NEW PROGRAM - Motor Control
Motor control is the connection between your brain and the way your muscles fire. When your motor control is working as it should your brain cues the correct muscles to support your joints doing activities so the joints remain stable and painless, however when impaired as is frequently the case with back pain patients your joints are not supported as the wrong muscles attempt to take over a task they are not suited to. Motor control is vital to recovery. Doing stretching and strengthening exercises without correcting motor control can delay or prevent recovery as more time is spent using the wrong muscles than using the right muscles. If you exercise for a couple of hours a day using good form unfortunately often you can spend the rest of the day using bad alignment and faulty patterns of muscle activity.
Faulty motor control often starts before the pain then worsens as the pain sets in. This is because certain muscles become weak so in order to keep you upright and moving the brain switches that muscle off and uses another to attempt to replace it. As the pain starts the brain then tries to avoid the painful area completely and the situation becomes more extreme. Some classic signs of faulty motor control are certain muscles becoming over tight and sore, tasks seeming to be harder for you than they should be and a change in the way you move, for example finding you turn a foot out when you normally wouldn't etc.
A couple of tests for motor control:
1. Stand on one leg. Use a mirror and watch for any drop to the pelvis on the other side, check your standing foot for pronating, and your balance. If you get pelvic drop, or the pelvis on the weight-bearing side has slid out to the side, a foot that pronates or wobbles around or can't balance like this chances are your motor control is faulty and has switched off the gluteus medius. This is a very common finding in patients with sacroiliac problems.
2. Make a conscious effort to lift the pelvic floor and pull in the lower abdominals and get used to how this feels. If whilst doing this you cannot breathe easily or it feels like a huge effort chances are your deep stabilising muscles have switched off. Pay attention to the next few times you bend or move around and see if it feels like those muscles contract before the activity. If not, you have motor control issues.
There are lots of ways the body compensates but many are predictable and addressed in our new section about motor control. It is vital to help recovery and prevent reinjury to address motor control problems. If you do not the pain may go away temporarily but return after a short period of time because of faulty movements.
Our brand new section covers some typical motor control problems and teaches you how to correct them. By following the suggestions it can reduce the amount of exercise you need to recover as it teaches the patient to use the weak muscles in everyday life. We recommend you try the motor control movements alongside the stretching and strengthening program.
If you buy both programs save £2.50. Both programs for only £20.00!
To buy the Motor Control Program for £9.99 click here:
To buy the Exercise Program and the Motor Control Program for £20.00 Click here: