With the New Year approaching it is time to reflect back on the year, and look forward to how we can continue to grow in 2018.
Below are three things that we learned in 2017 that has helped us grow as practitioners.
Pillar Prep
Pillar Preparation tops our 2017 list of things we have learned. It is a term we learned at the Performance Therapy Mentorship course at Exos. It is described as; Individually specific corrective strategies focused on mobility and stability of the hips, trunk, and shoulders. It’s goal is to prime the body for the performance session to follow.
With an understanding that the site of pain is usually not the cause of pain, creating a solid core foundation can help target our patients biggest rocks when it comes to movement. This allows us to clean up movement dysfunctions that led to the injury, allowing for a more seamless return to sport/function at discharge.
In our efforts to better bridge the gap between rehab and performance, pillar prep is becoming a standard in our practice. Using patient’s assessments and current functional abilities, we can create a pre-workout/daily routine that will be specific and applicable to the patient’s goals.
Isometrics
This may not be something we learned directly in 2017, but our understanding of their implications and importance continued to grow this past year. With courses from Dr. Andreo Spina, Adam Wolf, and Stick Mobility driving these concepts deeper into our philosophies.
Here are some underlying concepts we use isometrics for in our day-to-day practice.
Train and move within your end range of motion, everyday. Whether that is via increased intensity during controlled articular rotations, PAILs and RAILs for joint capsule health, or some end range options to help strengthen/control your mobility.
Use external feedback tools such as bands to help create context for your nervous system. This can be single joint/muscle focused, or multi-joint with multi-muscle focus.
Use internal feedback with irradiation to help your body create tension and stability without the assistance of an external tool.
The combination of the above helps build tissue capacity, stability, and strength of tissue that helps prevent proprioceptive and motor control loss at discharge.
Energy Systems Development
This is something we are currently starting to implement into our rehab and training protocols. It has been something that the folks at Strength Faction have reminded us to pay more mind to, and was further covered at EXOS.
Giving clients an aerobic and anaerobic base will help them transition to sport/exercise easier. If a runner has an ankle injury, and can no longer run, finding ways to train their energy systems during rehab can keep them relatively in shape while on the shelf.
The aerobic energy system is the energy pathway of the body which utilizes oxygen to oxidize fats and carbohydrates to produce energy (Exos Manual).
The anaerobic energy system is the energy pathways of the body which metabolize carbohydrates and ATP-PC in the absence of oxygen to produce energy (Exos Manual).
In short, building both an aerobic base and an anaerobic base is beneficial for every patient from athletes to stay-at-home moms.
This is something we are looking to elaborate and integrate into our philosophy much more in 2018, so stay tuned.
The Perfect Stride family wishes you all the best in 2018, and hope that you continue to learn and grow as we do! And just in case any of you are interested, below is a list of courses we took in 2017.
Treating the Triathlete – Jay Dicharry
REAL Movement – Adam Wolf
Stick Mobility – Stick Mobility
Performance Therapy Mentorship – EXOS
