Monday, September 23, 2013

KinetiFix Self-Movement Exam #1



Around Hardcore I am known as T-Rod but many others know me as Dr. Todd Rodman, Sports Medicine Chiropractor.  I am the director of athlete services for the CrossFit SouthEast Regionals, Team Chiropractor for FAU Athletics and have been on the medical staff at Ironman competitions, the past two CrossFit Games and many other sporting events.  As well as being a Sports Chiro I am a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), Level 1 CrossFit Trainer and Certified CrossFit Mobility Specialist.  I love the sport of CrossFit and learned a lot by training with Hardcore for the past 3+ years as well as providing therapy for hundreds of CrossFit athletes.  I have a deep knowledge of injuries and injury prevention and am here to help you in any way possible.  I am going to open up this forum as a way to communicate, host discussions and write about topics that may help your health and athletic performance.  If you have any topics that you would like me to cover please email me at DrToddRodman@aim.com to let me know your ideas. 

The first and most important topic that I could cover is movement.  Poor movement patterns combined with high intensity exercise provides a great risk for injury.  Improper movement otherwise known as poor biomechanics will be present before symptoms of pain occur.  The best way to avoid injuries at CrossFit or anywhere in life is to understand your movement patterns and work to correct the bad ones.  The first series of posts will cover different movement tests for you to try on your own.  I call this series of movement tests KinetiFix.  I created and trademarked the KinetiFix examination to help people identify their poor movement patterns and give them corrective strategies on how to fix them.  Kinetics is the branch of science dedicated to the study of movement.  The KinetiFix analysis is dedicated to assessing and correcting movement dysfunction. 

The first test in this series is super important because shoulder range of motion is key for all overhead movements.  I am not just talking about the more complex Olympic lifting movements but even bar work such as pull-ups rely on a good range of shoulder external rotation or movement compensations will occur.  You can think of movement compensations as our musculoskeletal systems way to complete a movement by using a suboptimal movement pathway to complete the desired task.  For example, I once closed my car door by the inside door lock.  When I did this my door lock wobbled and my inner biomechanical nerd came out to talk to me.  He said that is a classic movement compensation and by using the door lock to close the door I was able to achieve the desired task of closing the door.  However, if I was to do that a dozen more times that door lock would probably rip off because it is being used improperly.  This is similar to a muscle or joint that is being used improperly and eventually experiencing symptoms of pain after it cannot tolerate the excessive stress that is being placed on it

First movement test: Supine shoulder internal and external rotation
·        
       Lay yourself face up on a bench, bed or table with your arm hanging off and bent 90 degrees at the elbow.


·          Externally rotate your arm and you should get 90 degrees of motion (use your best judgment when measuring).  


·         Next internally rotate your arm with the elbow bent at 90 degrees and you should get 70 degrees range of motion.  To do it best have someone place a light pressure on your glenohumeral joint (ball and socket of the shoulder) so that your shoulder doesn’t cheat and slide anterior giving a false range of motion.




·         If you do not get these full ranges of motion you may be at risk of injury.  Email me with your findings and I can send you some strategies on how to improve this biomechanical deficiency.

Let’s keep it at this for now.  My next post will cover some more movement tests and what you can do to fix them if they are suboptimal. 

Dr. T-Rod