Category: All Things Rehab

All About the Neck

A comprehensive look at cervical biomechanics and exercise The Wu-Tang clan once said “Protect Ya Neck,” but how in the heck can you do that if you don’t know the biomechanics?????? The neck can be quite complicated considering all the factors that influence it’s dynamics: Ribcage position Thoracic spine Hyoid bone Cranium Temperomandibular joint OH MY! Yet despite all of these influences, there are simple, useful heuristics you can follow that can lead to favorable changes in neck mobility! Want to make the neck, cranium, and more ridiculously simple to understand and apply? Then tune in for Movement Debrief Episode 125.

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Compensatory Movement Patterns

Know different postures you will see inside and out! It seems like there are a bazillion different types of postural presentations. Is there any way to simplify the confusion? Interestingly enough, things like flat back, extreme kyphosis, and even the common compensatory pattern can be explained through the movement lens we discuss on a weekly basis. All of these postural deviations are compensations atop of compensations How bad do you want to be able to 1) identify these postural strategies and most importantly, 2) know how to best improve these compensations? If it’s bad (I’m talkin’ reaaaaaaal bad), then check out Movement debrief Episode 124.

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How a Six Pack Affects Movement

A deep dive into abdominal wall compensations Movement Debrief Episode 120 is in the books. Below is a copy of the video for your viewing pleasure, and audio if you can’t stand looking at me. Here is the setlist: What movement compensations can occur from a concentric rectus abdominis? How can the rectus abdominis become eccentrically oriented? How does abdominal fat impact movement? How does a pooch belly develop? What is a diastasis recti? How does breathing coaching change with a diastasis recti? What breathing would be recommended for diastasis recti during conditioning? How can a pooch belly be managed in standing? What are umbilical hernias? What causes umbilical hernias? Should surgery be done? What conservative treatments can be given for an umbilical hernia?

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The Foot Explained

Biomechanics, compensation, and treatment of the foot Movement Debrief Episode 119 is in the books. Below is a copy of the video for your viewing pleasure, and audio if you can’t stand looking at me. Here is the setlist: What is the relative foot position during inhalation and exhalation? What strategies can be used to improve pronation and supination limitations? How can I improve dynamics in a flat foot? How does the foot move during a squat? How do bunions form?

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All About the Ribcage

Learn how reaching and improve upper body mobility Movement Debrief Episode 117 is in the books. Below is a copy of the video for your viewing pleasure, and audio if you can’t stand looking at me. Here is the setlist: What order should I prioritize improving ribcage expansion? What is the manubriosternal joint? What happens when I have mixed compensations at the sternum? How can I encourage ribcage dynamics without increasing secondary compensations? What visual cues can I look at to see if someone can “stack?” What is different about infrasternal angle presentations between 90-110 degrees? How do I go about improving these particular infrasternal angle presentations? How can thoracic sidebending be useful with improving ribcage dynamics?

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Introduction to Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy Course Review

How improving tongue mobility can impact sleep and nasal breathing I hit a plateau. I was getting good results with many clients. I was making infrasternal angles dynamic, restoring hip flexion and extension, and getting ribcage mobility on fleek. Yet there were still some folks who I couldn’t get the symptom change they needed. Either they had really stiff necks, craniofacial issues, or difficulty sleeping. I knew I was missing something. Then I found myofunctional therapy. My buddy Joe Cicinelli, my myofunctional therapist, gave me some tongue exercises surrounding my tongue-tie release surgery, and I noticed some interesting changes with myself. My neck felt looser, I was sleeping better, and just overall feeling better. I decided to experiment and try a few activities here and there on some clients. With having only a rudimentary understanding, I started seeing some of those troubling cases improve. Necks were less tight. Sleep was improving, jaw pain was vanishing. I needed to learn more. That’s when I came across the Academy of Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy (AOMT) and saw they offered an introductory course. I was in. Four days later, a gap was filled. Having applied these techniques to several patients, many of those troubled cases were not so troubling. Although I was addressing airway with most of my treatments, I neglected the uppermost portions of it. The folks at AOMT give you that and then some. With this course, we deep-dived into anatomy, evidence, assessment, treatment, and business. You really get a total package

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Reaching: Theory and Practice

Learn how reaching and improve upper body mobility Movement Debrief Episode 116 is in the books. Below is a copy of the video for your viewing pleasure, and audio if you can’t stand looking at me. Here is the setlist: How does airflow change at various reaching angles? How does airflow change with trunk rotation? What is the scapular orientation during shoulder extension? How does one with a posterior thorax tilt present? How do different carry variations impact airflow?  How does forearm supination and pronation impact reaching? How can we sequence carries in a manner that allows for maximal airflow expansion? How can you tell if someone is using a compensatory strategy when they are lifting weights?

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Hip Rotation Explained – Movement Debrief Episode 111

Movement Debrief Episode 111 is in the books. Below is a copy of the video for your viewing pleasure, and audio if you can’t stand looking at me. Here is the setlist: What is the relationship of the infrasternal angle (ISA) to the compressive and expansive strategies at the pelvis? What would hip rotation limitations look like in these compensatory strategies? What does limited hip internal and external rotation signify? What interventions would need to be done to improve hip rotation? Do I have any favorite moves? Why would unilateral Sacroiliac (SI) joint pain occur? How does sacral rotation occur? What types of activities could improve sacral rotation capabilities? How can tensor fascia lata (TFL) cramping be reduced during the hip shift?

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Is Spinal Flexion Bad? – Movement Debrief Episode 110

Movement Debrief Episode 110 is in the books. Below is a copy of the video for your viewing pleasure, and audio if you can’t stand looking at me. Here is the setlist: Is spinal hyperextension useful for weightlifting?  How do I balance the need for extension during these moves? Is there a risk of disc injuries with spinal flexion? Are spine sparing exercises necessary to reduce trauma throughout the day? Do we want to minimize spinal movement? How should we move to encourage healthy spines? Are crunches safe? Do they help with abdominal development? Is it safe for someone with back surgery to perform spinal flexion?

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All About the Scapula – Movement Debrief Episode 109

Movement Debrief Episode 109 is in the books. Below is a copy of the video for your viewing pleasure, and audio if you can’t stand looking at me. Here is the setlist: What are normal scapular movements during respiration? Are these scapular respiration movements paired together as we move? Is passive exhalation a thing? What are the primary compensatory scapular positions for a wide and narrow ISA? What happens if further compensatory activity occurs? What type of compensatory strategy is a swayback posture utilizing? What are the best ways to gain proximal hamstrings to elicit a posterior pelvic tilt? How would you test whether a client needs inferior or superior posterior thorax expansion?

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The Unsexy Side of PT

Struggle with mouth breathing? Much of the stuff taught on my site focuses on maximizing your breathing skills from the neck on down, but what happens when that is not enough? What if you still have issues with neck or jaw symptoms? Or worse yet, struggle with sleep? These are the topics we dive into on The Optimize Your Capacity podcast I did recently. You’ll learn all types of things featured in the netherworld of performance, including: Craniocervical posture and how to test for movement limitations in this region The “ideal” tongue posture to promote nasal breathing What a proper swallow entails to reduce neck strain What the keys are to having a dynamic respiratory strategy that maximizes movement options through the body Is there a “best” posture to sleep in? That depends on your body 🙂 and more! Click the links below to check it out! The Unsexy Side of PT: Zac Cupples (Apple Podcasts) Spotify Stitcher

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