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Lower Back Strength Exercises
Developing strength and endurance is a common goal in lower back rehabilitation. So many exercise programs here focus around trying to create a more “stable” spine. Here we see exercises like planks, side-planks, bird-dogs, and bridges as the primary staple in so many...
The Problem With Lower Back Stretches
The value of lower back flexibility has become a controversial and debated topic in recent years. Many therapists and clinicians even hold spine flexibility as a less desirable trait. Something to be avoided. This stems from the belief that excessive motion leads to...
Exercises Progressions For Scapular Control
The scapula is a critical link with shoulder and arm function. And because of the muscular connections, dysfunction here can play a big part with both neck and thoracic pain. But this is also an often neglected area with training and rehabilitation. So we're going to...
5 Simple Exercises To Improve Hip Rotation
Hip rotation is arguably the most basic and fundamental motion needed for a healthy and well-functioning hip. If a hip can't rotate it can't be a normal, healthy hip. But rotation is also one of the most ignored and under-trained hip motions. Here are 5 simple...
4 Key Hamstring Exercise Progressions
We often think of the hamstrings as being tight and inflexible. As if they always need to be stretched. But adequate hamstring strength and endurance is also critically important. Here are 4 key hamstring exercise progressions to build strength and endurance in this...
Advanced Exercises For Lower Back Control
We’ve been talking about essential exercises for lower back pain. We started by reviewing essential exercises for acute low back pain. The goal here was to use focused movements as a way to control symptoms and desensitize the system. Then in Part 3 we shifted...
Essential Exercises For Lower Back Mobility
In the last article we reviewed essential exercises for acute low back pain. The key there was to control symptoms and develop tolerance to basic spine motion. Now we want to shift our focus to more general back pain cases. These are the patients that present to your...
Essential Exercises for Acute Low Back Pain
We’re talking about key exercises for lower back pain. In the previous article we outlined some critical concepts to set the stage for why creating focused, individualized motion at the lumbar joints is critical. Now we need to move into the exercises themselves....
Essential Exercises For Lower Back Pain
Exercises for lower back pain is a critical and non-negotiable part of treatment and rehabilitation. This is about as close to an agreed upon, universal, undisputed fact that we can get when it comes to musculoskeletal care. And this applies across the spectrum of...
Rethinking Faulty Movement Patterns
There is a widely held belief that faulty movement patterns are a significant source of musculoskeletal pain and injury. The idea here is that improper joint motions put excessive stress on tissues that have trouble handling such a load. Over time the tissue breaks...
Pain: A Modern View On Why We Hurt (Part 5: Treatment Considerations)
PART 5: Re-Thinking A Movement Based Approach to Pain We've been talking a lot about pain in this article series. And from our discussions so far hopefully one thing is clear...Pain is far more than a simple reflexive response to tissue damage or injury. In fact, we...
PAIN: A Modern View of Why We Hurt (PART 4: Operant Conditioning and Pain)
Part 4: The role of operant conditioning and pain We've been talking about pain. In Part 3 of this article series we introduced the the idea that the brain can "learn to hurt". Through Classical Conditioning the brain has the potential to create fear-avoidance beliefs...
PAIN: A Modern View of Why We Hurt (PART 3: Fear, Learning, and Pain)
PART 3: Fear, learning, and pain From an evolutionary perspective, pain is a meant to protect us. It's a tool your brain can call upon to help promote behaviors deemed most beneficial to survival of the organism. These were the key topics we covered in Part 2 of this...
PAIN: A Modern View On Why We Hurt (Part 2: Pain and the Brain)
Part 2: Pain and the Brain So we've been talking about Pain. More specifically, we've been trying to understand what causes pain? The hope here being a better understanding of pain will lead to more effective treatments. In Part 1 of this article series we discussed...
PAIN: A Modern View On Why We Hurt
Part 1: Re-thinking The Traditional View of Pain At first glance pain seems like a straightforward process. You stub your toe or break a bone and it hurts. This is how most people understand pain. It’s consistent with the patho-anatomical view that holds tissue damage...
Knee Rotation Exercises – Part 2: Knee Internal Rotation
In my last article we started talking about the importance of knee rotation, which is an absolutely critical yet often neglected fundamental motion. There we covered why knee rotation is so important, and reviewed assessment strategies to go through with your patients...
Knee Rotation Exercises
When we think about the knee we conceptualize it as a hinge allowing large ranges of flexion and extension. But the knee does not behave like a conventional hinge you would find in a door. The knee is actually classified as a modified hinge, and this hinge...
I Hurt But Didn’t Do Anything?
Unfortunately, pain and injury are an inevitable fact of life. In some cases this pain occurs following a traumatic event such as rolling over on an ankle or falling on an outstretched arm. Of course we aren’t happy about these injuries, but at least they make...
Adductor Stretches
Hip adductor stretches and mobility exercises are a major component of hip and lower back rehab and flexibility programs. Here are a few great options to help target this critical (and very commonly tight) muscle group. Adductor Roller Release Self myofascial...
5 Simple Quad Stretches
Tight quadriceps are a common finding with knee pain, as well as lower back and pelvic pain. In this brief article I outline five simple exercises that can help improve mobility and flexibility of the quads. Note: If you are a My Rehab Connection subscriber, these...
Trunk Rotation Exercise Progression
Training trunk stability and control is a critical goal with low back pain treatment. Traditional exercises like curl-ups, bird-dogs, and side bridges are a great starting point. But developing strength and control of trunk rotation is also an important (but often...
Cervical Rotation Exercise Progressions
Muscle imbalances are a common cause of neck pain. As such, clinicians need simple and effective tests to assess movement and muscle balance in the cervical spine. And they need to know what to do when dysfunction in uncovered. That has been the topic of this three...
Exercise Progressions for the Cervical Extensors
Muscle imbalances are a common cause of neck pain and dysfunction. As such, clinicians must be able to assess and correct these imbalances. That's the topic of the this three part article series. My objective is to discuss assessment and corrective exercise...
Deep Neck Flexor Exercises
Abnormal posture and muscle imbalances are widely regarded as primary sources of neck pain. This three part series will discuss assessment and corrective exercise recommendations for some of the most common muscle imbalances and movement faults affecting the cervical...
Advanced Bird Dog Exercises
The classic Bird Dog exercises are invaluable in the early stages of back pain rehabilitation. But there's a problem. Many of these classic exercises are not challenging enough to be useful in the later stages of treatment. The basics are simply too basic. One...
Training the Hip Hinge
Excessive lumbar flexion is widely recognized as a common mechanism of lower back injury. As such, minimizing spine flexion in an attempt to reduce tissue stress is a primary objective in the treatment of many back pain patients. And this needs to be done as early as...
Advanced Side Bridge Exercises
The Side Bridge is a fundamental exercise for trunk protection and stability. In a previous article I discussed the basic Side Bridge exercise progressions. This progression contained a series of base exercises that are most appropriate in the earlier stages of spine...