1) If you are a manual therapist, please understand the current concepts of manual therapy. One of these concepts is that we cannot cause an immediate and permanent plastic deformation of tissues. So painfully digging into tissues to “release” them is really just another form of torture. Here are 3 Pain Free Manual Techniques from Erson – Pec Minor, Psoas, QL.

2) “Based on animal studies, it has been proposed that central sensitization associated to nociception (maladaptive plasticity) and plasticity related to the sensorimotor learning (adaptive plasticity) share similar neural mechanisms and compete with each other.”

3) Seth Oberst has a great read on hyperinflation and what to do about it (Part 1, Part 2).

4) The FIFA 11+ seems like a good program to reduce injuries.

5) Here’s some advice for getting stronger. I particularly like the Russian Skill-Strength methodology of the “everyday maximum”.

6) We’re lucky Charlie Weingroff does brain unloading like this. Tons of great stuff. “Treat tissues compressing an artery if there is pain. If it works, it was claudication, not mechanical or neuromuscular. – “So if we have a very low lactic threshold by being terribly unfit and more activity or sooner during any given activity throws us to the lactic energy systems, we are more apt to developing to resting muscle tension and if continued chronic TrP. – “Research is history.” – “Passive stretching without developing tension throughout the range is a mistake. – ”Stress can only do 4 things: Change pain, Change mobility, Change Motor Performance, Change Fitness”

7) Attrition substitution is a type of availability heuristic that occurs often in this field. Make sure you’re aware of it so that you don’t make this common clinical mistake.

8) “Ankle sprain is associated with altered global motor strategy as well as localized joint impairment”-Jordana Bieze Foster (@biezefoster)

9) Good vibrations – Make your stressed out, over sympathetic patients hum. Humming stimulates the vagus nerve.

10) The environment I create to stop low kettlebell swings.

11) “Much like life, movement is a balance of moderation, modulation and modification.” –Michael Mullins has a great post on knee pain

12) Another Chubbs study – “Early rapid strength production of the hip extensor muscles may be a sensitive and effective measure for discriminating between elderly females of different fall histories.”

13) Anatomy geeks should love this.

14) Another great functional anatomy post from Kathy Dooley – The Psoas – “If the hips are tight from a forward pelvic tilt, psoas is not the one to stretch. Imagine putting nerve tension on all those structures passing through psoas! Stabilize the spine and move through the hip. Free up the ribcage so the diaphragm can properly move. Lay off psoas and focus on adjacent anatomy.”

15) Once again, medical imaging may be leading us to the wrong conclusions. “The 95% reference intervals of morphometric measurements of FAI in asymptomatic hips were beyond the abnormal thresholds, which was especially true for cam-type FAI.”

16) Gait Guys always have good stuff. Here’s a good read on why metatarsalgia happens. Here’s a foot waving exercise for metatarsal plantarflexion and intrinsic dissociation (Part 1, Part 2).

17) The Nominalist is on a tear this month. Here’s a bunch of great articles with a solid perspective on clinical intervention.

Don’t forget about the rotational component of ankle dorsiflexion

“Watch for the unilateral side-benders, they’re everywhere.”

The Myth of the Hinging Knee

Eclectic approach to hip mobility

Foot-to-Hip, PRI, Toe Spaces, Avoiding the Forefoot, and CKC Hamstring

”Shoulders are rarely shoulders, and even if they are shoulders, they’re also necks, and rib cages and cores. “

18) “The goal is to optimize the efficiency of the body so that the environment you create causes appropriate adaptation with minimal compensation.” –Gray Cook discusses Russian/Hardstyle/Strongfirst Swing vs. American/Overhead/Crossfit Swing

19) Adriaan Louw thinks there are two main questions we should ask patients to understand their beliefs:

1. “What do you think is going on with your _______ (fill in the painful area)?”

2. “What do you think should be done for your _______ (fill in the body part/issue)?”

“Nothing is as powerful as changing someone’s beliefs.”

20) Dean Summerset goes over 5 Mobility tips – 1) Use Breathing 2) Add Stability 3) Get the Feet Right/Bottom-Up Approach 4) Get the Head Right/Top-Down Approach 5) Distal Fascial Lines

21) Erson – 5 Mistakes you might be making

22) Research is confirming what many of us already know – Core Stability Training and the ACL . “Conclusion: Better H/Q strength ratio was seen in core stabilization group. Core stabilization exercises improved postural stability more than classic rehabilitation.”

23) “High heeled shoe research model suggests increasing height by 13 cm shortens gastroc by 5%, leads to sarcomere loss.”-Jordana Bieze Foster (@biezefoster)

24) Charlie Weingroff shares 8 Reasons Why The Knee Buckles (at the bottom of the post)

25) A review of Erson’s Eclectic Approach Course

26) “Protect before correct” –Gray Cook

27) We already know this clinically, but it’s nice to have some research to back it up. “These findings suggest that alignment of the lower extremity up to the pelvic girdle, can be altered, due to forces acting on the foot.”

28) Zac Cupples makes you think about wisdom teeth and depth perception. “My wisdom teeth essentially alter pterygoid position and reduce my mandible’s capacity to move.”

29) Two great things in one post – beer and periodization. A great read that simplifies the periodization process.

2014 In Review (Best of Posts)

Top 3 Tweets of the Month

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