To view each article in its entirety click on the corresponding title or visit our E-newsletter archive page for a PDF version.
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FUNCTIONAL FLEXIBILITY: Complex Made Simple
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Whether training for golf, football, baseball, or any sport, most athletes realize the
benefits from a strength training program, yet rarely recognize the importance of a
flexibility program. Flexibility is the foundation of what we do! In fact, without
flexibility the body will not exhibit optimal levels of power, strength, cardiovascular
fitness, or muscle endurance. Flexibility is the cornerstone of rehab, performance, and
preventing injuries.
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CALCANEAL EVERSION: The Switch that Turns On the Engine
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GRAVITY, GROUND, and the SWITCH
The internal power sources that drive the body are the hips and trunk: the core of
the body. There are many ways to activate that power source, but probably the most
important for upright function in our gravitational environment is eversion of the
calcaneus.
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THE PRINCIPLES OF LIFTING
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The history of weight training has changed dynamically with the advent of Applied Functional Science.
Traditional weight training basically had two main objectives. Athletes lifted to either increase muscle
mass, i.e. hypertrophy, or they trained to increase strength. The theory was that the more force an athlete
could produce, the more powerfully that athlete could run, jump, and move. Two questions arose from
this thought process. Why does the athlete need to increase his/her muscle mass? Will strength attained
with traditional lifting carry over to the movements used in the athlete’s sport?
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THE FUNCTIONAL KNEE: Caught in the Middle with Few Places to Go and Nowhere to Hide
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Injuries to the knee are seen throughout virtually all sports and all age ranges. Have you ever wondered why the knee is the most common reason for a visit to an orthopedic surgeon? Moreover, have you ever wondered how rehabilitation and training programs could better alleviate the stresses placed on the knee?
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FUNCTIONALLY FIT ABS
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So, you want to get nice abs, strong abs, the six-pack abs? Most often when talking about abdominal exercises, crunches, sit-ups, stability ball exercises, planks, and a variety of exercises on the floor are what come to mind. All of these have been used successfully for years, and many people will swear by these abs workouts as the key to perfect abs. But if you take a closer look at the anatomy of the abdominal muscles, the biomechanics, and the way they actually function in our world, it opens up a whole different way, a more effective way, and a more functional way to train your abs.
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THE HIPS: The Monster Beneath the Bed
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The hip is the like a monster underneath the bed, minus a few dust balls and dirty magazines. If it’s working correctly, it can be your best friend. It can assist far away joints like the shoulder or ankle.
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TWEAKOLOGY
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Tweakology™ is the study of choosing and managing the most effective functional variables to create the optimal functional environments for analysis, rehabilitation, prevention, and performance training and conditioning. Our ability to effectively tweak is proportionate to our understanding of human function.
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THE LUMBAR SPINE: Unfairly Accused
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Not that it could ever happen, but if given the opportunity to defend a body part in a court of law, without question I would choose to defend the lumbar spine. With mind boggling statistics such as 80% of all human beings will experience low back pain at some time during their life and that the cost of low back injury is estimated at being $100 Billion each year, it is no wonder the lumbar spine has been the subject of much maligning and is often referred to as "a bad back".
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FUNCTIONAL MANUAL REACTION
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FMR is an acronym that stands for Functional Manual Reaction. Functional Manual Reaction is the name that the Gray Institute uses to describe the application of hands to bone segments in order to facilitate an optimal sequence of motion during a functional movement. FMR is used during the clinical tasks of movement assessment, functional training, and rehabilitation.
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"TRUNK" DRIVING: The Influence of the Thoracic Spine
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Have you ever been driving at night, or any time, and been behind another car swerving all over the road? You cautiously slow down, keep the car in front of you, and look for the best opportunity to pass safely.
Imagine that the thoracic spine is that car, only it isn’t swerving.
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TRANSFORMATION & THE PATELLOFEMORAL JOINT
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The word transform implies a major change in form, nature, or function. Understanding the word transform helps to appreciate the transformation experienced by the body as it goes through daily activity. Within the realm of applied functional science, we can delve deeper into the appreciation of proper biomechanical reactions by looking at transformational zones (TZ’s). The transformational zone (TZ) can simply be defined as the portion of time when the body transfers its muscular loading to muscular exploding.
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THE CERVICAL SPINE: Getting the Whole Story
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A few years ago I had the opportunity to play a round of golf with some people I greatly admire. It was a fairly typical golf outing until one of my opponents took his tee shot on the 7th. It was one of the most amazing shots I have ever seen. The paragraph above, in and of itself, is a story. But, doesn’t it leave you wanting more? Who are these golfers? And why was that shot so amazing?
Basically some information has been provided, but not enough to show exactly what was happening. The same can be said for conventional techniques used for evaluation, treatment, and training of the cervical spine.
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THE RYTHMN OF THE KNEE JOINT
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I have always been an inquisitive person that likes to ask questions. As a boy it was endearing, as an adult it has caused many physicians to scratch their head. Allow me to explain. My father recently had a knee replacement. My question to the doctor was why that particular knee wore-out before the other one. Both knees are 74 years old and if we just change the part, isn't the mechanism or the imbalance still there? He scratched his head and said “yes.”
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ANKLE SPRAINS: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
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The Scene: 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia USA
The Event: Womens Gymnastics
The Apparatus: The Vault
The Athlete: Kerri Strug
This should start ringing a few bells. The US team needed a score of 9.493 to win the gold medal for the US. Her first attempt received a score of 9.162. It was erroneously thought not to be enough. To make matters worse, she had under-rotated her first fault and injured her ankle, and because of the miscalculations, her coach told her she needed to do it again.
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BALANCE IN MOTION
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The billing coordinator at the small hospital-based rehabilitation clinic where I work is
phenomenal. In addition to being one of those people who you just enjoy spending time with, she is exceptionally skilled at finding those small discrepancies that could potentially delay, or give reason for denial, of payment for services. Prior to joining our team, she worked at a well meaning, yet very “conventional,” physical therapy practice. Since coming to work with us, we have had many conversations discussing the principles, strategies, and techniques behind treatment, based on an Applied Functional Science approach.
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THE HIP: Power Source, Biggest Rock, Best Friend
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The late-seventyish woman looked at me with a bit of skepticism mixed with a little fear. After I introduced myself to her she said, “Before we start, I want you to know that I would like for you to address my low back pain, but I don’t want you to mess with my hip.” When I urged her, she further explained that she’d had problems with her right hip for a long time, with x-rays revealing severe arthritis and necrosis of the femoral head. She had been to an orthopedist who told her to come back for a total hip replacement when she could not stand the pain anymore. She was not ready for that.
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THE LUMBAR SPINE: Poor Communication Equals Poor Spine
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Have you ever witnessed a relationship gone sour? The telltale signs are significant, but many
times the root cause stems from poor communication. There is one particular area of the body
that seems to get more press than a short-lived Hollywood hook-up. You’ve got it – the lumbar
spine (LS) is likely the most injured, dysfunctional, and (supposedly) weakest link of the body.
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THE TRANSFORMATION OF STRENGTH AND POWER
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Are we utilizing “authentic” principles of Function when designing our strength and
power programs? Is there a special population that might be missing two of the most important bio-
motor abilities in their training and rehabilitation programs? As a former collegiate and professional strength and conditioning coach, strength and power were (and are) the two most emphasized bio-motor abilities.
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"I FEEL THE NEED, THE NEED FOR SPEED"
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You’ve just been passed an oblong ball and now have six men averaging 250 pounds rapidly moving toward you. They are coming from all different directions, with what seems like inhuman speed and agility for men of that stature. You hope that the adrenaline that is currently surging through your system, along with your
training and conditioning, has made you faster and better able to out-maneuver your opponents, as you hurry toward the goal post 40 yards away.
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CORE CONVERSION: Training the Core to Functionally do More
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The body’s true core is everything from the nose to the toes (which explains why the
middle – the abdominals – has been the main focus). If there is more to the core than the abdominals, then that raises the question: What is the best way to functionally train the true core?
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JUMP-JOP-HOP: Load Better to Explode Better
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The topic of jumping initiates many questions to consider, such as the following: • Is your jump training directly carrying over to that which you are training for? • Is your jump training better preparing you to execute activities more efficiently, whether in sport or active daily living? • Is your jump training incorporating all three planes of motion (as the body is intended to function)? • Is your jump training properly sequenced to be safe and guarantee progress / improvement? • Is your jump training properly preventing future injury? • Is your jump training dynamic and variable (i.e. – incorporating two feet to two feet, two feet to one foot, one foot to two feet, and one foot to the same foot)?
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Applied Functional Science & the 3D Performance Series
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The Gray Institute (www.GrayInstitute.com) is the authentic source for Applied Functional Science, and is based on 30+ years of education, research, and development of how the body was made to function and how it truly functions. Throughout this time period, much advancement has been made with this understanding, as well as many educational venues and products to reflect not only the knowledge, but the application to better serve patients and clients in the areas of training and conditioning, injury prevention, and rehabilitation.
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THE THORACIC SPINE: Overlooked and Undertreated
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To say one area of the spine is more important than another would be unfair to the rest of the spine; however, it is clear that when we closely inspect the thoracic spine, it is profoundly different than the cervical or lumbar spine. It typically has twelve segments, many more than the other spinal regions, and it has a ribcage attached to it, providing significant stability and support. It also is located between the cervical and lumbar regions so any bottom-up or top-down movements will be forced to go through the thoracic spine.
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FUNDAMENTAL AND SKILL: Enhancing the Whole Through a Part
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This summer I was fortunate to have spent hours in the park with my three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Alexia. Simply spending time in a playful environment, observing how she develops movements that were not possible months ago, is a highlight of my life. Lately she has enjoyed playing catch as well as hopscotch, which proves endlessly entertaining because she hasn’t quite mastered the developmental skill.
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THE CERVICAL SPINE: Bottom Up Bobble Head
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You don’t have to be a typical bobble head to enjoy the cervical spine. With a quick dabble in Applied Functional Science (AFS), we can avoid the embarrassment of a constant bobbling head, all while employing a “Bottom Up” strategy. This is going to be an “enter-active” article where you will “enter” into the story and “actively” play out the words.
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PROPRIOCEPTORS 101: How to Really Get On Your Clients'/Patients' Nerves
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In Applied Functional Science, one of the Principles of Function that we anchor to is that Function is three-dimensional (3D). With this Principle, we include tri-planar movements as well as the “3D-ness” of mind, body, and spirit. When we look at the body, we take into consideration the trio of nerves, muscles, and bones that is the NeuroMusculoSkeletal (NMS) System.
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