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Fitness Education Seminars™
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Featured Articles by Dr. Evan Osar
Published by PT on the NET
Improving Balance
How many of you currently train clients who struggle with their balance? Whether you are training the geriatric, athletic or general fitness client, balance is essential to improving performance, regardless of a client’s goals. The loss of balance is a key component to many falls and debilitating injuries in the elderly. It can also mean the difference between making a play or not making a play in sports. The previous article on improving hip rotation (see "related articles" at right) focused on improving activation of the low level fibers of the gluteus maximus and deep rotators of the hip...
Improving Hip Rotation
How many of you currently deal with clients and athletes with restrictions in hip motion? From the middle aged desk worker to the professional athlete, restrictions in hip motion are common in many individuals regardless of their activity level. While there are multiple causes of hip restrictions, a few of the more common ones include trauma (acute and repetitive), inhibition of the lumbo-pelvic core and pelvic floor, capsular restrictions and degenerative joint changes of the hip (osteoarthritis). Regardless of the aforementioned causes, limitations in hip rotation inevitably lead to compensatory movement patterns READ MORE
Improving Shoulder Function, Part I
How many of you currently train clients who experience shoulder pain? How many of you reading this article currently experience soreness or discomfort in your own shoulders? As training and conditioning specialists, we routinely encounter clients and athletes who experience shoulder dysfunction. While shoulder dysfunction is most often multi-faceted in nature, several of the more common causes include muscle imbalances, overuse injuries and/or poor exercise selection. Regardless of the cause, one movement dysfunction that is common in the large majority of clients experiencing shoulder dysfunction is downward rotation and destabilization of the scapula. This article will provide a brief .......READ MORE
Improving Shoulder Function, Part II
In Improving Shoulder Function - Part 1, we discussed normal shoulder biomechanics and several causes of shoulder dysfunction. In particular, instability and downward rotation of the scapula are among the most common scapular movement dysfunctions. Part 1 covered a specific strategy to improve stabilization while strengthening the muscles of upward rotation, specifically the serratus anterior, the upper trapezius and lower trapezius. In this article, we will focus on “pushing patterns” as a means of further improving scapular mechanics in order to integrate the shoulder into more functional patterns.
In Part 1, the isolated function of the serratus anterior was discussed. In review, the serratus anterior .......READ MORE