thebodymechanic.ca

Poor hip extension is a favourite of boogeyman for all manner of back and leg injuries. I have reservations about its relevance to pain and injury in terms of how the hip flexors get tight and the relevance of regional interdependence to pain (see here and here). Yet, I do [...]

A recent article in BMJ by Deb Cohen entitled “The truth about sports drinks” got a lot of people very excited, me included.  The article seemed well written to me but I don’t know enough in this area to be legitimately critical.  And that was the problem with the article.  [...]

Background: Testing and assessing an individual is popular.  There is an old saying that if you aren’t assessing than you are guessing.  The assumption here is that the tests and assessments you do are somehow relevant and meaningful yet I would suggest that the majority of tests and the information [...]

Audience: Patients Purpose: To highlight the poor link between the bogeymen found on imaging with pain or dysfunction. Our current technology is amazing when it comes to viewing the insides of our body.  The problem with this fantastic technology is that we can see something (e.g. a tear in a [...]

Purpose: summarize three recent papers looking at the running economy of running barefoot Three recent papers have been published looking at barefoot, vibrams, minimal shoes and cushioned running shoes and their associated running economy (i.e. energy cost associated with running at a specific speed). The research is a bit murky. [...]

Exceptions to the joint-by-joint approach – by Greg Lehman with commentary from Bret Contreras. by Greg Lehman and Bret Contreras Quick Background: The joint-by-joint (JBJ) approach, popularized by Mike Boyle and Gray Cook (link here), is a method of categorizing how each joint should ideally function and what tendencies a joint might have toward [...]

Purpose: Demonstrate a case of an altered nerve tension in a runner that may be exacerbated by their running technique. Case Details Female, late twenties, competitive runner (sub 20 minute 5km, 1:30 half marathon, 3:15 full marathon) Symptoms - 2 year history of left lateral lower leg pain that comes [...]

Audience: Therapists and Strength Coaches Purpose: To justify the use of a variety of exercises (even general exercises) for training, rehabilitation and injury prevention and question the application of movement specificity principles. The Gist of this Post: Specificity of training is an important component of rehabilitation and strength and conditioning but [...]

Audience: Anyone interested in Foam Rolling I recently read a review of some new foam rolling research (and then read the original paper as well) that concluded that foam rolling resulted in increases in knee flexion range of motion without any decreases in other areas of muscular function that are [...]

Audience: Runners and Therapists Background: Changing running form, particularly through the aid of minimalist or barefoot running, is often proposed to change the type of forces that the body experiences during running.  This in turn may influence of risk for injuries. Source of information: Zadpoor et al (2011), Lieberman et [...]

Thanks for the comments. I completely agree. I love the point about novel movements increasing variability leading to increasing capacity ...

Hi Greg, as a barefoot runner of about 10 years I have a few observations for you. First, much ...

Great article, Greg. I truly enjoy your thoughtful inquiries and insight. The single leg balance has little motor relationship to running ...

Thanks Michelle, Why not just watch them run and break that down if we want to analyze things? Mi biggest ...

To me it seems like single leg stance is more of a foundational aspect of running. Anyone who runs should ...

I guess proper double-blind studies with control groups are a necessity now as false positives seem to crop up everywhere ...

"Thank you Greg for introducing these ideas in the context of foam rollers and “to roll or not to roll” ...

I think that this is all great. But unless i missed it and I could have, what IS the solution ...

Sounds great Bret, I should probably get cracking and send you what I have. Greg

Thanks Anoop, Will read your site. greg