Most Popular Articles on this site

Kevin Neeld
One of the training goals a lot of players have for their off-season training is to improve their explosive power and speed. I hear words like "quicker first step" a lot. As I've mentioned in the past, there is A LOT of considerations in how to improve an on-ice ability such as acceleration, speed, or shooting power. From an off-ice perspective, understanding the underlying energy systems and physical qualities (e.g. strength, mobility, stability, etc.) that enable a player to develop or express a certain skill is important....keep reading

Andy Barker PT Following a recent discussion up on the SRE discussion forum I have put together a post on how I would manage an acute isolated medial collateral ligament (MCL) knee injury. I will have split the post in two; this part will focus upon early immobilisation and management with part two in the series focusing more on the later stage rehab....keep reading

This past March I took the USAW Level 1 Sports Performance Coaching course. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and learned a lot in the process. Rufus did a fantastic job teaching the course so I wanted to get him on here to introduce everyone to Olympic weightlifting. Whether you're a trainer or coach, or a clinician, you're going to run into clients and patients who use these lifts. Rufus discusses some of the basics such as screening prior to lifting, common movement deficiencies, preventing injuries, addressing the bar, and much more......keep reading

Whether you are deadlifting, running long distance, or spiking a volleyball it is important to have adequate thoracic paraspinal strength and endurance. Incorporating a more upright, proper positioned trunk and upper body is important for both efficiency and safety during sport, as well as training. Try to deadlift without having sufficient thoracic strength to keep you from hinging into flexion. Or, try running a 5k without having the thoracic extensor endurance to keep your chest open....keep reading

Tim is a physical therapist and also the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach of the LA Lakers. In this interview, Tim will discuss his presentation at the 2014 NBSCA conference, What the 'Fuel' is going on here?, and will also share some of the highlights of the other presentations at the event. Tim presents some really interesting information on sports nutrition and energy needs for athletes, and also how we can use this information with our own patients and athletes......keep reading

In this interview, Tony takes on the thrower's shoulder discussing his subjective questioning and how the responses may guide his approach, specific objective testing including special tests, as well as treatment options from Day 1 on through higher level progressions and return to throwing program. As we did previously, Tony will be allowing access for members to check out the exercises and special tests discussed in the interview on his Theraflix.com site....keep reading

Joe Heiler PT,CSCS
A look at the differences between core strength and core stability, and how functional anatomy tells us which is the better choice for the health of our patients and athletes....keep reading

Ankle Dorsiflexion restriction is often a hot topic of discussion on the best ways to improve chronically stiff ankles....keep reading

Slick video and model demonstrating how body anthropometric differences will impact the squat....keep reading

The following are highlights from a discussion over the topic of MCL bracing, healing timeframes, injury site considerations, and knee flexion....keep reading

In this interview, Skip talks about his beginnings as a chiropractor and his journey into the 'functional' and movement based therapies. Skip has been teaching the FMS to chiropractors, and is also versed in the SFMA, PRI, DNS, and ART. He presents some case studies in which he details how he integrates each of these methods, and also discusses why each one of us in the rehab fields need to seriously look at these movement based systems for our patients, ourselves, and our businesses....keep reading

Joe Heiler PT, CSCS
I'm constantly on the lookout for ways to challenge my patients and athletes, but without overloading to their joints and tissues. We all have those folks that want to really push themselves, but sometimes they are at that point in their lives or careers where it's just not appropriate for longevity sake. In this article I'll discuss some of the strategies I use to get the most out of strength training without overloading the weakest link....keep reading

Jeremy Boone CSCS, NMT, USAW and Gray Cook MSPT, OCS, CSCS
Single-leg training has received a great deal of attention in injury prevention, rehabilitation, and performance enhancement programs over the last few years, and for good reason. Since the athletic movement skills of field and court sports are dominated by the gait cycle-- taking off from one foot and landing on the other--single-leg training is appropriate for return-to-play programs and boosting athletic performance....keep reading

Andy Barker PT
I've found this exercise to be great recently, particularly so for those athletes that live in lumbar extension. I have used the exercise both as a rehab type activity for extension based athletes. In addition, I have used the same exercise as a warm up to then follow into BB front squats with a higher weight lifted. By using the breathing cycles I feel it enables athletes to unlock extension (i.e. lumbar extensors) and brace appropriately. I also feel it can help grove good movement patterns in addition to aiding squat mobility....keep reading

Patrick Ward LMT, CSCS
Soft tissue therapy and training of the shoulder has grown in leaps and bounds over the past decade. While some may still be limiting their treatments to isolated soft tissue techniques at the site of pain and theraband exercises for internal and external rotation most have moved on to include a more holistic and full body approach. The role of the scapula and thoracic spine are always discussed in the movement of the glenohumeral joint as limitations in movement here will translate to aberrant shoulder movement. It is commonly talked about now that the thoracic spine needs to have its mobility restored so that the scapula can display optimal stability thus allowing the glenohumeral joint to produce safe and efficient mobility. One joint that seems to constantly get overlooked in the equation is the sternoclavicular (SC) joint....keep reading

This week we speak with Willem Kramer, owner and operator of AnatomyLinks.com, and cover the stress response in manual therapy, the AnatomyLinks approach to treatment, and a number of other manual therapy topics. Additionally, Joe Heiler and I discuss forward head posture, rowing varieties, and the coming month at Sports Rehab Expert. Charlie Weingroff comes on to discuss with us the benefit and necessity of cuing posterior tilting in a number of positions....keep reading

Joe Heiler PT
I'm posting a few items that were discussed in the recent interview with James Anderson, and will hopefully help to better understand the PRI MyoKinematic train of thought when it comes to pathocompensatory patterns and what hip ER/IR asymmetries can mean. They can certainly be a challenge to wrap your head around but I find myself needing to do much less manual therapy when I really need to change the orientation of the pelvic (Myokin/Pelvis courses) or the glenoid/ribcage (postural respiration course)....keep reading

Joe Heiler PT
One of the most fun parts of my job is training larger groups of kids every summer. I have a blast teaching them to lift, run, and jump. It's also cool to see how each kid learns differently. A cue that works from one kid often won't work for the next. There are a number of surprising differences between the girls and boys as well. Over the next few weeks I'm going to share some of the lessons I learned this summer as well as some of the difficulties and successes we had. These will certainly have applications for injury prevention and rehab in addition to the sports performance side of things....keep reading

Dr. Erson Religioso III, DPT, MS, MTC, CertMDT, CFC, CSCS, FAAOMPT
I had the opportunity to assist my friend Charlie Weingroff in my hometown of Buffalo, NY a couple weeks ago. This is just a quick SFMA (or any active movement) pearl that I did not pick up from the official SFMA seminar. Let's quickly review why using a high threshold strategy is not ideal when performing movement. One of Charlie's lessons are that EMG does not lie, but it does not tell the entire story either....keep reading

Not sure how many of you follow the work of Linda Joy Lee and Diane Lee, but they are doing some very cool things looking at patterns of movements (meaningful tasks), potential drivers of dysfunction far proximal or distal to painful areas, and how to assess and treat with these factors in mind. I'm re-posting this article from LJ Lee since I'm going to be having her on here soon. Would love some feedback or potential questions for her in the discussion forum. I also interviewed Diane on the teleseminar last year so if you're interested in more be sure to check that out....keep reading