November Hits

Eccentrics – TPI – Foot Intrinsics – Rib Cage – Upward Rotation – Cubiod

1) My co-worker, Michelle Briancisco, has been talking about using eccentrics to increase ROM for years.  She has found it really works well when patients aren’t responding to traditional muscle lengthening techniques.  She hypothesizes that it neurologically alters the afferent motor output and also provides the patient with a sense of control during the lengthening.

2) Saw this on Erson’s site.  I remember doing this at the TPI course.  There’s a plethora of good shoulder warm up exercises to choose from for your patients.

3) “How to develop monkey feet” by Dr. Andreo Spina.  Seriously though, Dr. Spina gives an amazing progression for foot intrinsic strengthening here.

4) We always talk about controlling the femur to increase patellofemoral congruency.  What about controlling the rib cage to increase scapulothoracic congruency?  Lisa Bartels discusses this in part 1, part 2, and part 3.

5) Most shoulder programs involve the cue “back and down” and focus on reducing the UT/LT ratio.  Eric Cressey points out that this might not be the best approach for all shoulder patients.  He talks about how most people spend all day with gravity already pulling their shoulders down and rarely bring their arms overhead.  So maybe thats what’s missing.  There is research out there that shows shoulder impingement patients have decreased upward rotation (specifically delayed UT activation).  Cressey explains this theory here and further expands on it with corrective strategies here.  He goes into different shoulder rowing patterns here.

6) Cuboid Syndrome.  Just in case that foot eval tomorrow isn’t a normal ankle sprain.