Troubleshooting Table Tests

Learn what range of motion testing really tells you Movement Debrief Episode 123 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: Are standing postural assessments useful? What are the best assessments to use online? Does it differ if you are a trainer or clinician? How do I make decisions based off of table tests? What does it mean when someone has clear table tests but is limited in standing measures? What’s the difference between a Thomas test and an ober’s test? How does one determine if someone has ligamentous laxity or not?

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Programming Accessory Exercises

Learn how to use specific accessory exercise positions to improve your movement and fitness Movement Debrief Episode 122 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: When would crawling be useful to program? When would dead bugs be useful to program? When would crab walks be useful to program? When would tall kneeling be useful to program? When would half-kneeling be useful to program? What are the benefits of hanging exercises?

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All About the Hinge

Hinging biomechanics, coaching, and programming Movement Debrief Episode 121 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 mechanics are involved in hinging? What range of motion restrictions does hinging improve? What are my favorite hinging exercises and when do I prescribe them? What regressions do I use to improve hip extension? How can I improve hinging for different infrasternal angle presentations? What mechanics does the Camporini Deadlift improve? How can a snatch grip RDL improve thoracic spine mobility? What is the foot position for a hinge and how do I coach it?

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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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Assessing Compensatory Strategies

A deep dive into the practical application of respiratory mechanics When you deep dive into the biomechanics, it’s easy to get lost in the weeds. You are trying to figure out how the scapula moves just so, or what is the big toe doing during this part of the squat…yikes! While greater biomechanical understanding is necessary, it’s not the most important piece. You can never lose sight of how to help your clients. That is the highest priority. Practical application. Which is why I think you’ll love my feature on the Upper Left Performance Podcast. It’s just enough of the details of movement compensations, with heaps of practical application! Topics covered include: What are the two common compensatory strategies people can present with? How does body structure influence one’s ability to move Simple assessments for determining one’s compensatory strategy How to adapt one’s training to maximize movement quality Click here or the link below to tune in! Upper Left Performance #14 Zac Cupples  Image by pisauikan from Pixabay

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All About the Spine

How to maximize your spinal movement Movement Debrief Episode 118 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 happens to the thoracic spine and scapulae during inhalation? What compensatory strategy is present with a Dowager’s Hump? What treatments should one with a Dowager’s Hump focus on? What sitting posture is best? Should restoring sagittal plane motion allow for rotation to occur, or must you focus on rotation? When can the spine present with excessive lumbar flexion? What is the action of the lower trapezius on the spine? When could recruiting the lower trapezius be useful? Is the cat-cow exercise useful? How does a spinal fusion impact respiration?

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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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Infrasternal Angle Compensations and Treatments

A deep dive into the infrasternal angle Movement Debrief Episode 115 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 the primary compensatory strategies with a wide and narrow infrasternal angle? What would be secondary compensations seen with these infrasternal angles? What test results would each infrasternal angle have? What exercises should be programmed for inhalation and exhalation strategies? What is the upper thorax presentation for each infrasternal angle? What exhalation strategies should each infrasternal angle use? Are there times it’s okay to deviate from these strategies?

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Interpreting Lower Body Assessments

How to go through common lower body assessments Movement Debrief Episode 114 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 hip flexion measuring? How can a wide and narrow infrasternal angle (ISA) be limited in hip flexion? What is the straight leg raise actually measuring? What mechanics go into a straight leg raise? Is there a way to self-measure the infrapubic angle (IPA)? What are the pro’s and con’s of active vs passive testing? How about comparing the obers test to the Gillet/reverse gillet?

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