INERTIA: A Therapist's Thoughts

INERTIA - Archive

2/15/2013

Performance Reviews

Just yesterday, a mother of one of my patients asked me what was going on in our gym. I don't blame her for asking. She was watching me work on her son, who was injured and on crutches, while there were 15-20 high school girls doing different jumping and agility drills just 20 yards away. She wanted to do know if they were rehabbing an injury, too.

I quickly explained that they are part of our PEP, or Performance Enhancement Programs. These girls are preparing for volleyball, and wanting to learn exercises and form drills to improve their ability as well as prevent injury. Earlier in the day, I saw a former college football player working with our athletic trainers preparing for some upcoming professional tryouts.

It's good to know that these young athletes are turning to medical and fitness professionals to learn the best way to improve performance, rather than seeking out alternative pharmaceutical options. With performance enhancing drug usage leading the sports highlights almost every day, whether nationally or even locally, I often wonder what our young athletes' mind-set is regarding banned substances.

From what I saw in the past couple of days in our clinic, I feel there is hope for the future of sports. I'm glad that we have qualified staff and the programs to offer those interested in making gains.

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Posted 2:50 PM

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Time to get the upper extremities involved in the "Exercises I Love" series. We treat a lot of shoulder injuries in the Sports Medicine Center, so I want to make sure to include some of the exercises that I use a lot for these injuries also.

Prone Scapular Strengthening

Some call these “Y,” “I” and “T” exercises, and I understand that I am kind of cheating adding three exercises into one here, but they go together well and I usually give them out all at once. Most people do not address the posterior shoulder stabilizers with workouts, and combining that with poor posture, leads to weakness around the shoulder blade. I hate to say all, but I’m pretty sure that all of my patients with shoulder issues get these exercises (or some variation) as part of their home program.

Prone Extension

Lie on stomach with involved arm hanging off the table. Set shoulder blades back and hold position. In a thumb-up position, slowly raise your arm behind you to table height keeping your elbow straight.

Prone Shoulder Abduction

Lie on stomach with the involved arm hanging off the table. Keeping the elbow straight, pull the shoulder blades back and hold. In a thumb-out position, slowly lift arm sideways to table height and maintain the retracted position as you return to the starting position.

Prone Shoulder Flexion

Lie on stomach with the involved arm hanging off the table. Keeping the elbow straight, pull the shoulder blades backward and hold. Slowly lift arm forward to table height and maintain the retracted position as you return to the starting position.