It seems that I don’t usually get to posting on Thursday nights, but I’d like to get more regular with my blog. And no not to talk about increasing my fiber intake. I don’t have a video to share this week just some insights. (actually I just uploaded one for the edit!!) I have a client that I’ve been working with, who is a seventy-year-old avid tennis player. She is very open-minded to alternative treatments takes very good care of herself. And has recently been receiving physical therapy, stretch therapy, neuromuscular massage therapy, and seeing a chiropractor, for a shoulder injury. She had an MRI to quantify the damage to the shoulder and she’s laid off from tennis to let her shoulder heal. Actually she hasn’t laid off from playing tennis. She’s only playing left-handed now, and she’s the a right-handed player. Talk about dedication to tennis!

This woman has received acupuncture, used homeopathic remedies and mixed these approaches to health care with traditional medicine. Pretty much the perfect client. haven’t actually work with her for a few years but she’s back to see me to help with her shoulder. When I started to ask her about the treatment she’d been receiving, I was pretty happy. It sound like a good mix of therapies the compliment each other well. Once I performed some movement assessments, goniometry measurements, (specific joint range of motion assessments) and manual muscle testing, I found that there were several other areas throughout the kinetic chain contributing to her shoulder injury. I was a bit disappointed that none of the other practitioners that she was seeing were addressing these other areas. It sounded like the work they were doing was appropriate for shoulder, but the rest of the kinetic chain is not being considered. She had restrictions in dorsiflexion flexion, left sacroiliac joint dysfunction and other soft tissue restrictions. Just by releasing her left adductor magnus, left short head of the biceps femoris and encouraging some movement in her sacroiliac joint, she instantaneously stood taller and moved easier. She was excited and relieved that her whole body felt better. It always amazes me the, complexity yet simplicity of the kinetic chain principle. It’s true that sometimes we can’t see the forest through the trees, and I have made this mistake myself plenty of times. So the good news is is that this client will coming to see me for some soft tissue work and very specific corrective exercise programming to address her movement impairments and she will continue to see her other practitioners for localize work at the site of her injury. This is almost the best case scenario we have a specific diagnosis and qualified practitioners treating the diagnosis as well if someone else looking at the big picture. Now at 70 years of age playing as much tennis as this client is played, degradation of tissue is unavoidable. I’m not saying a the SI joint restriction caused her shoulder problem. It might even just be a response to the injury itself. I’m very clear however that does need to be addressed. And if we think about the fascial connections in the posterior chain of the body, the sacroiliac joint dysfunction and right shoulder dysfunction are not uncommon in this situation. We can extrapolate that further restrictions in dorsi flexion bilaterally as well as first MTP joint restriction bilaterally have contributed to her dysfunction as well.

I’m excited to get this client back on the court and playing tennis again…with the racket in her right hand. I’m not sure how long it’s going to take, but I know her love of the game will keep her moving consistently toward that court again.

I’m sure we’ve all experienced situations where other practitioners have get lost in the minutia of the condition. As corrective exercise specialists and personal trainers, we work with our strengths of just looking at human movement. We can’t diagnose, many of us can’t apply manual therapy techniques unless we are licensed to do so, but we can observe and identify movement impairments. We can restore muscular balance. We can activate inhibited muscles. We can teach quality movement patterns. We can make a huge difference. We can do so along with other practitioners who have the appropriate licensure and skill set to identify and treat specific injuries. or we can use this skill set skill set with someone who doesn’t have a diagnosed injury to enhance the quality of life, performance on the court or play time with their kids.

There are so many other people that we can learn from to get better at what we do. There are countless practitioners we can network with to learn more about the body. Just remember that human movement is human movement, and the kinetic chain is the kinetic chain. These basics will guide us in identification of dysfunction reeducation of the neuromuscular system, fitness programs and athletic performance enhancement programs.

That’s all for me tonight. Thanks for reading and here is to to a dry and sunny spring!

Eric Beard
CEO A-Team
Corrective Exercise Specialist
AthleticShoulder.com
http://facebook.com/theericbeard
http://youtube.com/theericbeard

• April 19, 2011 -- Full Length DVD Content FREE Here! Corrective Exercise and More! (0)
• November 5, 2009 -- Corrective Exercise for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome? (2)
• September 25, 2009 -- Teaching an NASM Personal Trainer Workshop in Atlanta Thinking about HFPN.com (0)
• September 14, 2009 -- Secrets of Training the Athletic Shoulder: Corner Activatons from AthleticShoulder.com (0)
• September 8, 2009 -- Corrective Exercise and Performance Enhancement for The Shoulder Complex Has Evolved (0)
• January 22, 2012 -- Knock The Rust Off With Some Core Stability Work (0)
• January 19, 2012 -- Vertical Core Stability Training (0)
• January 12, 2012 -- Quick Tip to Improve Dorsiflexion (making your calve stretch more effective) (0)
• January 7, 2012 -- Can You Give Me Some Advice? (0)
• January 4, 2012 -- Does 30+30+30 Really Equal 90? (0)

Right Ankle Prone Straight Leg- 0 degrees
Left Ankle Prone Straight Leg- -2 degrees (yes that is a minus as in negative)
Right Ankle Prone Bent Leg- 2 degrees
Left Ankle Prone Bent Leg- 4 degrees

The ideal for these measurements is about 15-20 degrees. You need 12 degrees of dorsiflexion to stand with a neutral position in your lumbo-pelvic-hip- complex (LPHC) and @ 15 degrees to be able maintain neutral when walking….I am not even close so the alignment of my pelvis and lumbar spine must be way off! Based off of my movement assessments (on my You Tube Channel http://youtube.com/theericbeard) my left ankle is the primary source of dysfunction. I have spent most of my efforts on getting the ankle to move better and I feel better already. My forward lean is improved in my squat and there is less tension in my body overall. Ankle mobility is so important to human movement.

I do have some other goals as well. Here are my measurements and goals to reach by the end of Another Fitness Challenge;

2.1.10 Measurements
height 6’05″
weight 205lbs-shorts tee shirt Goal weight-210 lbs
calipers
1-bi 3.5 mm
2-tri 7.5 mm
3-supra 8.5 mm
4-sub 11.5 mm
Total mm 31
chart BF% 16.17%
Omron bf% 15.70%
BF average 15.93%
fat mass 32.65 Goal LBM- 27.65 lbs
LBM 172.35 Gaol LBM-182.35 lbs
BMI 27.6
HR
BP
chest (exhale) 44″
right upper arm 15.75″
left upper arm 15.5″
waist 36.5″
hips 44″
right thigh 25″
left thigh 25.25″
right calve 17.75″
left calve 18″

I wrote out my goals clearly using the S.M.A.R.T. System and review them daily. I am also using the support from the HFPN/AFC chat room and contestants to stay on track. I have accountability to everyone that I have shared my goals with.

I hope you are all progressing with your health and fitness goals as well. Thanks for the support and feel free to comment below and share your goals.

Eric Beard

CEO A-Team

Corrective Exercise Specialist

AthleticShoulder.com
RangeOfMotionWorkshop.com

• February 26, 2010 -- First Month of Another Fitness Challenge Brings Eric Beard Some Results (1)
• February 24, 2010 -- Another Fitness Challenge Update on Ankle Mobility of Eric Beard (0)
• February 12, 2010 -- Will Smith Needs Corrective Exercise…but He Helps Me this Time (0)
• February 8, 2010 -- Revist, Recite, Re-Write Your Goals Dailly to Manifest your Dreams (0)
• February 4, 2010 -- Goal Setting 101…an Abridged Lesson (1)
• February 1, 2010 -- HFPN’s Another Fitness Challenge? Eric Beard is In! How About You? (0)
• February 19, 2010 -- Upper Extremity Reach Range of Motion Assessments (0)
• February 9, 2010 -- 5 Minute Core Stability / Corrective Exercise for Back Pain by Eric Beard with the MECA Back (0)
• February 6, 2010 -- Chunking Goals: Breakdown the Big Goals Into Smaller Actionable Steps (0)
• January 31, 2010 -- FLY This-Eric Beard Shows a Cool Variation for Core Stability plus Another Fitness Challenge (1)