Tag: movement

Improve How Your Clients Move By Signing Up for the Human Matrix

Do you… Have patients who hurt multiple areas and are unsure where to start? Have training clients who can’t perform the exercises you want to despite extensive coaching? Want to maximize your client’s movement capabilities better than ever before? Want to know why incorporating breathing into your skillset is exceedingly important? Then welcome to Human Matrix: The Code for Maximizing Health and Performance. A course where you will become a master of understanding and affecting movement systemically, building up your client’s movement repertoire from the ground up and better than ever before. What you’ll learn when you Enter the Human Matrix ■ The impact maximizing movement variability can have on your clients. ■ How to normalize range of motion of the entire body to both reduce pain and improve how your clients move with a few simple movements. ■ How to integrate breathing into your practice to reduce your clients’ pain and improve their ability to move. ■ How to effectively coach squatting, deadlifting, pushing, pulling, and more to build the fitness and resiliency of your clients. ■ How to coach speed, agility, and power training to take your client’s performance to the next level. Course Outline Here is the tentative schedule of this two day seminar Day 1 9:30-10:30am: Model and Theory 10:45am-12:30pm: Axial Skeleton and Respiration 12:30pm-1:30pm: Lunch 1:30pm-3:00pm: Axial Skeleton Variability Assessment and Treatment 3:15pm-4:45pm: Pelvic Variability Assessment and Treatment 5-6:30pm: Putting the thorax and pelvis together Day 2 8:30am-10am: Variability Review 10:15am-12:30pm: Power Establishment – Mastering fundamental movement patterns 1:30pm-3:30pm: Power

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Top 10 Posts of 2017

At the end of each year, I like to see what you beautiful…sexy…outstanding people liked the most from the jazz I be putting out. I want to understand you. Let me in!!!! While most of the top 10 were in the exercise-specific realm, I didn’t really see a common trend. It seems as though my fam have eclectic tastes. It’s probably why we get along so well! I want to thank you, the fam, for making 2017 an outstanding year. It has been all the comments, questions, stories, and praise that keeps me outputting content for you. I got some big things planned for 2018, and we may mix up the format a bit, but I think you will like the changes. But enough rambling. Let’s check out the top 10. First off… 10. Resilient Movement Foundations Course Review One of my favorite classes of the year,  put on by my fam from Resilient. Here we learned all the fundamental keys to effective movement, how to perform the big lifts savagely well, and how to use specific movements to improve joint position in these lifts. Follow these guys, they are some of the biggest stewards of the profession. 9. Practical Pain Education My thoughts on pain education have morphed a substantial degree over the past year. While I think my understanding of pain’s complexities have enhanced, I’ve worked on simplifying my education paradigms. I’ve often found that going down the neurophysiological rabbit hole is completely unnecessary, and providing simple examples

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Resilient Movement Foundations Course Review

I recently had the pleasure of attending a class put on by my fellas at Resilient Performance Physical Therapy. I went to this course for a few reasons. First off, I of course support the home team. I can’t even front, Douglas Kechijian, Trevor Rappa, Greg Spatz, and I go way back, and are very much related through IFAST family and directly (Doug is my younger older brother, Trevor is my son, and Greg is my stepson #dysfunctionalfamily). That said, there is were a couple big things I wanted to take away from this course, which I did in spades: Mastering basic movement Program design In these two areas, the Resilient fellas delivered in spades. Knowing what good technique is in the basic movement patterns, how to coach, and how to regress, are all underappreciated topics that these guys teach quite well. So should you take this course? An emphatic hell yes. I give a more indepth review as to why in the video below, so go ahead and check that out. Once you got the verdict, check out my favorite takeaways in the course notes, and then for the love of God sign up for a course of theirs! Click here to check out the Resilient Seminar Page

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Impingement, Trusting Your Assessment, Noncompliance, and the Off-Switch – Movement Debrief Episode 15

If you are beyond sad that you missed last night’s Movement Debrief, number 15, I got your back. This time both audio and video are available #growing up. Here’s what we talked about: What impingement is How to treat impingement at any joint When do local inputs matter? Trusting your assessment process When to go beyond your assessment process Why context matters Making the most of noncompliant people Dealing with bad situations The importance of having an “off switch” If you want to watch these live, add me on Facebook, Instagram, or Youtube. They air every Wednesday at 8:30pm CST. Enjoy.   Here were some of the links I mentioned in this Debrief. The 3 Biggest Basketball Conditioning Mistakes Practical Basketball Conditioning How to Treat Pain with Sitting – A Case Study Neurocoffee Impingement Manual Therapy Trusting Your Assessment Noncompliance The Off-Switch    

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Death of Vertical Tibia, Usain Bolt, Complex Patients, and More – Movement Debrief Episode 13

Movement Debrief Episode 13 yesterday involved quite a few rants. Must’ve been the ketones talking. Here’s what we talked about: Restoring sensation with my patient with low back pain Why it’s okay to have an angled tibia during squatting Would any intervention help/hurt Usain Bolt? The complexity of Usain Bolt Struggling with a complex patient Dealing with uncertainty Embracing the struggle If you want to watch these live, add me on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. (occasionally) They air every Wednesday at 8:30pm CST. Enjoy. Here were some of the links I mentioned in this Debrief. How to Deadlift – A Movement Deep Dive Squatting Bar Reach – A Movement Deep Dive The Sensitive Nervous System – Read my book notes here Clinical Neurodynamics- Read my book notes here A Study of Neurodynamics: The Body’s Living Alarm Mobilisation of the Neuroimmune System – Read the course notes here Explain Pain– Read the course notes here Extreme Ownership The Obstacle is the Way Ego is the Enemy The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Restoring Sensation Death of Vertical Tibia Usain Bolt Complex Patients

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Stress Response, Proximal First, Sensation Loss, and Your Health – Movement Debrief Episode 12

Let me guess, you are devastated you missed last night’s Movement Debrief. You should be. It was by far the most interactive debrief we had yet. Loved how active everyone was, and definitely some people help me get better. Kudos to Steve, Jo, Yonnie-Pooh, and the many others who commented on today’s Debrief. Here’s what we talked about: How the stress response impacts many areas Treatment hierarchies How to restore sensation loss post-surgery Functional Medicine Why taking care of your health helps others If you want to watch these live, add me on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. (occasionally) They air every Wednesday at 8:30pm CST. Enjoy. Stress Response Proximal First Sensation Loss Your Health

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Trial and Error, Triplanar Movement, Networking, and Mentors – Movement Debrief Episode 11

Did you miss yesterday’s Movement Debrief? We had a lot of fun. The first time I went on facebook, twitter, and Instagram simultaneously. This debrief was a bit different, as it didn’t involve as much reflection on my patient care, but more on the wonderful continuing education weekend I had. I got to spend time with all my friends learning about a lot of different things. And it led to some great reflections. Here’s what I talked about: Why trial and error is important Being outcome-focused How triplanar movement impacts single plane movements Why having a good network is important Keys the networking The importance of mentors If you want to watch these live, add me on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. They air every Wednesday at 8:30pm CST. Enjoy.   Trial and Error Triplanar Movement Networking Mentors

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How to Design a Comprehensive Rehab Program

Just when I thought I was out, the clinic pulls me back in. Though I’m glad to be back. There’s just a different vibe, different pace, and ever-constant variety of challenges that being in the clinic simply provides. This has been especially true working in a rural area. You see a much wider variety, which challenges you to broaden your skillset. I’m amazed at how much working in the NBA has changed the way I approach the clinic. Previously, I was all about getting people in and out of the door as quickly as possible; and with very few visits. I would cut them down to once a week or every other week damn-near immediately, and try to hit that three to five visit sweet spot. This strategy no doubt worked, and people got better, but I had noticed I’d get repeat customers. Maybe it wasn’t the area that was initially hurting them, but they still were having trouble creep up. Or maybe it was the same pain, just taking much more activity to elicit the sensation. It became clear that I was skipping steps to try and get my visit number low, when in reality I was doing a disservice to my patients. This was the equivalent of fast food PT—give them the protein, carbohydrates, and fats, forget about the vitamins and minerals. Was getting someone out the door in 3 visits for me or for them? The younger, big ass ego me, wanted to known as the guy

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Movement Debrief Episode 1: Meet the Patient at Their Story

A Live Movement Video Series Hey party people. I recently started doing some live feeds on the interwebz. You can check me out on Facebook and Youtube if you want to see me live. Otherwise, I thought I’d share with the very first episode of “Movement Debrief.” Here we dive into the following topics: The importance of reflection Using similar language to the patient. De-threatening that language Restoring sagittal plane control A case for manual therapy Enjoy!

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The Ultimate Guide to Treating Ankle Sprains

A Humdinger No Doubt Ankle sprains. Such a bugger to deal with. Ankle sprains are one of the most common injuries seen in basketball. The cutting, jumping, contact, fatigue, and poor footwear certainly don’t help matters. Damn near almost every game someone tweaks an ankle. Treating ankle sprains in-game provides quite a different perspective. Rarely in the clinic do we work with someone immediately post-injury. Instead, we deal with the cumulative effects of delayed treatment: acquired impairments, altered movement strategies, and reduced fitness. The pressure is lower and the pace is slower. You shed that mindset with the game on the line. You must do all in your power to get that player back on the court tonight, expediting the return process to the nth degree. I had a problem. Figuring out the most efficient way to treat an ankle sprain was needed to help our team succeed. I searched the literature, therapeutic outskirts, and tinkered in order to devise an effective protocol. The result? We had 12 ankle sprains this past season. After performing the protocol, eight were able to return and finish out the game. Out of the remaining four, three returned to full play in two days. The last guy? He was released two days after his last game. It’s a tough business. The best part was we had no re-sprains. An impressive feat considering the 80% recurrence rate¹.    Caveats aside, treating acute injuries with an aggressive mindset can be immensely effective. Here’s how.

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Course Notes: Cantrell’s Impingement and Instability, 2015 Edition

Third Time’s a Charm  A trip home and hearing Mike Cantrell preach the good PRI word? I was sold. Impingement and Instability is one of those courses that I could take yearly and still get so many gems. In fact, I probably will end up taking it yearly—it’s that good. I took I&I last year with Cantrell (and the year before that with James), and the IFAST rendition was a completely different course. Cantrell provided the most PRI clinical applications I have seen at any course, which is why he continues to be one of my favorite people to learn from. Basically, if you haven’t learned from Mike yet, I pity you. Get to it! I have way too many gems in my notes to discuss, so here are a few big takeaways.

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Course Notes: PRI Interdisciplinary Integration 2015

A Stellar Symposium Back in April I had the pleasure of finally attending PRI’s annual symposium, and what an excellent learning experience. The theme this year was working with high-powered, extension-driven individuals. The amount of interdisciplinary overlap in each presentation made for a seamless symposium. Common themes included the brain, stress response, HRV, resilience, and drive. These are things altered in individuals who are highly successful, but may come at a cost to body systems. If you work with business owners, CEOs, high-level athletes and coaches, high level positions, straight-A students, special forces, and supermoms, this symposium was for you. And let’s face it; we are both in this category! There were so many pearls in each presentation that I wish I could write, but let’s view the course a-ha’s. The Wise Words of Ron Ron Hruska gave four excellent talks at this symposium regarding high performers and occlusion. Let’s dive into the master’s mind. People, PRI does not think extension is bad. Extension is a gift that drives us to excel. Individuals who have high self-efficacy must often “over-extend” themselves. This drive often requires system extension. Extension is a consequence, and probably a necessary adaptation, of success. If this drive must be reduced to increase function and/or alter symptoms in these individuals, we have to turn down the volume knob. How can we power down these individuals? Limit alternate choices – These folks take a wide view of a task Set boundaries – These folks attribute failure to external factors Making initial

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