Hip Flexor Stretches Don’t Work – Try These 2 Exercises Instead

If hip flexor stretching is whack, what is better, Zac? It’s super common to feel hip flexor tightness from sitting or a bazillion other things. The problem is that your traditional hip flexor stretches don’t really work…At all. The reason why is NOT because your hip flexor muscles are this evil piece of your anatomy that hates you and cares little about your feeble attempts to stretch them. It’s because tight hip flexors are part of a bigger movement strategy that your body uses. And in order to get these muscles to let go, you have to teach your body a different movement behavior. One that takes into consideration ALL of the areas that influence hip flexor tension. What are they? Well fam watch the video below and read the blog to learn! What are the hip flexors? Are the hip flexors simply evil muscles that exist within your body to cause you all types of pain and problems? Uh, no fam. The hip flexors are several muscles that act to flex the hip (aka bring your thigh closer to your abdomen. If you’ve ever sprinted, walked, went upstairs, done marching exercises, or kneed someone in the gut (wild times in Vegas), then you can be thankful you have hip flexors big fam! For you anatomy nerds, some of the major players that complete this move include: Tensor fascia lata (TFL) Psoas major Iliacus Rectus femoris What other actions do the hip flexors perform? You’ll notice that the hip flexor

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Common Squat Compensations

If you have a butt wink, collapse your knees and more, you definitely want to read this! The squat is an excellent exercise for both enhancing lower body range of motion and strength, but it’s not so great if you have a bunch of wild compensations doing it. What are some of the common compensatory activities that we see in the squat, which ones are “bad,” and most importantly, what shall we do about it? You’ll get your answer in Movement Debrief Episode 159!

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Assessing Basketball Players

Learn the key tests to help basketball players move better! When you work with super tall athletes like basketball players, their movement demands and compensatory strategies are going to appear a bit differently than those of us closer to earth. But what tests matter the most? What will give us the information needed to make sound training decisions for these athletes? In order to determine what tests will give us the most information about basketball players, we have to look at what movement challenges they possess, the injuries they are most likely to sustain, and the movement qualities needed to mitigate injury risk. Be prepared to dive into these areas and take your basketball movement testing to a different level with Movement Debrief Episode 158.

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All About The Pelvic Floor

A deep dive into pelvic floor biomechanics Breathing is super important you know, but the base of breathing is the pelvic floor. Well fam, what if you don’t have the biomechanics on point down there? Then you’ll need some help! We will sift through it in this post. Check out Movement Debrief Episode 157 below to learn more.

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Golf and Baseball Performance Principles | Mike Kay

Take your golf, fitness, and rehab knowledge to the next level It can be easy to get lost in the noise with all of the potential treatments, exercises, models, and more, when it comes to anything in the rehab and performance field. Is there a way to put everything together? To use a wide variety of methods and be targeted with execution. That, folks, is what few people do to the level of Dr. Mike Kay, and I’m juiced up to have done a podcast with him. In this podcast, you’ll learn: How Mike went from accumulating rehab tools to developing rehab principles t How and why vibration plates, tiger tails, and needling can create CRAZY movement changes How to make better decisions clinically and when to look at sensory systems Why static postural assessment isn’t so bad after all How infrasternal angle archetypes can impact the golf swing The best ways to train for better golf and baseball performance WITH MINIMAL COACHING What the big keys are for basketball performance How to get the most out of home exercise programs Building a cash pay physical therapy practice How to balance entrepreneurship with family

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Lateral Pelvic Tilt: Learn It All

If there is a frontal plane problem, you will want to check this out Are you someone who has a lateral pelvic tilt, a lateral spine shift, or Trendelenburg gait. If so, then this is the post for you, because we outline what is going on movement-wise, and what the heck you can do about it. Check out Movement Debrief Episode 156 below to learn more.

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Common Ankle Problems

Let’s navigate through compensations seen not just the ankle, but up the chain! Do you have ankle problems? Done a bunch of wall ankle stretches to no avail? Perhaps you have to look elsewhere. Namely, how ankle restrictions link up through the rest of the body. How are ankle limitations commonly seen manifested through common compensatory strategies? That’s what we dive into in today’s post. Check out Movement Debrief Episode 155 below to learn more.

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Airway Dentistry: What to Do When You Don’t Breathe Right At Night

If you are having trouble sleeping, snore at night, or mouth breathe like none other, you definitely have to listen to the Nourish Balance Thrive Podcast that I was recently on. In it, we touch on A GANG of topics! Chris and I discuss the impact of mouth and face structure on breathing, sleeping, and overall health. We go through some of the causes of abnormal facial development, and the resulting problems which can include sleep disorders, crowded and crooked teeth, and worsened athletic performance. I also describe the best way to assess for breathing problems at night and offers some tips for prevention and intervention. You won’t want to miss this, check it out in the link below: Airway Dentistry: What to Do When You Don’t Breathe Right At Night Interview outline Utilizing breathing to enhance movement The Amazing Shrinking Face Tongue and Lip Ties My journey into improving my upper airway The importance of tongue space Nasal breathing and implants The MMA surgery When you should to a sleep study Pulse oximetry vs sleep study The different things measured with a sleep study Upper airway resistance syndrome vs. sleep apnea The risks of untreated sleep apnea How to measure progress with upper airway improvements Factors leading to airway problems Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

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Help! I’m Not Sure What Infrasternal Angle I Have!

Those pesky people who have infrasternal angles right in the middle. What do you call him? Well in this case study, we talk about some tips and tricks for pinpointing the ISA that you are dealing. We also dive into the following topics: A couple quick tests to confirm the infrasternal angle Why the xiphoid process is an unreliable reference point How to prioritize treatments for someone who is compressed in all directions with asymmetries. How shifting at different degrees of flexion changes the pelvic mechanics

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When Can I Run Again After an Ankle Sprain?

Ankle sprains are such a bugger and take some time to heal. But once you’ve let swelling and such run it’s course, when is it safe to run? We answer that in the video below. Here, you’ll learn my criteria and progression that I look for when having someone safely return to running. Watch and learn! Ankle sprain red flags The first thing you have to do after an ankle sprain is make sure you don’t have a fracture. There are these rules to follow called Ottawa Ankle Rules, which are a cluster of findings that would indicate getting some imaging done. These findings include: Inability to weight bear Pain within the viscinity of either malleolus If you have these findings, you most definitely need to get some imaging. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. But if you do not have these findings, move along to the next part 🙂 Returning back to running after an ankle sprain Running is merely a series of bounds (jumping from one leg to the other) for an extended period of time, so after an acute ankle sprain, we have to make sure components leading up to this go okay without any issues. To determine the course of action for this return, we can start from the most fundamental actions of the bound, then build our way up. The steps below are the progression that I use. You want to make sure that you have minimal increases in pain/swelling before moving onto

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When You Only Feel Quad During the 90-90 Hip Lift

The Lewitt postion (or 90-90 hip lift) is supposed to target hamstrings and distal glute to drive hip internal rotation all…day…every…day. But what if you feel quads only? Is that okay? Uhhh….no fam. Find out in the video/post below what is going on here and most importantly, what the heck to do about it! Why are quads contracting during the 90-90 hip lift? The quadriceps extend the knee, but there is no “pure sagittal” movement. There is a rotational action through the knee joint as you drive extension. That rotation is tibal external rotation and femoral internal rotatio. Since the lewitt position aims to increase femoral internal rotation, the quads can compensatorily contract to drive internal rotation, but attempting to do so at the distal femur. This cheat could be because you are asking the individual to posteriorly tilt the pelvis against gravity. But fam, we want internal rotation at the proximal femur, so this action is likely not going to get you a whole lotta femoral internal rotation and subsequent sacral nutation. In fact, quad activity is often paired with lumbar extension in this case. So what is one to do? I’m glad you asked!!!! Other interventions to use when you feel quads during the 90-90 hip lift Your first line of defense will be to coach the snot out of this move. Make sure they can create a pelvic tilt without engaging abs as well as keeping the lower back flat on the floor. That can help your

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