Arsenal Performance and Rehabilitation

Arsenal Performance and Rehabilitation Unlock your potential. Columbus, Ohio sports physical therapy

04/28/2026

Rotator cuff training should reflect how your rotator cuff actually works.

These muscles help stabilize the shoulder when you LIFT YOUR ARM.

Given this information, why would you only train it with your arm at your side? This is arguably the position at which your shoulder needs the LEAST support from the rotator cuff.

Rotator cuff exercises need to involve the less stable positions (overhead, lifted out to the side, etc.) to train its ability to stabilize in these positions.

04/18/2026

Your back hurts because it’s not stable.

The idea that the back is fragile and should be kept perfectly neutral is not only outdated, but also potentially contributing to your back pain.

Like any joint, the spine should be able to stabilize through its entire range of motion, even with loading.

If it can’t, you’re prone to local irritation or muscle spasms as a last ditch effort to stabilize, which just leads to more pain.

The solution? Load your spine in throughout its ROM, not just in neutral. This video shows several examples.

04/08/2026

Your patellar tendon is weak…

So the only way to solve your tendinitis is to make it stronger.

Like muscles, your patellar tendon needs load applied to it to become bigger and more resilient. Knee over toe movements and isometrics are a great way to achieve this.

03/19/2026

“Lifting weights is bad for your back”

Ok then…

Why do sedentary people also have back pain at high rates?

Why is back pain so common when the large majority of people do not lift weights at all?

Why is strengthening used as a treatment for people who have sustained back injuries?

There is plenty of research highlighting the health benefits of resistance training. Don’t let fear of injury stop you from doing it.

Statistically, regardless of what you do, you’re probably going to have back pain at some point in your life anyway. Just do what you enjoy doing.

03/18/2026

The rotator cuff does cause rotation, but its main function is to stabilize the shoulder as you move, particularly in overhead motions.

Why then would you only strengthen it with rotation exercises? And why would you stick with exercises that keep your arm at your side?

Neither of these reflect the role of the rotator cuff in its contribution to stability (and thus pain).

To reinforce shoulder stability, exercises should focus on maintaining rotator cuff contraction throughout a functional motion, such as pressing overhead or lifting the arm

03/03/2026

Putting pressure on your joints is both:

a) necessary for exercise

and

b) good for you

Stop being afraid of things.

02/23/2026

Thoracic stretches will only get you so far.

Like any other region of your body, the thoracic spine needs stability to maintain range of motion. Your nervous system recurs ROM if it does not feel stable.

The T-spine is often overlooked in this regard however, and a lot of PTs only stretch it and then expect the ROM improvements to remain.

I’m sure we’ve all seen someone who needs to constantly crack their back or stretch to avoid feeling stiff. This isn’t normal.

Doing ACTIVE exercises into thoracic rotation will help keep any ROM improvements you make with stretching.

If your body feels safe in a certain position, it will allow you to move into that position, and the thoracic spine is no exception to this.

02/21/2026

The mobility restriction limiting your squat is likely…

INTERNAL rotation, not external

The internet is full of hip openers and pigeon stretches, which help primarily with hip EXTERNAL rotation

These will probably help your squat, but the primary restriction to squatting deeper is typically going to be a limitation in INTERNAL rotation. Let me explain.

In order to squat, your hip go into a greater degree of flexion, which is a relatively internal rotation to your pelvis.

Simply put, if you lack internal rotation, you will also lack flexion (and thus squat depth)

Working on external rotation will simply allow your hips to bypass the limitation to flexion, without actually fixing the root issue.

Have a question about improving your squat? Shoot us a DM and we’ll help you out.

02/18/2026

Strengthen your Achilles tendon!

If you have tendinitis, your tendon can’t handle your training volume and becomes inflamed as a result.

The only way to fix this is either to:

A) reduce your training volume (which you probably don’t want to do)

or

B) strengthen the tendon so it can handle the volume

Fortunately, strengthening the Achilles is fairly straightforward. Give these exercises a try.

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