is just as important as it is to correct their movement output.  This month’s JOSPT has a related article on the how movement system diagnostic labels can prevent the disconnect between diagnostics and treatment processes that pathoanatomic labels create.

2) The hip hinge is one of the most important movement patterns for anyone that moves.  This months article goes over what it is, how to assess it, and how to correct it. Continue reading “May Hits”

Joint Laxity – Davis’ Law – Deep Squat – Foot Types – Standing Help – Step Up

1) Beighton Laxity Scale gives a good indication of your patients congenital laxity.  If your patient is extremely hypermobile then you shouldn’t be spending alot of time doing joint mobilizations and/or manipulations.  These patients require a great deal of stability.

2) Davis’ Law, the soft tissue equivalent to Wolff’s Law, describes how soft-tissues adapt to stress.  It describes how muscles adapt in a reciprocal manner.  For example, a strong and inflexible gastroc will usually cause the anterior tibialis to become weak and flexible.  With this law in mind, you should always consider the antagonist when trying to achieve an increase in strength or mobility. Continue reading “April Hits”

5 Ways to Expand – Lateral Stability – Video Analysis – RTC Myths – Breathing – SIJ – Carbs

1) PT School lays down the necessary foundation to develop your career.  There are many important things that we don’t learn in school.  Erson goes over 5 of these things.  I completely agree.

2) This might be a nice progression for patients that have already mastered the sagittal plane and have topped out with isolated hip strengthening (bridges, clamshells, side-step, etc.).  Eric Cressey goes over advanced lateral stability training.

3) Chris Johnson goes over the details of how to videotape your runners for analysis.

4) Mike Reinold describes his 4 RTC myths in this article.  Mike makes a great point on Continue reading “March Hits”

Breathing – Thoracic Mobility – FMS – Neuro – Pendulum Theory – Warm-Up – Glutes

1) Bill Hartmen uses the downward dog to increase pre-load on the diaphragm, activate the serratus anterior, and unload the scalenes while facilitating deep neck flexors.  All this can significantly help your breathing patterns.  Check out this months post on breathing.

2) This is a great thoracic mobility technique using the NMT T-Bar.  A good way to increase thoracic mobilization and
integrate with scapular movement.

3) Nice summary of FMS corrections (from Mike Reinold’s site). Continue reading “February Hits”

Coordination – TRX Y’s – Nocebo – Hallux Mobility – Neuro Approach

1) Maybe we should slow down a little bit.  Todd Hargrove goes over why slow movement is important for coordination and movement efficiency.  This can be very useful when attempting to teach the “motor morons” how to move right.  I specifically liked the Weber-Fechner Law, which describes that the relationship between the physical magnitiudes of a stimuli and the perceived intensity of the stimuli.

2) Overhead movements are usually butchered by patients.  When trying to activate the lower trap many patients compensate with a rib cage flare, hyperlordosis, forward head, and unusual grunts.  Cressey quickly goes over how to teach the TRX Y’s in this 2 minute video. Continue reading “January Hits”