Corrective Exercise and Rehabilitation

Maintaining shoulder health is an important part of a hockey player’s career. The risk of injury due to contact such as a body check is high and the fact that the shoulder is a very mobile joint increases the risk of non-contact injuries.

What is very interesting about the human body is how it informs us of dysfunction. Pain or discomfort in an area may actually be a referral from a different part of the body. The mistake many athletes make especially younger teenage athletes is pushing through these warning signs and not getting quality help from a hands-on therapist. In order to play through a healthy, long career in your sport you must take a preventative approach towards your Strength & Conditioning. This means being smart in how and when you train, taking adequate recovery and listening to warning signs.

As a U.S.A.W. Sports Performance Coach (Olympic Lifts) & also a post rehab specialist, I have the background & experience to help members improve their athletic performance while preventing injuries.

Exercise technique is paramount for all modalities of fitness but especially when doing Olympic lifts such as the clean, clean jerk and snatch. These movements are a combination of strength, timing and power. Incorporating accessory exercises for each lift will lead to noticeable gains in strength, conditioning, performance & even body composition.

One accessory exercise for the Olympic lift called the “Clean” is a barbell “balanced” front squat.
Adding this exercise will teach you how to stay upright throughout the squat, reinforce front squatting biomechanics, improve motor skills & most importantly, teaches you that the barbell rests on the front shoulders & clavicle.
Try this exercise with a practice barbell or fixed barbell that ranges from 20lbs and up. The weight should be light enough that you can catch it if it rolls off the front shoulders.

Foot and ankle pain is a prevalent problem that fitness professionals encounter frequently when working with clients. This article illustrates the anatomy of the major structures of the foot and ankle, explains the most common musculoskeletal imbalances of these areas, teaches trainers how to assess a client’s feet and ankles, and provides four corrective exercise techniques that can be used to eliminate pain and improve function.

ABOUT THE FEET AND ANKLES
The feet and ankles are key parts of the body that act as shock absorbers when a person interacts with a contact surface such as the ground. They also help the body adapt to varied surfaces via side-to-side movement. Understanding the anatomy of these important body parts can help you know how to assess them for imbalances.

Integrating successful corrective exercise strategies into client programs to alleviate their aches and pains is easy if you have a good understanding of posture. This article provides a brief explanation the most common postural imbalances and exercises you can use to correct them.

The downward pull of gravity places a tremendous amount of stress on your feet. If your feet are deconditioned (and most people’s are), they tend to flatten in response to this pressure (i.e., overpronate). When your foot overpronates, your ankle rotates inwardly over your foot toward the middle of your body. Your leg follows your ankle, causing both your lower and upper leg to rotate inward. These imbalances of the foot and leg cause the knee to shift inward also (i.e., medial knee displacement). Over time, these compensations can lead to excessive pressure on the knee and ankle joints, causing discomfort and dysfunction in these areas (see Image 1).

Ever watch a kid play in the park? If you have not ever taken the time do so, find a park and try not to look too creepy. You will notice that very few kids have flexibility, mobility or stability issues. They jump off of things and start sprinting at full speed at whim. You will find these kids all look pretty athletic. Sure, some may possess more natural ability to jump higher and run faster but, provided the kid is in good shape, most kids have the same athletic ability.

As we get older, our life choices either cultivate this athleticism or hinder it. Some of us stop running around and jumping strictly for fun and restrict it to when we play organized sports while others sit in front of a computer screen or a t.v. for entertainment and get stiff, immobile and lose kinesthetic sense as the years go by.

While we may all start out as athletes, most of us definitely do not stay like that. 

Not Everything Is Appropriate