My Rehab Connection

02/18/2025

Exercise is a critical component of lower back pain treatment. But not all back pain is the same.

Some patients are acute and everything hurts. In other patients the pain is long-standing and resistant to care. Some patients have pain with flexion but with others this is the only way to get relief.

So knowing which exercises to prescribe for each patient can be difficult. We can't just prescribe the same exercises to each of these patients.

If this is something you struggle with I can help. In this FREE eBook I break down the basic science and principles with Low Back Pain exercises prescription.

In the book we'll cover the limitations of traditional yoga and knee-to-chest stretches and exercises like planks, curl-ups, and bird-dogs.

Then I'll discuss the key movements on which we need to base our low back exercises (the key here is to target the individual joint segments and not the spine in general).

Using this key principle I'll then review specific exercises for Acute Low Back Pain (here we're trying to promote healing and improve movement tolerance). I'll also discuss important exercises progressions develop lumbar mobility and motor control.

In the last section I'll also review our exercises to develop strength and endurance. And these aren't your typical isometric exercises like planks, bridges, and bird-dogs. Here we're tying to develop strength and control of the specific joints of the lower back.

With each exercise I also provide links to specific videos so you can see exactly how to perform each exercise.

And remember, this 45-page eBOOK is completely free. Just follow the link below to download your copy now!

02/13/2024

At first glance pain seems like a straightforward subject. You stub your toe or strain a muscle and you hurt. But we now know things are a bit more complicated than that.

Sure there may be pain with injury, but this simplified view doesn’t help us to understand why symptoms often persist long after that injury has healed. Nor does it answer why pain often seems to just show up for no reason at all.

In a search for answers modern pain science has led us to understand pain in a completely new way.

So we’re going to look at this modern view of pain… but from a clinician’s perspective. This means we’re going to forgo some of the more detailed mechanisms and biochemistry. Instead, we’re going to use a more conceptual lens to better understand why pain occurs and why the pain response is often exaggerated and hyper-active.

As a treating clinician or therapist this is what you (and your patients) really need to know to better understand the problem of pain and improve patient care.

Here’s What We’ll Cover…

Why we need to rethink (but not abandon) the role of tissue damage, injury, and “faulty” biomechanics with respect to pain

An evolutionary perspective on the pain system… Why pain is meant to be protective but it’s often not

How the brain can learn to hurt… And what to do about it

The critical role of fear and patient beliefs… And how the everyday clinician can overcome these barriers to treatment

Why how we move is still a critical part of patient care… but why we need to rethink what optimal movement is and how to get it

03/16/2023

Exercises Options For Acute Ankle Pain.

With acute soft tissue pain and injury movement can be a powerful stimulus to manage pain and guide tissue healing.

Here are a few exmaples.

12/23/2022

Limited hip rotation? If so we need to consider why. Is it due to soft tissue restriction in the surrounding tissue? Or is there a structural issue?

Here's a simple assessment procedure to help tell the difference.Here's a link to the full video.. including some key exercises to help improve hip IR (assuming it's not a structural limitation): https://loom.ly/U7-ldPM

12/17/2022

Training Scapular Control - Part 3 (continued)

In this series we've been talking about training the scapula. This final post is a progression of our basic Scapular CARS exercise (See previous post). But now we're doing one shoulder blade at a time.

One arm as opposed to both arm means the CNS has more opportunities to compensate for the scapula. So don't let the spine twist or lean side-to-side or front-to-back. And keep the arms relaxed.

The key is to make a big circle. In other words, be conscious and deliberate to move the shoulder blade as far as possible in each direction. Feel the muscles tense and squeeze as we did in the more basic progressions (See Part 1).

But keep good form. The motion is to occur through the shoulder blades and only the shoulder blades.

And remember, if your a My Rehab subscriber you can access all of these exercises in the exercise library.

12/15/2022

Free eBook. Rethinking Pain: A Clinician's Guide

Here's the link.... https://myrehabconnection.com/rethinking-pain-ebook/

At first glance pain seems like a straightforward subject. You stub your toe or strain a muscle and you hurt. But we now know things are a bit more complicated than that.

Sure there may be pain with injury, but this simplified view doesn’t help us to understand why symptoms often persist long after that injury has healed. Nor does it answer why pain often seems to just show up for no reason at all.

In a search for answers modern pain science has led us to understand pain in a completely new way.

So we’re going to look at this modern view of pain… but from a clinician’s perspective. This means we’re going to forgo some of the more detailed mechanisms and biochemistry. Instead, we’re going to use a more conceptual lens to better understand why pain occurs and why the pain response is often exaggerated and hyper-active.

As a treating clinician or therapist this is what you (and your patients) really need to know to better understand the problem of pain and improve patient care.

Here's the link.... https://myrehabconnection.com/rethinking-pain-ebook/

Here’s What We’ll Cover…

Why we need to rethink (but not abandon) the role of tissue damage, injury, and “faulty” biomechanics with respect to pain

An evolutionary perspective on the pain system… Why pain is meant to be protective but it’s often not

How the brain can learn to hurt… And what to do about it

The critical role of fear and patient beliefs… And how the everyday clinician can overcome these barriers to treatment

Why how we move is still a critical part of patient care… but why we need to rethink what optimal movement is and how to get it

Here's the link.... https://myrehabconnection.com/rethinking-pain-ebook/

Free eBook A Simplified Guide To Understanding Modern Pain Science What you really need to know to understand pain and improve patient care. What You’ll Learn… At first glance pain seems like a straightforward subject. You stub your toe or strain a muscle and you hurt. But we now know things are...

12/13/2022

Training Scapular Control - Part 3

In this series we've been talking about training the scapula. When the basics (see Part 1) and intermediate (see Part 2) movements are mastered we can progress to the last progressions.

now we're going to go back to isolated scapular motion. But this time we're combining motions together as opposed to using a single plane exercises to include the arms.

Scap CARS (Controlled Articular Rotations)

CARS exercises are part of the training system (some great stuff there so check that out if you're not familiar). Here's how I like to apply this concept to the scapula.

Here we're moving the shoulder blades in a circular motion. This combines the motions of elevation/depression and protraction/retraction. These often look easy and basic. But when done properly they can be quite challenging.

The key is to make a big circle. In other words, be conscious and deliberate to move the shoulder blade as far as possible in each direction. Feel the muscles tense and squeeze as we did in the more basic progressions (See Part 1).

But keep good form. The motion is to occur through the shoulder blades and only the shoulder blades. No twisting or leaning with your spine. And keep the arms relaxed.

12/10/2022

Training Scapular Control - Part 2 (continued)

In this series we've been talking about training the scapula. When the basics are mastered (see Part 1) we want to progress the exercises to include the arms. Here we are layering shoulder motion onto scapular motion.

Scap Push-Pull

Like the previous exercise (see Part 2) here the focus is on scapular protraction/retraction. But here we're using a push-pull movement. This starts to get a little more "functional". The big progression here is it's unilateral. That means the CNS has more movement options to get the arm forward and back.

In other words, more compensations are possible. Common faults here will be rotating through the spine or bending the elbow. Exaggerated elevation of the shoulder blade with retraction is also possible. Don't allow this.

12/09/2022

Training Scapular Control - Part 2

In this series we've been talking about training the scapula. When the basics are mastered (see Part 1) we want to progress the exercises to include the arms. Here we are layering shoulder motion onto scapular motion. We are increasing the control challenge for the CNS and teaching the shoulder and scapula to work together.

Bilateral Scap Reach

Here the scapular motion is the same as that described in the first exercise (again... see part 1 of this post series). But even though we're adding the arms the focus is on the scapula. We're pulling the arms back by moving and squeezing the scapula together. Likewise, we're pulling the shoulder blades forward as the arms come together.

Remember the focus on "feeling" the muscles emphasized above. We want to generate the same feeling of muscle contraction here.

12/06/2022

Training Scapular Control - Part 1

The scapula is a critical link with shoulder and arm function. And because of the muscular connections, dysfunction here can play a big part with both neck and thoracic pain.

So in this series we're going to review some critical exercise progressions to train scapular control.

Part 1: Be Brilliant At Basics

The scapula needs to move all over the place. And we need this motion to be coordinated and controlled. So we're going to start with the basics. And remember, this exercise forms the foundation to build into more advanced progressions.

Scapular Protraction-Retraction AROM/Mobilization

The key here is to focus the motion at the shoulder blade itself. To get the shoulder blade moving and sliding on the rib cage. And we (or our client/patient) needs to focus on "feeling" the muscles around the scapula contract. We will need to tie into the feeling in the more advanced progressions.

Be sure to keep the shoulders and arms relaxed. We want isolated and independent control of the shoulder blade.

When this is mastered we can move on to the next progression. That means integrating scapular control with basic arm movements.That's the topic of the next post.

And remember, if you are a My Rehab Connection subscriber you can find all of these exercises in your exercise library.

08/24/2022

New Article Alert --> Part 4 of "Essential Exercises for Lower Back Pain" is now available.

Floor exercises are great, but we also want to progress to more "functional" postures and positions. This means progressing the exercises to more upright and weight bearing positions. Here we cover how to do this...

08/01/2022

New Article Alert --> Part 3 of "Essential Exercises for Lower Back Pain" is now available.

Here we cover the topic of developing focused flexibility (YES, the back needs to be flexible!! Read the article to understand why....) and control/coordination of the lumbar spine.

https://loom.ly/35E8xgw