If Your Going To Do It Do It Right!

This pretty much goes without saying.  Something my father taught me as a young man.  Son, if your going to do something, make sure you do it right!  My dad had a lot more colorful words he used about doing a job 1/2 way which may not be appropriate here but the message is the same.  If you do it, do it right or don't do it at all.  No statement could be more appropriate than that when dealing with exercise.  Especially if we are training an athlete to make a change in their movement patterns.  If you are going to train someone to improve their movement, the worst thing you could do for them is train BAD movement patterns.  This simply reinforces the neuro pathways they have created that results in the pathological movements.  In other words, what you train is what you get!  

Poor Technique = poor motor planning = poor performance

As someone who has been weight training for over 40 years, I have always struggled when I see those that are performing exercises incorrectly.  When I was younger, I felt that I did not know enough so who was I to say anything.  After completing my physical therapy education, I wondered if they just did not know enough.  Now, after a few years behind my belt, a few more degrees and a lot of work and research in this area, I feel compelled to say something.  No correction, to SHOUT something.  If you are going to do it, do it correctly!

Whether I am in the gym watching people work out independently or with a personal trainer, or they are in a clinic and a patient is performing exercise under the direction of a PT or on the field and performing exercises under the direction of a strength coach or athletic trainer, the message is the same.  If your going to do it, do it right.  That goes without saying right!  Unfortunately, that is not the case and many times not the standard of practice.

As much as we would hope that this would be the case when people are doing this under the direction of educated professionals, the reality is, it is rare that there is a focus on movement quality. Take this example of an individual training their core.  Studies show that the muscle with the highest EMG activity during this exercise is the gluteus medius (gmed) on the down side.  So, what we see here is an individual that is performing this exercise believing they are training for maximum efficiency of the gmed.  Matter of fact, to make it more difficult, they are raising their arm to make it even more difficult.  The reality is, in this position, they are shortening their gmed on the down side and lengthening it on the up side.  So, instead of strengthening their gmed, they are in fact training and reinforcing the neurological pathways that results in  pathological movement patterns (in this case a retrotrendelenburg).  So, when this person is in an upright posturing, they have essentially trained themselves to compensate in single leg stance with a retrotrendelenburg.  When we test these athletes and we do not see a change in their movement patter despie training, 9 times out of 10, this is the result of poor training technique.

So, in this series, we will discuss some specific movements that we want to ensure that the athlete is doing correctly.  So, hang with us as we break down a couple of research studies and critical movements to keep an eye out for.  Help us ring in 2018 right by spreading the word and helping to prevent athletic injuries. #ViPerformAMI #ACLPlayItSafe #ResearchThatWorks

Dr. Nessler is a practicing physical therapist with over 20 years sports medicine clinical experience and a nationally recognized expert in the area of athletic movement assessment.  He is the founder | developer of the ViPerform AMI, the ACL Play It Safe Program, Run Safe Program and author of a college textbook on this subject.  Trent has performed >5000 athletic movement assessments in the US and abroad.  He serves as the National Director of Sports Medicine Innovation for Select Medical, is Vice Chairman of Medical Services for USA Obstacle Racing and movement consultant for numerous colleges and professional teams.  Trent is also a competitive athlete in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.