Get A Jump Start On Your Recovery

Get A Jump Start On Your Recovery

The above is something that has become very common regarding health care coverage.  Many times, your medical insurance will not cover enough Physical Therapy treatment, or not enough local providers will accept your insurance.  Either way, you are left wondering if you will be able to return to your prior athletic or functional level.  That is where www.strengthondemand.com comes in.  

Exercises for common therapy diagnoses are offered in the Protocol section of our website, including protocols for the ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, elbow, neck and lower back.  There is also a protocol for people who are Homebound & Deconditioned, recently released from the hospital, and those who are having difficulty with balance, transfers, bed mobility and fall recovery.  All protocols are in video format based on time frames following your injury or surgery.  You are not only educated on what exercises to do, but you are also advised on when to perform the exercises in order to maximize your rehabilitation.  

KB Fitness Home Exercise Physical Therapy Protocols can be used alongside your present therapy treatment.  If you do not feel that you are receiving an adequate amount of Physical Therapy from your current provider due to insurance issues, or if you can not afford to attend therapy at all, KB Fitness Protocols can help! You are provided with printouts of each protocol's exercises so that you can consult with your doctor or therapist for further guidance. A Consultation Service is also offered to ensure that your questions are answered, further guiding your recovery.  

Let KB Fitness be your Knowledge Base!!

Incorporate This Trunk Rotation Stability Exercise

Incorporate This Trunk Rotation Stability Exercise

 

When lifting anything, we hear "lift with your legs, not your back!"  When using the spine  to perform resistive activities, many times a dangerous amount of pressure is placed on the ligaments and intervertebral discs.  Over time, this may lead to injuries such as bulging or herniated discs.  Spinal flexion places strain on the discs.  Spinal rotation also places strain on the discs.  But when you combine the movements (flexion with rotation), the discs are most vulnerable.  If these motions are dangerous, is it wise to perform them with resistance added?  I prefer to focus on Spinal Stabilization rather than Resistive Trunk Strengthening Exercises.   

 



Some common trunk exercises you may have seen are the Side Bend QL, Resistance Tubing Trunk Rotation, and the Medicine Ball Trunk Twist.

 





 

 

These exercises are aimed at strengthening the spine throughout the range of motion.  But at what cost? 

 

Try to incorporate the following exercise to your routine for Spinal Rotation Stability. 

Rack a Kettlebell in 1 hand.  This alone places an asymmetric force on your spine.  Your goal is to maintain a neutral spine and not allow the trunk to side-bend toward the added weight.  This is already working the QL on the opposite side of the Kettlebell

 

Press the weight overhead.  This continues to challenge your trunk's stability with the  direction of the force applied from a different position/angle

 

Here's where the rotation comes in.  Instead of actively twisting your spine with the applied resistance (as shown in the Med Ball Twist and Resistance Band Trunk Rotation pics above), rack the weight, rotate your trunk about 30 degrees to the right while maintaining forward facing hips (Your knees and pelvic bones continue to point straight ahead), and then perform the shoulder press.  Attempt a few reps in this position   

 

 

Then, rotate your trunk a little further from the 30 degrees to about 60 degrees trunk rotation.  Again, keep your hips and knees pointing forward.  Press the weight overhead.

 

 

Repeat to the other side at 30degrees, then 60degrees. 

 

The point to this exercise is to engage your trunk stabilizers at a spinal position, and maintaining this stability throughout the lift.  You are challenging multiple spinal positions by varying the amount of trunk rotation.  You are NOT using the spine to rotate a load. You are using the trunk musculature to stabilize the spine when in a rotated position.  This, in my opinion is a safer way to train your trunk.

 

Add even more of a challenge to your grip, trunk and shoulder stabilizers by performing the same activity with the Kettlebell in the Bottoms Up Position...Then try it with Neurogrips!!(www.neurogrips.com)

 



Many Benefits To This Knee Exercise

Many Benefits To This Knee Exercise

 

Following an injury or surgery to your knee, regaining strength and mobility is a very important goal to establish.  In addition, your standing balance and hip stability may also be impaired during this time.  These goals are all very important if you have stairs at home, because you will need to safely navigate them so that you do not fall and become a "frequent flyer" at your local hospital. 

Most patients who have stairs in their home and are recovering from a knee or hip injury have been told "Up with the good, down with the bad."  This means that initially you must rely on the uninjured or "good" leg to control your body weight when ascending and descending stairs.  The "good" leg goes up first in order to lift your body to the next step.  On the way down, your "bad" leg goes to the lower step first as you must control the descent of your body using the stronger leg.  This is the safest way to navigate the stairs.  However, your ultimate goal is to regain symmetry in leg strength.  So a few weeks into recovery, as long as there are no weight bearing precautions on the injured leg, I will have my patient stand at the bottom of their staircase to practice placing the weaker leg on the first step.  Once they gain the appropriate range of motion in the hip or knee to allow placement of the foot on the step without compensation, I will progress them to lifting their body to the next step using the "weaker" leg.  Remaining at the lowest section of the staircase ensures client safety, as being at the bottom of the staircase, if the weaker leg does buckle, they will not fall down a flight of steps.  As confidence and strength improves, I will have my client perform multiple repetitions of this activity and eventually navigate the staircase alternating legs.

 

Now, going back to the "up with the good, down with the bad" technique.  Besides safety, there are many other benefits to using this technique.  In order to lift and place the "good" leg onto the first step, you must shift your weight onto the weaker leg.  This weight shift onto the weaker leg helps improve stance time on that leg during gait, which will minimize limping.  It also helps to improve the "weaker" side's hip, knee and ankle stability , as well as single leg balance, and client confidence level.  Many times, my clients will shift their weight onto the weaker leg and very quickly 'throw' the stronger leg up to the step, either because the injured leg is not strong enough to hold the body up, or their confidence in single leg stance on the weaker side is poor.  I provide verbal cues and sometimes manual cues to assist proper technique while letting them know that I will not allow them to fall.  They must perform this step-up slowly and with control.  The slower they lift the "good" leg to the next step, the longer they must stand on the weaker side, thereby improving hip strength, stability and single leg balance.  

As their confidence, balance and strength improve, I ask them to lift the "good" leg up two steps.  I do not require them to lift their body to the second step, but use this technique to challenge their stability and single leg balance on the weaker leg even more.  They must stand on the affected side for a longer time in order to place the "good" leg on the second step with control and coordination.  

If knee mobility is an issue, I will have them perform foot placement of the affected, weaker side on the first step with a progression to the second step, incorporating a lunge stretch in order to maximize knee flexion range of motion.  This technique will be easier  for them as they are standing on the stronger leg in order to place the weaker leg on the first or second step in order to perform the stretch.

 

So, you are not just performing stair training here.  You are also working on balance, stability, confidence, flexibility, and strength.  

 

Stair Training Tips:

1) Lifting the stronger leg first ensures safety and also forces you to balance on the weaker leg.  This improves standing tolerance on the affected side, single leg balance and hip/ankle/knee stability

2)Lifting the weaker leg first will help strengthen that leg as it must then lift your entire body to the next step.  Once the weaker leg is positioned on the next step, lunging into it will improve knee flexibility on that side.