“Manual therapists tend to believe that they are Batman, but they are actually more like Alfred.” ~ Dr. Cory Blickenstaff When I attended the 2015 San Diego Pain Summit, I had a hard time understanding Dr. Cory Blickenstaff’s presentation on “edge work.” Part of the reason may have been the idea
Can training your uninjured limb maintain flexibility in the injured limb? A recent study published in The International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy found that foam rolling improves ankle dorsiflexion for at least 20 minutes on the limb that is rolled on and up to 10 minutes on the opposite limb that
A recent systematic review published in Manual Therapy did not find a strong association between the curvature of the thoracic spine and shoulder pain — or more specifically subacromial pain syndrome (SAPS) — based on ten studies. This condition is described as a “non-traumatic shoulder pain, localised around the acromion, which worsens
Current scientific evidence reveals that tight hip flexors or psoas muscles has very little or no contribution to low back pain. For many years when I was a personal trainer, I had thought that tight iliopsoas (iliacus and psoas major/minor) is a major causation of low back pain because the
[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.29.3″ text_font=”Libre Baskerville||||||||” text_font_size=”14px” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]A recent press release from Ohio State University states that “dormant butt syndrome” may be the cause for hip, knee, and back pain. This condition, coined by a physical therapist who works at the Ohio State Wexner
We owe much of our current understanding and treatment of pain to many scientists, clinicians, and philosophers in the past centuries. From René Descartes’ origin of the specificity theory of pain to Dr. Ronald Melzack and Dr. Patrick Wall’s gate control theory of pain, pain science and treatment has been
While most research addressing chronic pain is mostly based on Western, more educated, and more developed countries, a growing number of research is focusing on indigenous populations worldwide. Not only these research add more knowledge to our understanding of pain, they can help formulate healthcare and government policies in serving
Recently, a reporter from NPR interviewed a health expert, Esther Gokhale, on why indigenous populations do not have much back pain compared to people in industrialized nations. Gokhale’s answer is that people in indigenous cultures have a J-shape spine. (1) “That S-shaped spine is actually not natural. It’s a J-shaped spine
If there is an excuse for me to travel — to get me out of my southern California bubble — then going to conferences, such as the 2016 Manual Therapy Conference (MTC), would be one. I have only attended such conferences for manual therapists twice, and that was with the
During and after last month’s San Diego Pain Summit, my brain was overloaded with information that changed some of my own beliefs and perceptions about pain. For those who could not get enough of the pain science and manual therapy, the 2016 Manual Therapy Conference (MTC) in New Westminster, B.C.,
Some personal trainers and physical therapists believe that certain exercise modalities are “better” than other types of modalities or exercises for working with clients and patients with low back pain. However, years of data and research indicate that these ideas may not be very true. Two 2016 Cochrane Reviews conducted
Are planks overrated with their how-long-can-you-hold challenges? Let’s take a closer look at what the current evidence says about planks and core strength. “These are all great exercises to use in the initial training stages for beginners. But I move past them as quickly as possible into using more challenging/interesting