This episode highlights exercise progression for a patient with neck pain and concurrent headaches. This elusive driver can often be lost when it comes to exercise progression. Hint: the neck is one of the foundations for the movement system. And just because the neck is the driver, this doesn't mean that you exclude all other regions of the body. Why? Because EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED. We discuss how to design a movement program for both the upper and lower quarter while highlighting the neck. This region of the body does not move in isolation. Involving the eyes is KEY with these types of patients, especially in someone who has headaches. We have talked about this before on other episodes. Vision is often an overlooked part of the head/neck complex when it comes to exercise. Don't miss this.

Working with a ballet dancer with hip pain, even with a very subtle driver, means continuing to look at the full movement system in its entirety! Regional exercises targeted at the hip may not solve the issue and stretching may contribute further to the problems. Listen to the story, ask questions, and find out where the real issues are! Some pain issues may not show up in the regular human movement, but in meaningful movement within the requirements of the performance. Join us as we discuss this unique case, how the issue was explored and interventions applied. Hint, what do retest and resets do for independence for this athlete.

Can you find clues in your patient's narrative that will help you find the driver quicker? Make your assessment more efficient and save you time? Think about someone's movement and injury history and how that can be relevant to their current symptoms. Their initial injuries will SET THEM UP for compensatory movement patterning down the road. There are 2 case examples in this episode that highlight the importance of how the movement and injury histories revealed the driver(s).

Success=picking the best functional movement to assess with your patient.   Can you imagine shaving minutes off of your initial evaluation time? And at the same time, connecting with your patient in a way that not only increases the therapeutic alliance but will help you find the driver quicker.   Check out some NEW clinical pearls and sleep tips for patients at www.toughtotreat.com   

This is a rebroadcast of a popular earlier episode. Assessing center of mass (COM) here is crucial. Think about golf- you don't need a wide stance. Most of your patients will look different depending on how wide or narrow their stance is. Don't miss it. We also discuss the concept of picking a "meaningful" movement to assess with your patient. This alone will help you hone in on the driver quicker. Did you know that right knee pain can be caused by an imbalance in your center of mass? Erica and Susan discuss in this podcast how treating the left hip as well as the left side of the low back, got rid of this young golfer’s knee pain. A functional and interactive evaluation really hones in on where the true source of his knee pain lies.

There is usually a ten year lag from published research to accepted practice in clinical arenas. Pelvic girdle pain in Pregnancy is no exception. Join us as we discuss the most important systemic and movement system presentations that can greatly impact this population. In this episode, we cover unhelpful language, true risk factors and functional problem solving for these clients. We also discuss what is really happening in the biopsychosocial approach - and especially why self-efficacy is so important.

What constitutes an effective and efficient exercise progression? How do you smartly move someone through a movement program targetting their driver? Do not get hung up on someone's symptomatic region if that's not what is driving their symptoms. In this episode 2 cases are presented where their drivers were distal to their symptomatic areas. Categories of movement, neutral to non neutral, as well as unloaded to loaded are discussed with specific exercise progression. Remember: you are building new brain maps here. Variance and clinically reasoning through a smart movement progression will get your patient far.

Clients report urgency/frequency and are most often treated with medication and pelvic floor PT. When only a regional approach to the pelvic floor over-recruitment is considered, many of the underlying drivers can be missed. Consider the client on this podcast and join us as we explore how multiple drivers can influence the hypersensitivity of the bladder. Taking into consideration the possibility of a knee driver and a visceral driver (constipation) can only explain one part of the system change. What about other possibilities that can be discovered and explored in the movement exam. (Hint: Lifestyle/work pattern dominance and consequences).

What happens when you take away a compensation? Movement patterns change for starters. But what if these new strategies are not optimal for whatever activity you are trying to do? New sport you want to master? That's where the reality unfolds. Healthy systems need choices and when you take away a compensation or a movement pattern that no longer works (i.e. painful), your brain is forced to develop another strategy. In this episode we talk about a patient from episodes 109 and 110, who has made fantastic gains but started skiing again. He resorted to an old movement strategy which included a non-optimal breathing pattern, over recruiting his diaphragm and ultimately a gripping strategy throughout his anterior chain. Hint: ski boot takes away compensatory foot pattern. We also discuss some great treatment strategies for integrating his foot in a NEW functional pattern so he can gain capacity for higher load activities such as skiing and upright movements where the foot is involved. Check us out at Toughtotreat.com

The movement system is adaptable until there is maladaptation! Why is tendonopathy so difficult to treat? What if straight eccentric loading doesn't work? Join us as we discuss this female client and the unique consideration of the system changes that have led to the development and persistence of her persistent heel pain. Yes, this includes pelvic health and the cervical spine! check us out at toughtotreat.com