Exercise is one of the most valuable tools when recovering from an injury.
Unfortunately, it is overused in musculoskeletal healthcare.
In order for your corrective exercises to help your problem, the following things must happen:
1) Your muscle must be undertrained.
Notice I did not say "weak". A muscle can be "weak" for many reasons. The most common reason a muscle will be "weak" is because it is inhibited. It can be inhibited because of pain, a nerve entrapment, or joint damage. In these examples a "strong" contraction would do further damage or be painful, so the brain inhibits that muscle, which will make it "weak". Your doctor needs to be able to identify a muscle that is inhibited versus a muscle that is undertrained. An undertrained muscle's strength should be measured and strengthened accordingly.
2) Your joint must have full range of motion.
Full range of motion is important for two reasons.
- Strength training through a limited range of motion places increased load on your joint. This is bad news because your joint is already injured. For this reason, your motion must always be restored first before starting strength exercise.
- If you have full range of motion you have healthy muscle tissue. If your muscle can fully lengthen, it is free of adhesion. Adhesion limits a muscles ability to stretch and contract. Adhesion free muscles are primed and ready for the benefits of exercise.
3) Your corrective exercise must be performed in a manner that actually trains your undertrained muscle. This means two important things:
- First, your doctor has to give you an exercise that trains your muscle in the manner it is undertrained. For example, if you have a muscular endurance problem, but keep doing strength exercise, you will continue to have your injury because you have not trained your muscle in the manner that is undertrained.
- Second, you have to do the exercise correctly. In my office, I give one strength exercise at a time. This may seem like I am not giving enough. However, if I have identified the muscle that is weak, I do not need more than one specific exercise to strengthen that muscle. I need you to do the exercises with technique that actually strengthens your muscle. I cannot tell you how many patients show up with multiple sheets of exercises from a physical therapist or a chiropractor that they do not know how to do correctly.
4) You actually have to do your exercises. The exercise you are given is a prescription. If you didn't take your medicine in the dose and frequency that your medical doctor prescribed, you wouldn't expect to get better. The same thing goes for your exercise. The only thing worse than having to do your exercises is not doing them.
Dr. Andrew Wengert is trained in the most advanced conservative treatments for correcting problems in the muscles and joints, and offers the clinical excellence you need to recover.