Hello everyone and welcome to the BSSR Blog! We decided to write a blog, because often times we have so much information we want to give to our patients, but never have enough time for them to understand the information thoroughly. This platform allows us to share tid-bits of information with everyone, and hopefully will become a great tool for people who are looking to learn a little bit more about exercise, nutrition, strength training and injury prevention. We will try (key word TRY) to add a new post once a month! So be on the look out, and check the website here often, for great new content! Hope you enjoy!
““Make things as SIMPLE as possible... but no less.”
Charlie Weingroff is a world renowned strength coach, and puts on seminars all over the world. His main message is T=R and R=T (Training=Rehab and Rehab=Training), but what does this mean? Does this mean that I should only do rehab exercises to prepare for my upcoming football season? Should I perform box jumps or wind sprints when I am trying to heal my injured hip? The answer: maybe. ...Unsatisfying isn't it :). The point is when teaching someone how to heal from an injury or how to prepare for an important activity, the coaching process is one in the same. Two different sides of the same coin! In the sports medicine world, we like to think that training and rehab go together like peanut butter and jelly. Both necessary. Both relaying on simple functional movements that with diligent work, will make the person doing said movements, stronger and healthier in the long run.
We look at rehab like this. If someone injures there shoulder, what are the movements that cause them pain? Does it hurt to reach in front of you? Behind you? And then also, what motions can you do that do not cause any pain? As a rehab specialist all these questions are answered and then placed into a specific thought process of exercises and stretches that will enable the body to accommodate the injured area. Slowly, each individual exercise performed will re-TRAIN and re-strengthen the damaged tissue so that the person no longer has the pain.
Now, training is basically the exact same thing! When a person is training for an event whether it be there upcoming volleyball season, there next CrossFit competition or even just a weekend warrior trying to stay in shape, they all should be working on basic movements, functional movements, rehab movements! Understanding the basics, and mastering these movements allow for our bodies to grow and adapt, so that we can add further complexities to our exercise regimen. Think about it this way... how do babies learn to walk? First, they learn to bend their hips and knees (think happy baby pose in yoga). Next they learn how to roll over onto their sides. Next, they roll to their tummies. Then learn to lift their heads up so they can see. Now that they can see, then began to lift themselves up, onto all fours. They then learn how to synchronize their arms and legs, so they can crawl. Next they learn to stand and then learn to walk (There are multiple more steps in the process of standing and walking, but for time sake, and attention span sake, lets just cut to the chase.)
MUCH MORE complicated than you thought that was going to be huh?
You see, small basic movements are the foundation of our fitness. If we break each move down into its core, we find that all major movements (walking, picking something heavy up off the ground, working with our arms over our head) can be trained through simple everyday exercises. And when we focus on doing this exercises well, consistently, we can then begin to interconnect the movement and conquer any goal we set for ourselves.
So, next time you are given a movement exercise by a physician/therapist/rehab specialist approach it with 3 thoughts in mind: 1.) Do I completely understand the movement, to the point where I feel comfortable doing it by myself? 2.) Is the exercise pain free? And finally 3.) Am I determined to complete this exercise everyday, allowing myself to become healthy once more? With the right attitude, the right coaching and the right mindset, nothing is impossible. Rehab increases your ability to perform a certain action well. Training increases your ability to perform a certain action better! You see the connection now? The importance of rehab is just as essential as training for whatever it is you are training for. Learn the basics, connect the motions, complete the task, repeat!
That is it for this months post, we hope you enjoyed the read, and took some good information from it. Have a great weekend, and thanks for checking out our FIRST BSSR blog post!