I sat down with coach Mike Hickey for an episode of his www.runnerspace.com segment Coach to Coach. We spoke about how to expand your lens as a professional and professional development, strength and conditioning principles, lowering injury risk, research, and how to and why we Start with the Core.
Read MoreMy friends Chris Johnson of Siuslaw High School in Florence Oregon and Dave Frank of Central Catholic in Portland Oregon recently asked me to join them on The Just Athletics Podcast.
After some small audio hiccups, we talk using regional interdependence as a coach, eliminating frivolous aspects of training, letting the goal be the goal, learning from those who aren’t in your specific sporting area and developing a trusted referral network. We also explore the topics of why questions and expanding the coach’s pattern recognition system while of course talking strength and conditioning.
They may have also gotten the first announcement of Start with the Core!
Read MoreI might have been gone for a minute, or two months, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy.
Coach Travis Floeck and I are teaming up, this time to write a book. ‘Start with the Core’ will be a major expansion on why we train athletes the way we do, by starting with the core. This book is an anecdotal and evidence-based deep dive into what the ‘core’ is, why we begin training with the core, specifics regarding our order of operations, progressions, and the pattern hierarchies that govern our approach, and how we have implemented these principles while training athletes across ages and populations to reduce injury risk and improve performance.
This blog is not meant to disparage another profession, belittle the knowledge and experience of my colleagues, or look down on weekend warriors. I am a proud member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and holder of the title of Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS). I have been a personal trainer and group exercise instructor, worked in physical therapy and chiropractic offices as well as athletic training facilities, coached at every level, and been a strength and conditioning coach. I have a great deal of respect for each of these professions, but there are distinctions, and they should be respected.
Read MoreIt is a near constant to see exercise participants of all ages engaging in the prolonged static stretching of a given muscle or muscle group. From competitive sport to physical education classes to yoga, passive static stretching has been a mainstay. It is particularly common to see a variety of stretches for the hamstrings being utilized, however, this may not be the path to performance and injury resilience that many believe it to be. Increased mobility, pain-free function, and injury risk reduction may be contingent upon flipping the relationship between strength and flexibility in the lower extremity as we stretch our quadriceps, instead of strengthening them, and strengthen our hamstrings, instead of stretching them.
Read MoreWhile experimenting with my students recently in clinic, a patient reported with complaints of T-Spine pain rated 3/10 at rest with no significant aggravating factors, limited multisegmental trunk rotation bilaterally with right greater than left, and a very strange presentation of bilateral weight bearing shoulder stability and motor control dysfunction (SMCD).
Read MoreThe DAT cohort of 2019 appears to be a rather unique one. Unlike past cohorts, many of us have found ourselves in Moscow Idaho on a temporary basis as we pursue the opportunity to become members of an elite group of experts in our profession
Read MoreThis time of year is an interesting one in my clinical practice. We have 86 students from grade 9-12 and a track and field team with 35 student athletes. Baseball and softball have 13 each. Junior high basketball season also runs through late March.
Read MoreAs many of us function as educators directly or indirectly working with clinical students, interns, graduate assistants, etc. it seems relevant to share some of our more interesting interactions in this realm.
Read MoreAs I approach the end of the DAT my thoughts have turned to the job market. I alternate between knowing annoyance and surprise as I wonder how our profession arrived at its current state with regard to at the salaries on offer and job descriptions.
Read MoreAs we reach the latter weeks of the high school basketball season I am once again fascinated by the Mulligan Concept and its profound utility in treating lateral ankle sprains. To date as a DAT student and athletic trainer I have had 8 patients suffer 12 lateral ankle sprains (Grade 1-2) with sparse few days of time loss injury.
Read MoreDuring my travels over the course of the last weekend I had the opportunity to visit a dear friend's new yoga and personal training studio. As we discussed the development and growth of her business and trends in her clientele, the topics of pain, movement, trauma, and the relationship between experience and sensory information as input and pain as output evolved into a question of biceps tendon pain in her own right shoulder.
Read MorePerformance and Prevention: The intersection between injury prevention and performance has unsurprisingly become a major part of my clinical practice. My latest project has been to collect pre and post-season vertical leap, speed/agility/quickness (SAQ) and Functional Movement Screen (FMS) data for our volleyball team.
Read MoreNear dusk late in the third quarter of a junior high football game, a member of the opposing team remained on his back on the field after being tackled. I saw the hit and it appeared to be a coup-contrecoup mechanism of injury.
Read MorePlaying 8s football on an 11s field creates a fast-paced, hard-hitting, high scoring game. As might be expected, at schools small enough to play 8 sided football games, rosters can sometimes stretch quite thin. As of Friday, September 21st we have 13 on our roster. For last nights game we were missing one and had one sidelined.
Read MoreI was invited to be a panel member this last Saturday at the Sports Related Injuries Continuing Education Symposium sponsored by Inland Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine Clinic, Pullman Regional Hospital, and Gritman Medical Center.
Read MoreAs I return to my clinical practice after a summer filled with adventure and academic endeavor the familiarity of the clinic and weight room welcome me. The routine of my practice as an AT and S&C Coach fall into rhythm as if I was not absent for nearly three months, while new patients, colleagues, and students promise stimulating challenges in the year to come.
Read MoreThings are going quite well in my clinical practice and research is, of course, interesting. After a mind-melting meeting yesterday regarding the significance of some preliminary findings, research questions, and statistical analysis, I am happily on my way to doing a bit more work that will hopefully lead to some insightful payoff in the next year.
Read MoreWith this post I do rather hope to inject a bit of humor into our learning environment and potentially spark some discussion regarding patient populations, socioeconomic factors that may affect our practices, and whatever else we find relevant, interesting, or chuckle worthy.
Read MoreIn my experience in academia there is always a feeling that time is of the essence. This feeling can become pervasive as deadlines loom and time marches inevitably on. For some this produces a sense of urgency and the ability to respond to such pressure with action.
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