❌ It’s not always sciatica ⚡️ I had a patient come in a few weeks ago where she was told by her medical doctors that her pain was sciatica (even though she had no hard neurological signs). So I did an assessment and discovered that her back, buttock and leg pain were all coming from a single joint - the SIJ. Luckily she responded very well to these exercises and is now walking around pain free ✌🏻 Tell me your thoughts ⬇️ are you dealing with a ‘disc bulge’ or have been told that you have ‘sciatica’? Does it stop you from trying new things? Do you have pain right now? What’s been your experience? ⬇️⬇️ #sciatica #sciaticpain #sciaticnerve #lowbackpain

Uneven hips? Does it feel like your hips are uneven and this is related to your low back feeling jammed? One cause can be due to a ‘tight’ quadratus lumbotum (or QL for short). Stretches and mobility exercises can help to restore a normal length-tension relationship, swipe LEFT to see how! If this post resonates with you drop a ❤️ and let me know how you’re doing ⬇️ #backpain #chronicpainwarrior #chronicpainrelief #chronicpain

🙈I used to think stretching was enough 🙈 I remember early in my career I used to think stretching the calves and foot muscles was enough to get over plantar fasciitis. After all, this was what we were taught in the academy. But as I learned more about strength and conditioning I realized that stretching / massage wasn’t really enough. Why? Because it never got my feet stronger. While I felt good during the stretches, as soon as I had to walk for more than 20 minutes my feet used to hurt just as much 😩 Fed up, I decided to do unconventional foot strengthening drills. And while it took some time for them to get stronger (like working out in a gym) I finally was able to recover completely, and I haven’t had issues since! These are some of the things I did (but not everything). If you want to see more let me know! #anklemobility #footpain #plantarfasciitis #toemobility #bunions #sprainedankle

🚨DEADLIFT BACK PAIN🚨 If you’ve got back pain during deadlifts and find that resting just isn’t a helpful option, then try checking out this video! This exercise helps to create more stability in your low back so that you can lift pain free. #sijoint #sijointpain #lowbackpain #backpainrelief #hipmobility #deadlift

💢QL Related Low back pain?💢 Read More . 🦸🏻‍♂️ Hello heroes! Today’s post focuses on a muscle called the QL which is short for the Quadratus Lumborum. This muscle attaches from the 12th rib, to the pelvis and the lumbar spine and is responsible for side bending and extension of the low back. These two motions when combined can also create some rotation, which is why this muscle often works together with your obliques. Feeling tension in this muscle is not too uncommon, and is may be felt in those who are particularly active in the gym setting. Depending on how you perform movements like your bent over row, squat, or deadlift, this muscle can become overworked and irritated. If you notice that this happens, it’s best to get your form assessed by a professional. . Strengthening this muscle and the muscles it works together with can go a long way in decreasing the amount of tension it experiences. By increasing it’s capacity to handle load, it can better tolerate the stresses and demands you expose it to. Likewise strengthening the obliques can help to offload how much work the QL has to do in the first place. Exercises that focus on end range strengthening or stabilizing the lumbar spine in the frontal plane will end up targeting these muscles. Here are some exercise options: ▪️ Standing Side Crunch ▪️ Overhead Pallof Press ▪️ Pallof Press ▪️ QL Pendulums ▪️ Roman Chair Side Crunch ▪️ Banded Side Plank Side Kick . 🇨🇦 Looking for a therapist that understands your functional needs? We are now accepting new patients in-person in Markham & Toronto! Click the link in bio to book an appointment . 👆🏻Follow for daily exercise content 🙌🏻 Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #sijoint #sijointpain #lowbackpain #backpainrelief #hipmobility

🚨FIX SHOULDER PAIN🚨 Here are some things to think about when it comes to shoulder pain: 1. Do I have full range of motion? If the answer to this question is a no then it may be a good idea to do some stretching exercise to improve your flexibility, however generally speaking, stretches should not push through pain unless you have specific conditions like frozen shoulder. If the answer is yes, skip this step. 2. Do I have full end range strength? This refers to your ability to engage your muscles in stretched positions. Whether or not you need this type of strength is goal dependent, for example a baseball pitcher will require more than a desk worker. If you have sufficient amounts for your goals, then skip this step. 3. Are my shoulders strong? This can refer to any number of muscles including the rotator cuff, deltoids, chest muscles and your back muscles since they all work together to control the shoulder. Strengthening exercises function to trigger your tendons and muscles to get stronger & healthier. One of the most underrated things you can do to improve your shoulder health is to strengthen the upper and mid back. Muscles like the rotator cuff, deltoids, and Latissimus Dorsi have a huge influence on shoulder function due to their anatomical attachments. Swipe left to see a few example exercises. 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients in Toronto & Markham. Book in with us by using the link in bio. #shoulderpain #shoulderrehab #shouldersurgery #shouldermobility #rotatorcuffrehab #rotatorcuffsurgery #labraltear #shoulderimpingement

🚨LOWER TRAPEZIUS STRENGTHENING🚨 🦸‍♂️Do you have scapular winging? One type of scapular winging is called inferior border winging and this can be seen statically or during movement. Originally it was thought that this can be a cause of shoulder impingement due to its uneven movement patterns and it was believed to cause pain. That said, recent research contradicts previous notions of scapular winging as it was observed to be present even in those without pain. As mentioned in my last post, scapular winging may be positive adaptation as it tends to be seen more in those who require more shoulder function (such as tennis players). Why might this be the case? 💢The problem with reducing all shoulder problems down to scapular winging is that it takes ZERO consideration of individual needs. Postural observation of scapular winging in static positions also has little to no value when most shoulder issues occur during motion. Instead, assessing a shoulder while it is in motion and challenging a person’s ability to mobilize and stabilize the scapula proves to be more valuable as it provides a baseline that we can work with & progress from. 📚If a winged scapula is found to be related to your shoulder pain, or if extra shoulder blade posterior tilting or up rotation is needed, then targeting the lower trapezius muscle is a good start: ▪️ Prone Elbow Raise ▪️ Dowel Y-Raise Lift Off ▪️ T-Y Raise ▪️ Y-Raise Press ▪️ Banded Angels ▪️ Serratus Wall Slide 📍 If you’re still dealing with issues it may be time to move on from a simple program. For personalized programs its recommended to do 1-on-1 consults with a healthcare professional. If you’re in Markham or Toronto and want to see one of our qualified clinicians click the link in bio or visit http://rehabhero.ca to book an appointment 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! ➖➖➖➖➖ #rehabhero #shoulderpain #shouldermobility

DOES YOUR UPPER BACK AND SHOULDERS GET STIFF? 📚The muscles of the upper back and shoulders are muscles that cross many joints and regions, namely the cervical spine, thoracic spine, and scapulothoracic joint. Luckily it’s due to this that the muscles can start to be mobilized when you move all three regions, individually or together as a group. While many will statically stretch these muscle (and this may help for temporary relief), we much prefer to do mobility exercises instead. The difference between mobility exercises and stretches is that one is dynamic and the latter is static. Mobility exercises require active engagement of your muscles to move through a range of motion, while stretches require the muscles to be passively relaxed. We prefer mobility exercises over stretches due to this fundamental difference. That said, having the ability to go into a good stretch is a requirement for mobility exercises, so depending on where you are on your exercise journey, you may want to start with stretches instead ✅We like to do mobility exercises as it helps with blood circulation and end range strengthening of the involved muscles. It also gives you better awareness of your range of motion, and gets you to control the ranges that you have available to you. Muscle tension can sometimes be experienced after a long day at work because you are asking for them to do the same thing over and over again for an extended period of time. Moving through a range of motion can help to relieve tension that you feel and to get your muscles to do what they do best - to MOVE. Here are some mobility exercises that you can do at your desk (and one on the floor): ▪️ Thoracic Openers ▪️ Seated Floor Taps ▪️ Seated Rotation & Reach ▪️ Shoulder Rolls ▪️ Irradiated Thoracic Rotations ▪️ Floor Angels 🇨🇦 Looking to get some personalized help with your recovery? Book in with one of our therapists in Toronto or Markham using the link in bio. 👉🏻 Follow @rehabhero 🙌🏻 Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

Your ‘chest muscles’ refer to the pectoralis minor and pectoralis major muscles. As large muscles that cross the front of the shoulder, they play an important role not just in internal rotation or horizontal adduction, but also in co-contracting to stabilize the anterior shoulder. In this regard, strengthening the chest muscles can help to protect the rotator cuff muscles and shoulder joint. The best part is that these exercises do not have to be ‘rehab’ specific. Often exercises used in regular strength training programs can help to achieve the results that we’re looking for, BUT with a small change. Emphasis on controlled tempo or speed of the movement is important. Here are some regular exercises that you can do on a cable pulley: ▪️Cable Fly ▪️Cable Chest Press ▪️Low Cable Fly 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero Got a question? Let me know in the comments below! #rehabhero #rotatorcuff #chestworkout #pushworkout #calisthenics #shoulderpain

🚨STIFF LOW BACK🚨 If you’re looking to improve your lumbar flexibility then a foam roller might be what you need to get started. However, unlike what the name implies, some of the techniques you can do don’t require rolling at all. Instead, doing what we call and ischemic compression can help to give you the range of motion gains that you’re looking for. Following this up with stretches or active range of motion exercises can help to prolong or maintain the benefits you’ve received from using the foam roller. Heres an example mobility program: ▪️QL Foam Roll ▪️Abdominal Wall Foam Roll ▪️Obliques Foam Roll ▪️Lumbar Cat Cow ▪️Lower Log Roll 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero Comment ‘EXERCISES’ below to be DM’d FREE ACCESS to our Low Back Mobility Exercise Library! #rehabhero #sciatica #lowbackpain #chiropractor #deadlift #squat #powerlifting #romwod

🚨Dealing with tendinitis?🚨 To be quite honest, dealing with tendinitis issues can be frustrating but the path to recovery is straight forward. The main ingredient for a successful tendon rehab program is smart exercise programming that involves incremental exercise progressions. Exercise progressions can take many different shapes and forms. Some forms of progression include increasing the weight lifting, slowing down the speed of your lift, decreasing the stability of the exercise, or changing a movement from a 2-hand movement to a 1-hand movement. The best part about tendon programs is that the exercises selected can be adjusted to your comfort levels. While some discomfort can be expected during the exercise, pushing through pain is not necessarily required. The triceps tendon can be a common cause of elbow pain if the pain is located at the back of the elbow. It can be experienced during activities that require elbow extension such as during overhead presses, push ups or dips. Deloading the elbow by adjusting to levels that are tolerable is one way to scale back your exercise intensity while also building the tendon back up. Here are some examples: ▪️Cable Overhead Triceps Extension ▪️Beer Pong Extensions ▪️Single Arm Triceps Pushdown ▪️Tricep Pushdown ▪️Cable Tricep Kickback ▪️Single Arm Tricep Overhead Extension ▪️Rope Tricep Pushdown 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Got Pain? Now accepting new patients in Toronto & Markham. Book in with us by using the link in bio. #rehabhero #triceps #tricepsworkout #elbowpain #physiotherapy #sportschiro #pushups #calisthenics

🚨Stretching now working? Try engaging instead🚨 The rhomboids are a pair of muscles found in what we call the interscapular region. This muscle is largely responsible for scapular retraction (pulling the shoulder blades towards each other) and scapular stabilization. When injured, this muscle can cause pain in the mid or upper back regions during pulling or overhead movements. Stretching this muscle for short term relief is all too common. While some movement is sometimes better than no movement, there is little to no justification for the stretching of this muscle in the absence of limited range of motion (into protraction) or muscular contracture. So why are we still stretching when there are more suitable exercise options? Instead, exercises that engage the muscle against resistance may be more beneficial. This can stimulate the muscle to positively adapt, provide an analgesic effect, and improve local blood flow. Luckily, keeping it simple works well and conventional ‘workout’ exercises can be an easy solution. Here are some examples: ▪️Cable Scapular Pulldown ▪️Cable Divergent Pulldown ▪️Cable Reverse Fly ▪️Cable Row ▪️Overhand Grip Cable Row ▪️Underhand Grip Cable Row 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients in Toronto & Markham. Book in with us by using the link in bio. #rehabhero #backpain #pullworkout #backday #rhomboids #scapularmobility #posture

❌Tight Neck & Shoulders?❌ Keep Reading! The muscle of the neck and shoulders can start to experience localized stiffness after a long day of work. Why? Previously it was thought this happened due to ‘poor posture’ but now it is better understood to occur due to ‘lack of movement’. Rather than it be about holding specific posture, we now know that symptoms can arise even if you hold ‘good posture’ for long periods of time. This is why the phrase “the best posture is your next posture” has been coined by many therapists to educate their patients to continue to be active When taking this into account, mobilizing the muscles / joints of the neck and shoulders will be the main goal. Whether they be stretches, stability, strengthening or mobility exercises, all of them can contribute to feeling better at the end of the day. Here are a few movements by Rehab Hero massage therapists @og.lau and @jonahren.rehab Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 🇨🇦 Book Appointments in the GTA today (link in bio) ➖➖➖➖➖ # rehabhero #neckpain #headache

🍑LEVEL UP YOUR BUTT 🍑 The gluteus maximus is the strongest glute muscle and is largely responsible for hip extension, abduction, and external rotation. The forces it generates help you with propelling movements like sprinting, jumping, and stair climbing. It also functions as a local stabilizer by co-contracting with your hip flexors for sacroiliac joint compression, and a global stabilizer by keeping the pelvis relatively level during gait. It’s through these mechanisms that a dysfunctional gluteus maximus could be related to low back, pelvis, or hip pain. Luckily, since we’re dealing with a muscle it responds quite well to exercise. Any exercise that helps to challenge this muscle both dynamically and through stabilization can help to restore optimal function. Some examples include: ▪️Isometric Kick Back ▪️Hip Butterfly’s ▪️Elevated Glute Bridge March ▪️Kneeling Hip Airplane ▪️Lat Pull Single Leg Bridge ▪️Elevated Glute Bridge 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients in Toronto & Markham. Book in with us by using the link in bio. #rehabhero #glutes #gluteusmaximus #hipthrusters #legday #lowbackpain

🚨Got ‘tight traps’?🚨 The ‘traps’ is a slang term used to refer to the upper trapezius muscle, which is a scapular, cervical, and thoracic muscle. This muscle is often blamed for being the culprit of tension and pain, particularly in the shoulder region. It sometimes may also be a source of headaches if they’re causing referral pain. In this same region are other muscles that may be symptomatically similar including the levator scapulae, splenius cervicis and splenius capitus. If these muscles are feeling ‘tight’ or are causing headaches, one solution is to use a massage ball to decrease symptoms. This can help with improving circulation, desensitizing pain, and increase mobility. Here are a few examples (swipe left to view): ▪️Upper Trapezius Active Massage ▪️Levator Scapulae Active Massage ▪️Upper Trapezius Active Release In addition to self massage exercises, active mobility exercises help to maintain joint range of motion and a healthy length tension relationship in your muscles. Exercise examples include: ▪️Ghost Heads ▪️Cervical Circles 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients in Toronto & Markham. Book in with us by using the link in bio. #rehabhero #shoulderpain #neckpain #headaches #textneck

💢WHAT ARE INTRINSIC FOOT MUSCLES?💢 🦸🏻‍♂️ Hello Heroes! Today we’ll be talking about one of the most common causes of foot pain Plantar Fasciitis. Plantar Fasciitis occurs when there is inflammation in the plantar fascia, particularly at the origin of the Flexor Digitorum Brevis Muscle (located at the medial process of the Calcaneal Tuberosity). It is associated with heel pain as well as pain along the inner aspect of the foot particularly during weight bearing movements. The intrinsic foot muscles function to support the arches of your feet and the plantar fascia. 📚 Chronic overuse of the plantar fascia cause pain in the foot. Activities such as prolonged repetitive walking or running can cause micro-trauma to the involved tissues, leading to chronic inflammation and pain. This tends to occur when the rate of micro-trauma exceeds the rate of tissue recovery. During the gait cycle, tension increases in the plantar fascia to store potential energy during the Heel-Lift stage. This energy is then converted into kinetic energy at the Toe-Off stage to cause passive contraction of the plantar fascia. This mechanism creates foot acceleration to produce efficient locomotion To begin the rehabilitation process a combination of soft tissue mobilization and intrinsic foot muscle strengthening is required. In addition partaking in relative rest will be important for reducing symptoms. Here are the Soft Tissue Mobilization exercises: ▪️Toe Spread Extension ▪️Midfoot Twist ▪️Metatarsal Open Book Here are the intrinsic foot muscle strengthening exercises: ▪️Short Foot ▪️Short Foot Band Holds ▪️Forefoot Lift Split Squat 🇨🇦 Now accepting new patients in Markham & Toronto! Click the link in bio to book an appointment 👆🏻Follow for daily exercise content 🙌🏻 Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero #footpain #bunions #plantarfascia #vivobarefoot #barefootshoes #footexercises

Limited shoulder range of motion? One of the best ways to address range of motion limitations is through stretches. Stretches will work to improve what we call ‘passive’ range of motion. This refers to the general ability of a joint to move through different ranges. Establishing good passive range of motion is a requirement for general shoulder mobility. How do you know you have passive ROM limitations? General symptoms will include the inability to position the arm optimally in different activities including reach overhead or behind you. Here are a few movement examples: ▪️Assisted Shoulder External Rotation ▪️Dowel Shoulder Pull ▪️Banded Lats Stretch ▪️Floor Chest Stretch 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Book in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #shoulderstretch #shouldermobility #shoulderpain #frozenshoulder

🚨WRIST STABILITY > MOBILITY🚨 Getting recurrent wrist issues even though you keep stretching them out? Your issue might have nothing to do with flexibility. The wrist joint is built for mobility to allow us to do a multitude of tasks, however issues can sometimes arise if it isn’t stabilizing well through these movements. The muscles surrounding the wrist and forearm need to contract and co-contract in order to stabilize the joints deep to them. And stretching does little to none in helping to improve this. Wrist stability issues can sometimes be masked by overlying mobility issues. A lot of the symptoms feel the same… you can have pinching pain, tension, or lingering aches during or after activities. So understandably it can be confusing as to why stretches aren’t working. Luckily we have a few PNF stretches and strengthening exercises that can help to restore stability into the wrist. Unlike regular stretches, PNF stretches work to get your muscles to contract in end range positions allowing you to train up stabilizing these movements: ▪️Banded Straight Bar Pronation ▪️PNF Pronator Stretch ▪️Seated PNF Pronator Stretch ▪️Seated PNF Supinator Stretch 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #wriststability #wristpain #pushup #calisthenics #forearm

🚨GLUTE STRENGTH FOR HIP HEALTH🚨 The Gluteus Maximus muscle is one of the biggest muscles in the body and is one of the strongest extensors of the hip. Functionally it helps you to propel yourself forward while going up stairs, running, or getting up from a seated position. It additionally helps to stabilize the sacroiliac joint, playing a role in reducing pelvic or low back pain. It also helps with knee stability as it is one of your most powerful hip abductors as well. It’s through these actions that it is important to consider this muscle in cases of low back, pelvic, hip, or knee pain. One of the best ways to target the glute max is through hip extension exercises such as the step up or Bulgarian split squat. When starting out, the lack of balance can be a barrier to unilateral strengthening of this muscle. Luckily we’ve created a fairly simple solution so that you can progress in loads lifted while your balance ability develops overtime: ▪️Assisted Step Up ▪️Assisted Dumbbell Step Up ▪️Assisted Bulgarian Split Squat ▪️Assisted Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #hipextension #stepup #gluteusmaximus #buttworkouts #glutes #hipthrust #hippain

🚨LOW BACK & CORE BREATHING🚨 Strain your low back? A pulled back often refers to straining one of your lumbar extensor muscles including the erector spinae or quadratus lumborum. And this can hurt! Pain can often be felt while going into lumbar flexion or extension, and sometimes with rotation as well. One mistake that a lot of people make during the acute phase of healing (first 4 days after getting injured) is to rest completely or to start excessively stretching. The problem with both of these things is that it can cause delays in recovery and may even aggravate your symptoms. Instead, it’s much more beneficial to continue exercises but within tolerable limits. One great way to do this is through abdominal bracing and breathing exercises. Core exercises focus on increasing activation of muscles for stabilizing the spine. Of the many out there, the transversus abdominis is one that we like to target. By learning to activate this muscle while engaging abdominal breathing, you can also reduce any ‘muscle guarding’ that might be making your symptoms worse. Here’s a few exercise examples: ▪️Abdominal Breathing Dead Bug ▪️Abdominal Breathing Kettlebell Dead Bug ▪️Adductor Squeeze Elevated Bridge 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #backpain #lowbackpain #sciatica

🚨LATS FOR BACK HEALTH🚨 Did you know that the Lats aka Latissimus Dorsi muscle is a potential source of low back pain? The lats attach from the shoulder to the lower back through the thoracolumbar fascia. Issues relating to the lats could cause dysfunction, tension or pain in the low back, pelvic or tail bone regions. In this part of the body the lats work to engage in lumbar stability. This is particularly important for movements such as the deadlift. The problem is that many people only ‘feel’ their Lats engage in the armpit region and not in the lower back region. Luckily there are exercises that are focused on maximizing awareness of the lower fibers. These exercises work best with a functional trainer or cable pulley machine but can be replaced with exercise bands: ▪️Half Kneel Lower Lat Pulldown ▪️Cable Single Arm Row ▪️Lower Lat Pulldown ▪️Supine Cable Pullover 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #backpain #backexercise #sciatica #lowbackpain #lowback

🚨Neck exercises for shoulder & back pain? YUP🚨 Did you know that structures of your lower cervical spine could be causing some of that tension experienced in your upper back and shoulders? Cervical dorsalgia is the term coined to name this phenomenon. The facet joints, joint capsule, or nerve bundle can be contributing to the symptoms you’re experiencing, especially if they’re irritated from being under chronic stress. This might be why you don’t get any relief when doing regularly prescribed stretches. While stretches are great for myofascial tissues, they do little to no good to target your nerves and joints. So instead, joint mobilization exercises and nerve flossing exercises can be done ✅ to target the correct structures. Here’s a few examples: ▪️Median Nerve Flossing ▪️Ulanr Nerve Flossing ▪️Radial Nerve Flossing ▪️Quadruped Neck Circles ▪️Banded Cervical Distraction ▪️Ghost Heads 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #neckpain #headache #upperbackpain #shoulderpain

💢Wrist or elbow issues? GET MORE WRIST STABILITY💢 Did you know that the muscles of the wrist and elbow are part of your forearm? The muscle groups involved are the supinators, pronators, wrist flexors and wrist extensors. These 4 groups of muscles need to contract & co-contract to stabilize both the wrist and elbow during any type of upper limb activity that involves gripping of any nature. This is why issues like tennis elbow or golfers elbow occurs when doing activities that involve your wrist such as opening a tight jar, gripping a heavy pan, or chopping vegetables. This of course also applies to athletic activities or exercises such as the overhead shoulder press or lateral raise. Luckily the solution is simple: build up your wrist stability over a period of a few weeks to months using stability exercises. Here’s a few by Rehab Hero massage therapist @jonahren.rehab: ▪️Straight Bar PNF Wrist Pronation ▪️Anti-Supination Straight Bar Curl ▪️Anti-Pronation Straight Bar Curl ▪️Anti-Pronation Reverse Curl 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #wristpain #elbowpain #tenniselbow #golferselbow #wriststability #rockclimbing

🚨SHOULDER MOBILITY DRILLS🚨 Lacking shoulder mobility? Maybe you noticed that things feel funky in your end ranges? Shoulder mobility is the amount of active range of motion that you have. This refers to your ability to CONTROL your range of motion. Unlike passive range of motion exercises (like stretches), AROM exercises are about contracting muscles through movement. Mobility exercises are exercises that focus on what we call end range strengthening. These exercises challenge you in hard to reach positions and are often done under low load (no weights needed). The purpose is to allow for good movement competency. These exercises work great as a warm up before your upper body activities or they can be done daily to improve your baseline mobility. 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehbahero #shouldermobility #shoulderpain #shoulderpress #benchpreaa #pushday #upperbodyworkout #rotatorcuff

😭Got tight hips?😭 When referring to tight hips we are referring to the lack of range of motion via muscle contracture. This can occur with or without symptoms of muscle tension, aches, or pain. While stretches are often prescribed for pain, it will only directly affect it IF it relates to the lack of hip flexibility. So why is hip flexibility important? The hips are a ball and socket joint and they are designed to move in multiple angles and planes. As such, they also have many muscles surrounding it to allow for them to move through 7 main movements: extension, flexion, internal rotation, external rotation, abduction, adduction, and circumduction. When one range is limited, it can affect other ranges due to some muscles having multiple functions. Luckily we have a few exercise examples of how to stretch out your hip! Swipe left to check them out! 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #hipflexibility #hipmobility #hippain

💢LEARN TO USE YOUR HIPS💢 Ever wondering why your back is getting sore when recovering from leg workouts? It may have to do with your form. While whether or not your back gets sore with or without ‘good form’ depends more on training volume than any other factor, lifting optimally can help to minimize fatigue build up in non-target areas like the low back. This is just one way that the low back gets sore or achy after doing lots of squats or deadlifts. If this is your case, then doing a program to ingrain hip hinge mechanics into your lifting routine can be beneficial. Exercises can be done as a warmup or on a regular basis to keep the body primed. If you’re doing it as a warm up, only 1 variation in today’s post is really needed to get things going. BUT if you’re learning to hinge for the first time, progressing through the series in order is the better way to go. When choosing where to start, try out the easiest one and work your way through until you reach the one that feels like a 6/10 difficulty for you. 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #hiphinge #lowbackpain #backpain #sciatica #deadlift #squatuniversity

🚨SHOULDER IMPINGEMENT🚨 Pain at the front or top of the shoulder can be caused by a condition called subacromial impingement, which is one of many different types of shoulder impingement. In this condition the tendons of your rotator cuff get irritated due to the mechanical reasons. Luckily since this is a movement based problem, there is a movement based solution. One of the key factors is looking at which muscles may be limiting your movement. This can be ‘tight’ muscles or muscular contractors in your shoulder extensors (such as the Latissimus Dorsi). Stretching these muscles out can help to make your movement more efficient and therefore decrease the burden on your rotator cuff muscles. The second thing to look at is activating the rotator cuff muscles to control shoulder flexion. Here we do exercises to promote shoulder flexion control. Swipe left to view exercise examples ☺️ 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #shoulderpain #shoulderimpingement #rotatorcuff #shoulderday #deltoids

🏋️‍♂️Can’t get low with your squat? 🏋🏻‍♀️ When it comes to being able to squat low enough, and doing so comfortably, there are 2 main areas to address in the lower body: your ankles and your hips. Both of these joint require sufficient mobility in order for you to fully utilize your legs during the squat. Specifically it requires ankle Dorsiflexion and hip flexion + rotation mobility. Luckily we have a few exercise options for you to do in order to make your gains. These exercises can be completed as part of your pre-squat warmup for temporary gains or done daily long term gains. Generally speaking about 10-15 repetitions of each for 1-2 sets is enough to help you squat DEEP. Here are a few squat mobility exercises: ▪️Banded Ankle Dorsiflexion ▪️Ankle Scours ▪️Banded Hip Scour ▪️Worlds Greatest Stretch ▪️Knee to Heel Taps 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #squatuniversity #kneesovertoes #squatmobility #squats #legday #sbd #powerlifting #weightlifting

💢HIP BURSITIS RECOVERY💢 Hip bursitis refers to active inflammation of the bursa around the hip, namely the greater trochanteric bursa. Bursa are sacs of fluid placed to help reduce friction between soft tissues. However in times of chronic mechanical stress, they can become inflamed and painful. It’s important to identify to the root cause of this problem as it’ll impact your rehab program. One of the reasons this injury occurs is due to a lack of hip stability. Dynamic hip instability can cause an inefficient loading on muscles that cross the bursa leading irritation of the bursa. To overcome this simple isometric exercises that focus on hip stability can help: ▪️Isometric Wall Side Kick ▪️Isometric Glute Side Kick ▪️Isometric TFL Side Kick ▪️Isometric Banded Kickback 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #hipbursitis #hippain #hipmobility #hipstability

🥊SERRATUS ANTERIOR EXERCISES🥊 The serratus anterior, known as the boxer’s muscle, is an uncommon cause of mid back pain. This can occur as the result of overuse of the shoulder, particularly during pushing activities like push ups, dips, overhead press, bench press, etc. Referral pain may also be present in associated shoulder pathologies like rotator cuff tendinitis, shoulder impingement, or glenohumeral labral tears. While referral pain is uncommon, exercises focused on levelling up this muscle is helpful for most shoulder injuries as the SA provides much needed stability to the thoracoscapular region. It can also improve shoulder mechanics by allowing your shoulder blade to move into more optimal positions. Here are some exercise examples: ▪️Serratus Side Punch ▪️Banded Side Punch ▪️Serratus Scoop 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #serratus #shoulderpain #backpain #shoulderstability

🚨SHOULDER PAIN RECOVERY🚨 Got shoulder pain at the front of your shoulder? Does it hurt particularly when you raise the arm forwards or overhead? Maybe it hurts just by holding something heavy or while doing a biceps curl? If so, one thing to consider is a proximal biceps tendon injury. The biceps tendon attaches onto the shoulder via the supraglenoid tubercle (long head) and coracoid process of the scapula (short head). The long head is stabilized by tendinoligamentous structures including the tendons of 2 rotator cuff muscles, namely the supraspinatus and subscapularis. As such, a proximal biceps tendon injury can be related to rotator cuff function, and a comprehensive rehab program should include elements of rotator cuff strengthening or stabilization exercises. Examples of exercises that’ll target your rotator cuff muscles and biceps tendon include: ▪️Supinated Front Raise ▪️Banded Supinated Front Raise ▪️Supported Shoulder Internal Rotation ▪️Supported Shoulder External Rotation 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #shoulderpain #rotatorcuff

💢FIX SNAPPY HIPS💢 Got a hip that snaps and have no idea what it is? One of the causes for snapping felt on the outer hip or side of the hip is due to tight hip abductor muscles. It occurs when the ITB (iliotibial band) snaps over the greater trochanter of the femoral head. This happens as the ITB has excessive tension due to the pulling of the muscles that attach onto it. While it’s the ITB that is snapping, it’s occurring due to tight muscles. One way of improving snapping hips is to first focusing on increasing flexibility. Once that is achieved, practicing controlling the hip muscles through its full range of motion (aka mobility exercises) will allow you to gain functional control over the is muscle group. Here are a few exercise progressions: ▪️Dowel 90/90 ▪️90/90 Hip Switch ▪️90/90 Leg Lift ▪️90/90 Hip Thrust 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #hippain #hipstretch #hipmobility #hiphealth

🚨STOP STRETCHING START ACTIVATING🚨 🙋‍♂️ Who here has ‘tight traps’? 🙋‍♀️ Who here has been told to stretch them out for pain relief? While stretching is a widely prescribed type of exercise, in the absence of flexibility restrictions it does little to no good for long term relief. Most may notice that it helps in the moment but within minutes tension in the upper trapezius returns. Why’s this the case? Well it’s because it doesn’t do much to address the ROOT cause of the problem. While there are many different causes of ‘trap tension’ (including stress), one is due to peripheral nerve entrapment of the spinal accessory nerve (cranial nerve XI). This nerve passes through the posterior triangle of the neck and runs under a neck muscle called the sternocleidomastoid (or SCM) before innervatjng the trap. In this case a combination of nerve flossing AND full range of motion activation of these muscles can help to reduce nerve entrapment. Here’s a few examples: ▪️Spinal Accessory Nerve Flossing ▪️Gittleson Shrug ▪️Plate Shrug 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #tightshoulders #shoulderpain #shrugs #headache #posture

🚨FLEX YOUR SPINE (don’t worry it’s safe)🚨 There is a lot of misconception out there about how ‘dangerous’ it is to bend the spine while doing exercise, and while I may not recommend this for someone who is not accustomed to handling load, it is a safe activity to do if the volume management is well controlled. This also applies to exercises like the row. While ‘good form’ requires the back to be straight, we sometimes want ‘bad form’ in order to target certain structures more specifically or to train a specific movement. In the case of today’s videos we are aiming to target the rhomboids through its full range of motion with the thoracic erectors. By going through end range movements we aim to put muscles under tension in stretched positions while also learning how to contract out of it: ▪️Thoracic Flexion Row ▪️Dumbbell Lawnmower ▪️Rotational Row 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #rhomboids #backmobility #backworkout #pullday #backexercises #backpain

🚨DEVELOP YOUR CALF STRENGTH🚨 Do you have issues with your feet, ankles or knees? You might want to start thinking about strengthening your calves, especially if this group of muscles has been ignored in your exercise program. The calf muscles not only help to propel you forwards, they also work to stabilize the ankle. Calf exercises can help conditions like: ▪️Achilles Tendinitis ▪️Plantar Fasciitis ▪️Ankle Sprains ▪️Calf Strains ▪️Shin Splints ▪️Functional Foot Over Pronation When it comes to developing ‘functional’ health, changing up the way we strengthen the calves will be important. By strengthening them in different angles, you can build the ability to contract these muscles in multiple positions. Here are a few examples: ▪️Air Sit Calf Raise ▪️Plated Seated Calf Raise ▪️Knees Over Toes Single Leg Calf Raise ▪️Single Leg Flexor Hallucis Longus Calf Raise ▪️Swiss Ball Incline Calf Raise 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #achilles #achillestendon #calf #legday #anklestability #plantarfasciitis #plantarfascia #footpain #anklepain #footexercises #footstrength #kneesovertoes #vivobarefoot @vivobarefoot

🚨GET HEALTHIER ACHILLES🚨 Dealing with chronic Achilles issues is no fun, whether it’s post surgery reconstruction, tendinitis or tendinosis, it can greatly impact your ability to run or play sports. While many programs may focus on soft tissue mobility by including basic stretches, often this isn’t enough to stimulate positive tendon adaptations. In these cases inclusion of strengthening based exercises is important. The best type are TUT exercises or time under tension exercises. This means completing the movements in a slow and controlled manner. Generally changing up the tempo by doing a 4-7 second eccentric phase is one way of accomplishing this. Here are a few exercise examples of Achilles strengthening exercises: ▪️Seated Calf Raises ▪️Single Leg Eccentric Calf Raise ▪️Tip Toe Squats ▪️Split Squat Calf Raise We also decided to throw in 1 calf massage exercise to help decrease symptoms and open up a window of opportunity to do effective tendon loading. 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio!

💢LOOSEN TIGHT TRAPS💢 Has your massage therapist told you that you have “tight traps”? The traps often refer to the trapezius muscle, and often in the context of the upper region of the trapezius. This section of the trapezius is responsible for stabilizing the shoulder blades, shrugging the shoulders, and moving the head / neck. Tightness or “muscle knots” can build up for a number of reasons, with many of them positively responding to exercise. Contributing factors can be stress, inactivity, or spinal accessory nerve impingement. A mix of both mobility and activation exercises can help to relieve tension as a mix is needed for both short and long term benefits. Mobility exercises focus on loosening up the muscle (for pain relief) while activation exercises focus on levelling the muscle up (long term adaptation). Here are some examples of both: ▪️Upper Trapezius Active Massage ▪️Upper Trapezius Active Release ▪️Upper Trapezius PNF Stretch ▪️Overhead Shrug Neck Rotation ▪️Air Angel 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #shoulderpain #neckpain #headache #posture #shouldermobility

🚨GET MORE LUMBOPELVIC STABILITY🚨 Dealing with SIJ issues? One of the reasons might be due to insufficient joint stability. The SIJ is a joint formed between the tailbone and pelvis, and is greatly influenced by movements in the lumbar spine and hips. It is a joint that has been documented to have at most 3 degrees of movement meaning it’s not an area that you’d want a lot of mobility in. Those who suffer from SIJ pain can start to resolve their issues by doing stability exercises as these help to reinforce the surrounding muscles. Due to the required function of the SIJ, stability exercises can be considered to be a bigger priority than mobility exercises (although individual circumstances may require the opposite). Here are some stability exercise examples: ▪️Pelvic Setting ▪️Stale Deadbug ▪️Wall Press Deadbug ▪️Bear Crawl Hip Abduction ▪️Lat Pull Single Leg Bridge ▪️Stability Ball Curl 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #pelvicstability #lowbackpain #sciatica #lowback #squat #deadlift

💢ANKLE STABILITY💢 Ankle issues that seem to persist? If you’ve had an ankle sprain, pain isn’t the only thing that you’re dealing with. Sometimes sensations of instability or weakness can exist as well. Dealing with all three of these things can interfere quite a bit with your everyday athletic activities, but what can you do? Working on proprioception exercises comes in handy. These types of exercises focus on your single leg balance and strength. This can also speed up your recovery time and reduce pain and instability. They also work on returning function back into your ankle. Here are a few examples: ▪️Floor Taps ▪️Forefoot Lift Split Squat ▪️Single Leg Calf Raises ▪️Heel Raise Around The Worlds ▪️ Knee Slingshot 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #anklestability #anklepain #anklerehab #anklesprain #anklemobility

🚨LABRAL TEAR STABILITY🚨 When it comes to shoulder labral tears one thing holds true: stability beats mobility every single time. The shoulders labrum is found in the glenoid fossa of the scapula and is responsible for holding the humeral head in place by creating a vacuum seal between the joint surfaces. When torn, complications can arise as the vacuum seal is lost leading to joint instability. Depending on the severity of the tear and your lifestyle / activity goals, this condition can be managed conservatively using stability rehab exercises. Stability exercises focus on two things: developing joint proprioception (a.k.a. Space awareness) and co-contraction of your rotator cuff muscles. Here are are a few exercise examples: ▪️Banded Bottoms Up Press ▪️External Rotation Plate Perturbation ▪️Shoulder Halo ▪️Side Lying Uppercut ▪️Wall Ball Shoulder Circle ▪️Chaos Pull Press 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #shoulderinjury #labraltear #shoulderpain #rotatorcuff

🚨CORE EXERCISES🚨 Have you been told that core exercises are good for back pain? While not always true, it can certainly help if you’re experiencing issues with load based movements. By developing a strong core you can help to develop dynamic spine stability which can help to resolve issues such as ‘segmental spine instability’ and ‘catching pain’. Core exercises focus on FUNCTION rather than aesthetics. This means we want to develop both end a range strength AND neutral spine endurance. The first exercise focuses on oblique full range strength while the last 3 are exercise progressions of the plank exercise: ▪️kettlebell side crunch ▪️tall plank ▪️bosu ball tall plank ▪️Swiss ball tall plank 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #backpain #coreexercises #coreworkout #corestrength

🚨SCAPULAR WINGING EXERCISES🚨 Noticed that you have scapular winging? Although this issue may not be directly related to shoulder pain issues, sometimes it can affect whether or not your movements are optimal. This can affect your recovery time and sometimes contribute to issues such as shoulder impingement One way to start improving it is to activate the serratus anterior and lower trapezius muscles. Here’s a few things you can try: ▪️Quadruped Scapular Circles ▪️Elevated Scapular Push Up ▪️Unilateral Y-Raise ▪️Oblique Sit Arm Raise 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #scapularstability #scapula #shoulderpain #shoulderstability

🚨ROTATOR CUFF RECOVERY🚨 The rotator cuff is a group of muscles that function to stabilize the shoulder joint. When injured, it can be painful to raise the arm beside you, lift the arm overhead, or be painful to lie down on it. During early stage rehabilitation, focusing on increasing pain free range of motion is just one of many exercise goals. A combination of stretches (after the acute phase of healing) and self massage exercises can help to accomplish this. Here are a few exercise examples: ▪️ Supraspinatus Stretch ▪️ Prone W-Stretch ▪️ Yoga Block Chest Stretch ▪️ Supraspinatus Massage ▪️ Teres Minor Massage 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #rotatorcuff #rotatorcuffrehab #shoulderpain #shoulderpress #shouldermobility #deltoids

🚨GET MORE SCAPULAR MOBILITY🚨 Looking to level up your scapular health? One way is through range of motion drills that focus on increasing end range strength. Scapular mobility can be helpful if you’re dealing with shoulder issues, especially if you think it’s compensating for the lack of scapular motion. By leveling up your shoulder blade movement you can place yourself in better positions for more efficient loading. Here are some movements you can try: ▪️Prisoner Extension ▪️Scapular Flutters ▪️Scapular Pull Ups ▪️Prone Pinwheels ▪️Prisoner Side Crunch 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #scapula #shouldermobility #shoulderpain

🚨LEVEL UP YOUR KNEES🚨 Levelling up the knees doesn’t have to be complicated, in fact, the simpler the plan the more manageable the progression. Getting caught up in doing advanced exercises is easy to do, but it might not be the best thing for you. For beginners and advanced exercisers isometric exercises are a safe and effective way of strengthening the knees. From there, increasing the load through exercise modifications can help to prevent plateaus. Finally, learning to handle load through movement can help you to integrate your newfound strength through motion. Here’s an easy progression series for the quadriceps: ▪️Heel Raise Wall Sit ▪️Single Leg Wall Sit ▪️Weighted Wall Sit ▪️Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #kneepain #kneesovertoes #legday #legworkout #quadriceps

☀️DO THIS IN THE MORNING☀️ Are you the type to feel stiff in the hip or back in the morning? Then take a look at the Dynamic Lunge & Reach Stretch. This stretch focuses on targeting the muscles of the deep front line including the pectineus, iliacus, psoas, abdominals, and intercostals. The side that’s targeted is the side that has the knee planted (back leg). Generally this exercise can be done on both sides, with repetitions ranging from 10 to 20 and 2 to 3 sets. It really depends on what feels good for you! Give this mobility exercise a try and let me know how it goes in the comments below! 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #morningflow #morningstretch #hipstretch #backstretch #hipmobility #hipflexors #legday #legdayworkout

⚡️FIX SCIATICA⚡️ Did you know that one of the uncommon causes of sciatica is due to a muscle called the piriformis? The piriformis is a muscle found in the buttock and is found to be in close approximation to the sciatic nerve. When tight, this muscle can compress the nerve causing a decrease in nerve mobility, leading to sciatica leg and buttock pain. When it comes to recovering from this condition there are 3 things to think about: nerve mobility, muscle mobility, and muscle function. Here’s a few exercise examples: ▪️Seated Sciatic Nerve Flossing ▪️Supine Sciatic Nerve Flossing ▪️Glute Pretzel Stretch ▪️90/90 Hip Thrust ▪️Frog Bridge 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #sciatica #sciaticarelief #sciaticapain #hipmobility #hipstretch #morningstretch #yogaflow

💢STIFF BACK?💢 When most people get a stiff back the number one thing they think about is a tight muscle. While this can be the issue every now and then, getting a stiff back can also happen due to restricted joints. In the upper back we are referring to the thoracic facet joints, costovertebral joints and costotransverse joints. If your stiffness persists even though you’ve been foam rolling or self massaging it’s an indication that the muscles aren’t to blame. Luckily there lots that you can do to mobilize the joints. Joints benefit from exercises that involve oscillating movements. This is because movements allow joint fluid to circulate, which is important for nutrient delivery associated with recovery. Here’s how to mobilize the thoracic spine! 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #backmobility #backday #stiffback #backexercises #backstretch #homeworkouts

🚨WHATS THE DIFFERENCE?🚨 The front squat is a great exercise to do for strengthening the quadriceps, however with the conventional or clean grip version a lot of people may experience issues with their elbows or wrists. This tends to occur as the result of mobility limitations in the shoulder or arm, and at times it can even cause pain. In this case, alternatives come in handy to give your tendons and joints a break, while also buying you time to improve your mobility without risking deconditioning or weakening of your lower body. The main variations of the front squat include: ▪️Front Squat Cross Grip ▪️Zombie Squat If you’re still recovering from a front squat related injury, try giving these other versions out! 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #squat #olympicweightlifting #cleanpull #cleanandjerk #frontsquat #crossfit

🚨BUILD BETTER KNEES🚨 More frustrating than dealing with an injury is having to deal with it time and time again. This holds especially true for knee pain. Whether it was a gym injury, pain with running, or pain when landing from a jump during basketball, knee pain seems to come and go all the time. So why is it that even though you’ve rested for a few weeks (and things seem to feel better) that you get re-injured when you return to your activities? The answer is simple: rest doesn’t fix your injury. While rest is sometimes needed to allow things to recover, it doesn’t actually cause your knee to become more resilient to what caused it to hurt in the first place. If anything, while the knee is resting it gets de-conditioned which can decrease its ability to resist what caused injury. This is why gradual strength training is required in almost all knee conditions. It gives the knee an opportunity to get stronger and more resilient, which can decrease future re-injuries. Here are a few bodyweight exercises by physio Slava @mechanics.of.movement and massage therapist @jonahren.rehab: ▪️Single Leg Squat ▪️Front Foot Elevated Split Squat ▪️Slant Board Front Foot Elevated Split Squat 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #kneepain #kneesovertoes #kneestrengthening #kneestability

💢Got plantar fasciitis?💢 👉🏻 Most people who have plantar fasciitis are told to wear orthotics, roll out their foot with a frozen water bottle, and stretch their calves… but did you know this isn’t the full solution? While these help with TEMPORARILY reducing symptoms they don’t actually address the underlying issue… which is weak feet. 🍀 Luckily strengthening the feet is very accessible. The purpose of strengthening the feet is to provide your plantar fascia the necessary intrinsic support that it needs to function. Increasing your foot strength will help to spare the plantar fascia from doing all of the work and to give them a much needed BREAK. Here we have Rehab Hero massage therapist @jonahren.rehab going over some examples: ▪️Towel Curl ▪️Foot Row ▪️Foot Lateral Band Pull 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #footpain #plantarfasciitis #plantarfascia #footstrength

🚨HIP INTERNAL ROTATION MOBILITY🚨 Hip internal rotation, or medial rotation, refers to the inward rotation of the thigh relative to the pelvis (foot points towards your midline). A lack of range of motion can be associated with pain or dysfunction of the hip, SIJ, or low back. While there are many different causes of hypomobility in this range, one is due to a lack of end range control. When limited, it can negatively affect movements like the squat or deadlift. In those very same movements, it can cause a pinching sensation at the front of the hips or soreness in the surrounding area. In order to do movements like the squat efficiently, you can do mobility exercises to increase your range of motion. Here is an exercise progression series (in order of difficulty) that aims to increase your end range strength: ▪️Incline Reverse Pigeon ▪️Reverse Pigeon Lift Off ▪️Standing Hip Internal Rotation Pro-tip: generally focusing on just 1 of the above exercises is needed at a time. Try them out in order and see which ones are manageable for you to complete and stick to that for a few weeks. Revisit this post by saving it to move onto the next level once you’re ready. 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #hippain #hipmobility #hipstretch

🚨FOREARM STRENGTHENING FOR GOLFERS ELBOW🚨 Golfers elbow, or medial epicondylitis, is commonly known to be a repetitive overuse condition of the common wrist flexors. This happens if the CWF muscles are relatively de-conditioned relative to the task required of them. While this traditionally occurred in novice golfers, this condition can occur in those who play other sports as well, and can be due to work. One of the primary strategies to take is to start strengthening the supportive muscles of the forearm as well as the wrist and finger flexors. This will increase your elbow’s ability to handle the work you put it through. Here we have Rehab Hero massage therapist @jonahren.rehab showing us how to strengthen the muscles of the forearm: ▪️Hang Grip Curls ▪️Straight Bar Radial Deviation ▪️Straight Bar Ulnar Deviation ▪️Straight Bar Pronation ▪️Straight Bar Supination 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #golferselbow #elbowpain #forearmworkout

🚨Have you been told that you have ‘weak’ glutes because you ‘can’t feel them’?🚨 Well if you were told this during the glute bridge or clamshell exercise… it’s because you probably shouldn’t feel it there the most. Contrary to popular belief, studies show that the clamshell exercise activates the hip flexors more than the gluteus max. For the glute bridge, studies show that higher levels of activation are observed in the hamstrings and erectors (low back extensors) than the glutes. Even though both of these exercises are often prescribed to ‘target the glutes’, they really don’t target them that well at all. Instead exercises like the barbell hip thrust, American hip thrust or single leg hip thrust are better alternatives with nearly 5x the amount of activation seen in the clamshell / glute bridge. 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #hipstrength #glutes #hipthrust #gluteworkout

🚨PELVIC MOBILITY🚨 What is pelvic mobility? It is the ability to move the pelvis in relation to both the hips and lumbar spine. This can be a missing piece in your mobility routine, especially if you’re the type of person to feel that your SIJ is jammed 💢 or pinching. While the SIJ is not the target for these exercises (really these exercises are for the lumbopelvic region on a global scale), these exercises can help with improving movement mechanics and opening up ranges that you may otherwise be ignoring with your regular activities. Here are the level 1 exercises: ▪️Pelvic Rocks ▪️Pelvic Twists ▪️Hip Dips Here are the level 2 exercises: ▪️Butt Walks ▪️Split Squat Pelvic Tilts ▪️Storks 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #backpain #pelvicstability #pelvichealth #hipmobility #backmobility #hippain

💢NECK PAIN RELIEF💢 Got neck pain issues? One of the best things you can do is to start doing deep neck flexor endurance and neck strengthening exercises, and you can do it from the comfort of your own home. Why does this work? Among the different potential benefits of doing this type of exercise, the best ones are improved perfusion of blood to your tissues (a.k.a. Better circulation) and improved capacity of your neck to handle daily activities. While exercises like stretches might feel good in the moment, they don’t improve blood flow much and they certainly don’t make your muscles stronger and more resilient to fatigue. If stretches don’t seem to help long term, then maybe it’s time to switch things up. Here is how to do neck pain exercises: ▪️Dip Hold Neck Rotation ▪️Wall Lean Chin Tuck ▪️Overhead Shrug Neck Rotations ▪️Prone Thoracic Extensions ▪️3 Month Prone Neck Flexion-Extension 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #neckpain #neckexercise #headache #headacherelief

🚨GET MORE HIP MOBILITY🚨 What is hip mobility? Hip mobility is also known as active range of motion, which is the range of motion that you can control and contract through. This is different from flexibility, or passive range of motion, as flexibility uses exercises like stretching to relax through a motion. While flexibility is a requirement for mobility, it is NOT the same thing. Why does this matter? Well when it comes to developing healthy joints, the muscles surrounding them need to be able to contract in deep ranges in order to fully control it. This will prevent movement compensations from building up, and will help to maintain strength levels. In this way it can help to reduce your pain. Here we have a mini progression series on how to gain more hip external rotation mobility. By using a prop like a bench we can first establish good flexibility. From there we learn to contract our end ranges and eventually move on to doing full range contractions. 🙌🏻 Tag a friend that NEEDs this! 👉 Follow @rehabhero 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! #rehabhero #hipmobility #hippain #hiprehab #romwod #squatmobility #hipstretch

🌟 One of the best ways to overcome knee issues is to start focusing on the ranges of motion that you have the most difficulty with. In most cases, this would be deep knee flexion and terminal knee extension. But how do you start? 🫣 If you’re new to knee exercises then one way is to start micro-dosing as a way of exposing yourself to strength training. This means doing exercises with fewer repetitions, for a shorter duration, and within a smaller range of motion with the goal of slowly increasing all of these metrics over a period of weeks to months. Basically, you want to start challenging the knee and stimulate positive growth while also sticking within your upper tolerable limits. 🤞🏻 Here are a few exercise examples that focus on improving knee pain while also strengthening your end ranges. 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 🇨🇦 Limited spots available for appointments in Toronto & Markham. Book in using the link in bio or visiting rehabhero.ca! #kneepain #kneestrengthening #kneestability

🚨 Did you know that your booty is one of the main stabilizers of the hip & knee? If you’ve been experiencing pain, discomfort, or tightness in the hip OR knee, and have been missing out on some good ol’ gluteus maximus and gluteus medius strengthening this might be why. One of the best ways to target both of these muscles while also getting them to function TOGETHER with your quadriceps is through the step up exercise and it’s variations. Try out these 3 variations during your next lower body workout (swipe left!) 🇨🇦 Limited spots available for appointments in Toronto & Markham. Book in using the link in bio 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #hippain #hipstrengthening #kneepain #kneestrengthening #kneestability #hipstability

Have you been told to stop doing deadlifts because they’re ‘dangerous’? Or maybe you were told ‘the risk is not worth the benefit’? The good news? Deadlifts aren’t inherently dangerous at all, recommendations to avoid this exercise due to potential increases in risk of injury aren’t substantiated by any amount of high quality evidence. While recommendations to avoid exercises might be coming from good intent, it can do a lot more harm than good. I’ve seen patients who have stopped strength training altogether based on misconceptions and misinformation about doing ‘heavy’ lifting. And the result? Lots of fear that’s very hard to erase and a once active lifestyle becoming a sedentary one. So what should you do instead? Honestly? Find someone that can help to reintroduce movements back into your routine. Someone that is willing to listen to your history, to look at the quality of movement, and someone that has the equipment to walk you through your journey. A lot of the beginning is about identifying what you can handle and doing smart programming around that. For deadlifts for example, starting with rack pulls could be a safe option to start partially loading your range of motion (as seen in this video). Got a question? Let me know in the comments below! #rehabhero

❌STOP DEADLIFTING YOUR SQUAT❌ Does your back get sore for a few days after doing heavy squats? This might be why. Deadlifting your squat refers to an excessive hip hinge. From the side view this looks like a diagonal or curved bar path (it should be completely vertical as visualized in this video). By having a diagonal bar path, your body is forced to increase recruitment of your lumbar erector spinae muscles. These muscles are lumbar extensors and need to isometrically contract to maintain a neutral spine. However with a diagonal bar path you are in a disadvantaged position as the weight has greater leverage against you. The increased lumbar erector activation can then lead to unnecessary DOMS and may even delay your progress as you are lifting inefficiently and delaying recovering. This form often occurs as lifters are focused too much on ‘pushing the hips back’ and ‘not letting your knees pass your toes’. These cues are antiquated as it is a cookie cutter approach to a very individualized movement. Instead, let’s those knees pass your toes if it’s more comfortable. 🚨 Need help with your form? SEND ME YOUR VIDEO! I’ll be picking one lucky winner to be included in my next post about what to do to fix your form! 🚨 Or… you can book with our clinic in Markham and Toronto! (Link in bio) #rehabhero #squats #squatuniversity #squatform #sbd #squatdeep

🚨 Unpopular opinion: shoulder stability > shoulder mobility ➡️ While shoulder mobility exercises can be an important part of your program (and they definitely look cool!) they are… overrated. Unless your shoulder shows definitive signs of decreased range of motion (such as in frozen shoulder), improving it further won’t necessarily help with your presses. Why? Well it’s because exercises like the bench press focus on pushing weights in a relatively small range of motion (and within a single plane of motion). ❌ Increasing your end ranges in rotation won’t really help! Bench press is done in neutral rotation, so there really is NO NEED to do end range rotational strengthening. Instead, stability exercises help to train up your ability to maintain a neutral rotation. This will also level up your shoulders capacity to resisted higher loads and improve your proprioception. 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero & @rehabhero.ca 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

🚨Target your inner thigh 🚨 Did you know that the inner thigh muscles, the hip adductors, are equally important to stabilizing the knee as the glutes? As one of the longest groups of muscles in the body, they have a large mechanical advantage due to its long lever (or moment arm). This gives it leverage to stabilize the knee from the inside. ‘Weak’ eccentric strength in the hip adductors is also one reason for knee valgus or knocked knees in movements like the squat. By increasing its capacity in lengthened positions you can effectively train up better knee stability in hip abductors positions. After all, these muscles need to co-contract with the glutes to stabilize lateral movements in the knee. If you’re wondering how to strengthen the inner thigh muscles swipe left to watch a few videos! 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero & @rehabhero.ca 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

Got elbow pain? If it’s tennis elbow check this out! Tennis elbow is a condition also known as lateral epicondylitis and it is a repetitive stress injury that affects the common wrist extensors. Typically this injury occurs in racquet sports like tennis or badminton due to the eccentric load that these muscles have to absorb during a back hand stroke. Even though this condition is called tennis players, it can occur in weightlifters as well. In addition to getting this group of muscles treated by a Physio/chiro, progressive strengthening will be needed. The goal is to reintroduce loads back into the wrist extensors and to get them to positively adapt to graded movements. Here we have Rehab Hero chiropractor @dr.emilykawaguchi doing just that! 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero & @rehabhero.ca 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

🚨KNEE TENDINITIS PAIN🚨 💢 Tendinitis in the knee usually occurs in either the quadriceps tendon or patellar tendon, also known as Jumper's Knee or Runner's Knee. Both tendons are actually pieces of the same connective tissue but are geographically named based one being above the knee cap or below the knee cap respectively. Other than the difference in location and names, both tendons can get irritated due to the same mechanism of injury. In most circumstances of knee tendinitis, the injury occurs as the result of load mismanagement. Load mismanagement refers to repetitive stress being applied to the tendon at rates faster than the tendon can recovery. This typically happens when picking up a new sport or activity and ramping up frequency of that activity very quickly in your first few weeks (ex. playing pickleball 3-5 times in your first 2-3 weeks when you haven't been playing a racquet sport in the last few months). While rest might help to give your knee some time to recovery, it'll be equally important to start strengthening the tendon with resistance training. Late stage rehab includes the reintroduction of plyometric exercises so that you can train the tendon to resist high impact forces. Here are a few great exercises by Rehab Hero physio @physi.ko 🇨🇦 Looking for a clinic that actually cares about your recovery? Now accepting new patients in Toronto & Markham. Book in using the link in bio or visiting rehabhero.ca! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero #kneepain #jumpersknee #runnersknee

⚡GET RID OF SCIATICA⚡ Did you know that piriformis syndrome is one cause of sciatica? Although it’s considered an uncommon condition (responsible for only about ~3-8% of cases) it can cause sharp, shooting, burning or electric nerve pain to go from the back of the buttock region, down the back of your thigh, and into the calf and/or foot. This condition is the peripheral nerve entrapment of the sciatic nerve at the piriformis muscle and this can occur if the piriformis is compressing the nerve. This condition may also occur if trauma occurs to the piriformis (ie falling on your bum). When it comes to recovering from this condition mobilizing the sciatic nerve relative to the piriformis can help to alleviate symptoms and to promote recovery. The piriformis is unique in that it performs both external rotation of the hip and internal rotation of the hip depending on the hip angle. In hip flexion angles above 90 degrees it acts as a hip external rotator. This means in a 90/90 position the piriformis should be a in a lax position when the leg is externally rotated in front of you. This will then allow for the sciatic nerve to floss through or under the muscle belly (anatomical variance). By flexing and extending the lumbar spine the sciatic nerve will become mobilized. Generally stretching the piriformis by placing the hip into internal rotation while in a 90/90 position will be intolerable as this places increased compressive forces on the sciatic nerve which may trigger sciatica. Shoutout to Rehab Hero Physio Jasmine @physi.ko for bringing this exercise to our page today! 🇨🇦 Looking for someone that can prescribe a complete rehab program? Now accepting new patients in Toronto & Markham. Book in using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #sciatica #piriformissyndrome #rehabhero

Hip mobility isn’t just about having tight hips, it’s about how it interacts with the rest of your body This is why hip mobility may benefit your: ✅ back pain ✅ hip pain ✅ pelvic pain (SIJ) ✅ knee pain ✅ squat ✅ deadlift While everyone with pain may not have issues with hip mobility, when it’s needed… it’s NEEDED. Here are a few examples of banded exercises that can help you reach new levels of motion. Try it out daily for 1-2 weeks and see if your hips open up! Hope that helps! #hipmobility #hipexercises #mobilitywork #romwod

Got a spicy disc that’s one 🌶️ too hot? Generally speaking early stage management is about managing symptoms and 2 of the best ways to do so is through flossing the sciatic nerve and through extension dominant movements. Here are some exercise examples that I have personally used to help my acute disc patients recover. As you swipe left the exercises progressively get harder, so focusing on just 2 of these movements is all you need to get started. Be WARNED that these should alleviate symptoms, so if they make them feel worse contact your physio / chiro to see what’s up. Finding that things have been feeling too spicy lately? Let us help! Book in using the link in bio. Toronto & Markham. #sciatica #backpain #backmobility #sciaticapain

Shoulder mobility is more than just about the shoulder, it involves the scapula too! In a real life rehab setting we are rarely simply treating a single joint. Focusing on movement in adjacent areas helps to better manage your symptoms as it can either stop any movement compensations or de-load an injured area. Using things like a monster band can be helpful in assisting you to target some of these adjacent regions by helping you move into ranges of motion that you could otherwise not reach alone. Working on shoulder mobility AND scapular mobility can go a long way in helping you to recover FAST. This mobility routine can be done daily so long as it is within your tolerable range. Hope it helps! #shouldermobility #shoulderexercises

🚨 PUSH DAY PAIN? 🚨 📚 When it comes to getting shoulder injuries, one thing that it interferes with is our ability to do a 'push day' workout. It can affect movements like dips, push ups, and bench press. While many may believe that this is caused by a lack of shoulder mobility, I would argue that it is due to a lack of dynamic shoulder stability. Dynamic shoulder stability refers to your muscle's ability to contract and co-contract to cause centration of the humeral head within the glenoid fossa. 🏋🏻‍♀️ Aside from doing stability specific exercises, one of the easiest ways to start training stability is to de-load some of the movements that you're having trouble with, while challenging the range of motion to a greater extent, and increasing the tempo to force co-contraction of agonist and antagonist muscles. For example, if a dip is causing you shoulder problems, then doing an elevated push up at a 4-5 second tempo could be a good alternative to build up more stability. Likewise, if you're having issues with a bench press, switching things up to a decline pec fly exercise can accomplish similar results. ✅ In today's post we have Rehab Hero physiotherapist @tuan.the.pt showing us some alternative pushing movements. 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

🚨TIGHT UPPER TRAPS🚨 ❌ Does it feel like you have unrelenting tightness in the upper trapezius muscle? While stretching might be a good option to open up your range of motion, it doesn’t seem to provide long lasting relief. Alternatives to stretching include stability exercises. Stability exercises focus on using a muscle or group of muscles to stabilize joints that they cross. They do so through isometric contractions and compressions of a joint. In the case of the upper trapezius muscle, this would involve the scapula and cervical spine. While some of these movements might look a bit funky, they can help to dissociate movements between the two regions to promote independent function. ✅ An easy way to start stability exercise for the cervicoscapular complex is to use a kettlebell. In today’s video we have various progressions and regressions of the same exercise, meaning not all variations are needed. Instead, focusing on 1 or 2 exercises that are rated at a 6/10 difficulty, and doing these a few times a week as part of your active routine is generally recommended. Here are some exercise examples by Rehab Hero chiropractor @dr.anthonytse 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

💢CORRECT FUNCTIONAL HIP IMPINGEMENT💢 📚 Functional hip impingement refers to impingement-like symptoms that occurs in the absence of a hip deformity. One cause is due to repetitive mechanical stresses that is placed on the front of the hip. This leads to sensitization and pain when the hip is placed into hip flexion with internal rotation. A pinching-like discomfort or pain can be felt while doing lower body exercises such as the squat, deadlift, and their variations. ✅ One approach taken for this condition is to start doing hip stabilization exercises. Hip stability exercises allow for better joint kinematics and helps to strengthen any soft tissues that may have been negatively impacted by this condition. Unlike hip mobility exercises, the goal with stabilization exercises isn't to increase range of motion, but rather to control range of motion. This is best done in multiple directions as it will coach each muscle group to co-contract and engage is dynamic stability. 🤸 If you've been doing a lot of mobility with no or little improvement in your symptoms, it may be because you need stability exercises instead. To be honest, a healthy mix of both types of exercises will likely be needed for full recovery. Additionally, it can be helpful to also look at knee, ankle and foot mechanics as they may be contributing to your movement quality. Today however we'll be focusing on hip stability exercises. To get a movement assessment for lower limb function, book in with us using the link in bio. 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

🚨STIFF BACK? TRY THIS MOBILITY FLOW🚨 ❌ While back mobility exercises are NOT essential for everyone, they can help to relieve a lot of built up tension and stress (especially if it comes from a sedentary lifestyle). While I do believe that strength training is superior to mobility exercises when it comes to dealing with muscle stiffness, I do recognize that not everyone has access to the necessary equipment required. As an alternative to strength training, mobility exercises can help as it still gets you to engage your muscles through your range of motion (unlike stretching which is static). ✅ Mobility flows can be done at any time of day, and is best done when the body is already a bit warm from other activities. They usually require minimal equipment (yoga mat, foam roller, yoga block), which can be purchased with a small investment. Best yet, it gives everyone an easy way to start their active lifestyle as it doesn't require a lot of time to it (only about 15-20 minutes is needed!). 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

🚨Need more hip mobility?🚨 If you want to know how to do hip mobility exercises we’ve got you! Try out this routine daily to open up your hips to more movement. Want more weekly routines or challenges? Let me know in the comments below! 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

🚨INNER KNEE PAIN🚨 📚 Pain along the inner and front aspect of your knee (below the joint line) can be caused by any of the tendons found at the pes anserine. The pes anserine is formed by 3 tendons, they include the tendons of the sartorius, gracilis, and semitendinosus. These muscles are found in the quadriceps, hip adductors, and hamstring regions respectively. Its due to this that issues found in either of these areas can cause irritation at the distal tendinous insertions. ✅ One strategy to start your recovery process is to progressively strengthen these muscles within a range of motion and intensity that is within your tolerable limit. By re-introducing some resistance back into the muscle involved you can stimulate the tendons to adapt, get stronger, and become more resilient. Ultimately this will lead to long term pain reduction and increased knee function. Here are examples on how to strengthen the inner knee by Rehab Hero physiotherapist @tuan.the.pt : ▪️ Hinge squat ▪️ Lateral Split Squat ▪️ Slant Board Split Squat ▪️ Roman Chair Hip Adduction 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

💢UNLOCK YOU FLEXION-EXTENSION💢 . 🦸‍♂️Good morning Heroes! Today's post focuses on the low back and the importance of maintaining movement through your end ranges. Historically both lumbar flexion and lumbar extension has been demonized as the cause of low back injuries... but it's not really that simple. In most circumstances, injuries are situational and multi-factorial. Things like fatigue, sleep hygiene, nutrition, exercise volume, co-morbidities, lifestyle habits, occupational demand all can contribute to the injury at hand. Lumbar flexion has been associated with discogenic low back pain, and lumbar extension with lumbar facet joint pain... but are we really doing the body justice by avoiding these movements? If both opposite ends of the spectrum can cause pain, are we simply supposed to stay stiff right in the middle? . ❌The answer is simple, no! Although it is generally known to avoid aggravating movements when you are injured, progressively re-introducing those same movements will be important to return to full function. Being able to move through both ends of the flexion-extension spectrum is not only normal, its considered to be healthy! That being said, load management will be the key ingredient to the recipe of recovery. This is what lets you know when to push harder and when to back off and take it easy . ✅Here are some movements that cover both lumbar flexion and extension. The movements covered into today's post are considered to be unloaded range of motion exercise. These can be built upon with strengthening exercises once the sensitivity to these have dropped. I've also included pelvic tilting exercises as the lumbopelvic junction plays a keep role in lumbar movements: ▪️ Knee to Chest Stretch ▪️ Supine Pelvic Tilts ▪️ Happy Baby Stretch ▪️ Standing Pelvic Tilt ▪️ Pelvic twist ▪️ Happy Baby Cradle . 📍In the GTA and want to see one of our qualified clinicians? Click the link in bio to book an appointment . ➖➖➖➖➖ #RehabHero

🚨FUNCTIONAL SCOLIOSIS CORRECTIVE EXERCISES🚨 . 🦸🏻‍♂️Good morning heroes! Scoliosis is a condition where the the spine twists and bends in either a c-shape or s-shape curve, and can affect the lumbar or thoracic spine. There are a few types of scoliosis and one of them is functional scoliosis. Functional scoliosis refers to a scoliosis that is secondary to muscle contractures or proprioception dysfunction. This means that it's not the joints of the spine that's causing the scoliosis (the opposite is true for structural scoliosis). Functional scoliosis differs from other types of scoliosis in that it can be corrected with exercises focused on creating symmetry in muscular function. . ✅There are a few steps you can take towards improving functional scoliosis. This condition can be addressed by doing exercises that improve spine proprioception, lengthening shortened muscles, and learning to stabilize in neutral spine. Here are a few exercise examples: ▪️ Sky Reach Stretch ▪️ Lateral Body Shift ▪️ Wall Lean Plank ▪️ Pallof Press ▪️ Overhead Pallof Press ▪️ Isometric Pallof Squat . 📍 Not sure what issue you're dealing with? Book in with our clinic for a comprehensive assessment by clicking the link in bio. We're located in Markham and Toronto . ➖➖➖➖➖ #RehabHero #scoliosis

🚨FIX YOUR LATERAL PELVIC TILT🚨 . 📚Lateral pelvic tilt refers to the inability to maintain a level pelvis and it is associated with Quadratus Lumborum tightness when observed during gait. This can cause compensational movement patterns to develop leading to other issues down or up the kinetic chain. When taking note of someone's gait, the affected side is raised higher when the leg is planted compared to the unaffected side when it is raised. It is most easily seen as the opposite side dipping down towards the ground . Lateral pelvic tilt can happen for a number of reasons. It can happen as a result of movement habit, due to quadratus lumborum contracture, or due to movement compensation (QL acting as a stabilizer of the pelvis). The best approach to correcting this movement issue is to LENGTHEN & STRETNGTHEN the QL to stabilize the pelvis. . ✅Here are a few hand selected exercises that can help: ▪️ QL Massage & Stretch ▪️ Leaning QL Stretch ▪️ Child's Pose Side Stretch ▪️ Standing Side Stretch ▪️ QL Pendulums ▪️ Kettlebell Side Plank . 🇨🇦Now accepting new patients in Toronto / Markham! . Follow @rehabhero and tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

🚨Do you have uneven shoulders?🚨 . ✅ If you do... this actually makes you normal! It is very common for your shoulders to be uneven, with your dominant arm being the depressed shoulder (relative to your non-dominant arm). This means that your non-dominant shoulder will appear elevated in comparison. According to the research, there is also little to no cause-and-effect between shoulder elevation unevenness and shoulder pain, and trust me this is good news! . 📚 If anything, research shows that in those who perform at higher levels, such as athletes in single arm sports like tennis, shoulder asymmetry actually increases! It is due to this that it is believed that the asymmetry may be considered a POSITIVE adaptation that makes movement more efficient for the level of performance required of it . 🔍 That being said, we shouldn't ignore signs of asymmetry. Sometimes it may play a negative role in someone's shoulder pain experience, and it is important to not disregard our patient's perception of how their asymmetry may relate to their shoulder pain as well. Also, some may feel that they require the aesthetic symmetry of their shoulders in order to feel more comfortable in their own skin. With that said, here are some exercises that focus on doing so: ▪️ Archer Rows ▪️ Oblique Sit Arm Raises ▪️ Face Pulls ▪️ Lawn Mowers ▪️ Scapular Pullups ▪️ Unilateral Y Raise . . 📍 We are now accepting patients in Markham & Toronto! Click the link in bio to book an appointment . 👆🏻Give us a follow for daily rehab content 🙌🏻 Tag a friend that NEEDS this! ➖➖➖➖➖ #rehabhero

The ‘funny bone’ is actually the ulnar nerve located within the cubital tunnel. The cubital tunnel is located between the medial epicondyle of the humerus and the olecranon process of the ulna. As such, this nerve can cause nerve pain sensations when suddenly compressed within this groove causing you to feel symptoms at your pinky finger, ring finger, forearm or elbow. To clarify why this joke is clever, without a humerus you will have no cubital tunnel and therefore no ‘funny bone’. Not only is the pun HILARIOUS but the joke is actually factual 🧐. Jokes are supposed to be educational…right? Anyone still laughing? 😅 ok I’ll walk away now. What are your favourite puns? #rehabhero

🚨LOWER TRAPEZIUS STRENGTHENING🚨 🦸‍♂️Do you have scapular winging? One type of scapular winging is called inferior border winging and this can be seen statically or during movement. Originally it was thought that this can be a cause of shoulder impingement due to its uneven movement patterns and it was believed to cause pain. That said, recent research contradicts previous notions of scapular winging as it was observed to be present even in those without pain. As mentioned in my last post, scapular winging may be positive adaptation as it tends to be seen more in those who require more shoulder function (such as tennis players). Why might this be the case? 💢The problem with reducing all shoulder problems down to scapular winging is that it takes ZERO consideration of individual needs. Postural observation of scapular winging in static positions also has little to no value when most shoulder issues occur during motion. Instead, assessing a shoulder while it is in motion and challenging a person's ability to mobilize and stabilize the scapula proves to be more valuable as it provides a baseline that we can work with & progress from. 📚If a winged scapula is found to be related to your shoulder pain, or if extra shoulder blade posterior tilting or up rotation is needed, then targeting the lower trapezius muscle is a good start: ▪️ Prone Elbow Raise ▪️ Prisoner Raise ▪️ Dowel Y-Raise Lift Off ▪️ Bilateral Dowel Y-Raise Lift Off 📍 If you're still dealing with issues it may be time to move on from a simple program. For personalized programs its recommended to do 1-on-1 consults with a healthcare professional. If you're in Markham or Toronto and want to see one of our qualified clinicians click the link in bio or visit http://rehabhero.ca to book an appointment 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! ➖➖➖➖➖ #rehabhero #shoulderpain #shouldermobility

🚨WRIST PAIN🚨 The pronator Quadratus is a small muscle found at the distal forearm. As it’s name implies, it’s main function is to assist in wrist pronation (palms down position). When dysfunctional or irritated it can lead to wrist pain in both supinated or pronated positions, during activities like push ups, or when simply using the hand for support. As with many other muscles, gradual strengthening of this muscle is one way of stimulating recovery. Todays post has 1 self massage to help with symptom management and 3 strengthening exercises to promote positive adaptation. 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

🚨HAMSTRINGS TENDINITIS🚨 📚Tendinitis, tendinosis, or tendinopathy in the hamstrings can occur at either the proximal tendon (found near the bum) or the distal tendon (found behind the knee). This is often an overuse condition of the tendon that usually occurs during periods of escalated activities or training volume. Pain can be experienced during or after exercise, and even when sitting. ✅Tendons respond very well to eccentric exercises or time under tension exercises. This is because these types of exercises stimulate the tendon to start recovering and to become stronger than it was before it got injured. These strengthening exercises are usually completed three times per week and at a 6/10 RPE (rating of perceived exertion). Today we have examples of some progressive exercises. 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

One of my biggest frustrations with the industry is when patients are told to rest as their only means to recovery. I’ve met patients who were told to never squat again because it’ll destroy their knees. I’ve met runners who never ran again because they were told that their flat feet would ruin their hips. I’ve met men and women who were told to stop strength training because it’ll make their condition worse. The opposite could not be more true for many of these cases. We need to change our narrative. We need to start showing you what you CAN do instead. Are you just as frustrated as I am? Connect with me in the comments below. #rehabhero

🚨PLANTAR FASCIITIS 🚨 Plantar fasciitis is a painful condition that affects the bottom of your foot. Most notably the pain is often felt on the inner aspect of the heel but can also be felt along the medial longitudinal arch of the foot. This is typically worse in the morning during the first few steps out of bed, but can also be felt after getting up following prolonged periods of time where your foot has been idle. If you’re wondering how to do exercises for plantar fasciitis swipe left for exercise videos. Generally a healthy mix of both for mobilization exercises and foot strengthening exercises are needed to recover from this condition. 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

🚨GET STRONGER GLUTES🚨 📚 The glutes is a group of 3 muscles namely the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and gluteus minimus. These muscles are largely responsible for stabilizing the hip and knee, and work to actively extend and/or abduct the hip. When overworked, they can cause referral pain to the low back, buttock or down the leg. These muscles may also be involved in conditions such as ITB syndrome, hip bursitis, and/or sacroiliac joint syndrome. 🏋️‍♂️ By focusing on end range strengthening, unilateral training, hip stabilization, and overall strengthening you can condition these muscles to be more involved with your everyday movements. Through exercise you can trigger these muscles to positively adapt leading to a higher capacity to handle loads, especially if you are an active person. This can help with your weight lifting, running, or just everyday activities. If you're wondering how you can strengthen the glutes chiropractors Dr. David Song and Dr. Jessica Luc (@dr.jessieluc.chiro) have got you covered! 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

☀️MOBILITY MONDAY☀️ Feeling stiff lately? The Rehab Hero team has got your 'back'! Here's a quick routine that you can implement daily to help you loosen up at the start or end of your day. You can do these before/after your morning coffee, while watching Netflix (Netflix & Stretch), or before you workout. 🦸‍♀️🦸‍♂️Here's our featured team: 1. RMT @og.lau 2. Pelvic Physio @physio.vishnee 3. Physio @physiowu 4. RMT @jonahren.rehab 5. Chiro @dr.emilykawaguchi 6. Physio @tuan.the.pt 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

🚨NECK PAIN STRENGTH TRAINING🚨 💢 Tightness in and around the neck & shoulders is often due to one of two muscles: the upper trapezius and levator scapulae. Training these muscles in isometric strength and for cervical stability can go a long way in helping these muscles recover. Not only will it help with pain relief (due to the analgesic effect of isometric contractions) but it will also increase your necks strength so that it can handle your daily activities with relatively less effort. ✅ Todays post is about progression. This means you would focus on one exercise in this series at a time to improve over a period of days to weeks until you build enough strength to move onto the next version. So save this post so that you can revisit it when you’re ready! 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

🚨LOW BACK PAIN🚨 💢 If you have low back pain from straining your erector spinae muscles one of the best things you can do is to maintain your mobility. This is best done by moving through the range of motion you have still have available pain free. By doing so you can improve local circulation to promote recovery and minimize the risk of deconditioning your body. 📚 The first exercise is about slowly introducing previously irritable flexion and extension movements to the lumbar spine. The other Exercises in todays post are some ways of activating the low back muscles while sticking within a neutral zone. Both strategies are effective for helping you recover, and better yet feel empowered to move and use your body again. 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

🚨FLAT FEET?🚨 🤦🏻‍♂️ Have you been told that you have flat feet and NEED orthotics? Or maybe you were told that your flare feet are the cause of your low back pain or knocked knees. Worse yet, you were told that flat feet are bad? While all of these things MAY be true for SOME people, this is NOT true for everyone. In fact, a lot of people in the world have flat feet with zero issues at all. Some many even be very high performers in sports like marathon running. So why is it that you may be getting some issues then? 🙅🏻 As easy as it is to blame your anatomy for the sole cause of your issues (pun intended), a lot of 'flat feet' related issues stem from other factors such as functional foot stability, baseline strength of the foot, and activity-load management. By training the foot up it can become well adapted to handle the stresses placed upon it from your job, lifestyle, or sport. While this might not change how 'flat' your foot looks, it'll give you the ability to create an arch when needed and use it to generate stability and power. In today's post we have 5 progressive exercises that work on foot supination, foot strength, and foot stability. 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

💢UPPER BACK MOBILITY💢 😬 Got a tense upper back that builds up over the course of your day? Don't worry, our chiropractors @chiro.ay and @dr.emilykawaguchi have got your 'back'! The thoracic spine is a the region of your back that creates the upper and mid back. This area is a common area of discomfort due to its relationship to the neck, shoulders, shoulder blades, and low back. The muscles that can be affected include the trapezius, rhomboids, and the thoracic erector spinae to name a few. In addition to the muscles, the joints can also be an area that causes tension in this area. This includes the facet joints, costovertebral, and costotransverse joints. ✅ Mobility exercises can go a LONG way in helping you to not only relieve some stress in this area, but to increase baseline range of motion. A lot of benefit also comes from simply moving these joints and muscles. Today we put together a quick 15 minute routine that you can do daily in the morning, at night, or mid day. 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

HIP MOBILITY IS MORE THAN STRETCHING Got tight hips? If you’ve been addressing this issue with consistent stretching without gaining any results it might be time to move forward with mobility exercises. Unlike stretching which is STATIC, mobility exercises require an element of MOVEMENT. It gets you to engage the muscles involved. The Rehab Hero team came together on todays post. Here is a quick routine you can do by massage therapist @og.lau, physio @edmond.pt and chiropractor @dr.jessieluc.chiro 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

💢SHOULDER IMPINGEMENT💢 🙈 Do you get shoulder pinching-like pain when raising your arm or when you move into 'impinged' positions? It was previously thought that 'shoulder impingement' was caused by the compression of tissues found in tight spaces within the shoulder. HOWEVER we now know it's NOT that simple. Research has started to point towards the finding that it is normal for structures to get impinged in these positions. What isn't normal is whether or not you tend to experience pain or if you're sensitive to these positions. So how are you supposed to overcome this issue? ✅ First things first - reducing or modifying aggravating work or movements is generally needed to allow your soft tissues to decrease in pain sensitivity. Second, you gradually build back up shoulder movements by moving within your tolerance and upgrading the movement as things become less sensitive. In this regard exercises are very much so tailored to your personal experience. You can accomplish this through effort based mobility drills. Here are some examples by Rehab Hero Chiropractor @dr.emilykawaguchi 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

ANKLE SPRAIN REHAB - its not too late to start! Have you noticed that ever since you sprained your ankle that you have a tough time balancing on that foot? This is very common as one of the first things to get reduced following this type of injury is ankle proprioception (body-space awareness). In addition to that, there is sometimes a delayed response in your muscles to react to placing your foot in different positions. This is also why when you're running or walking on uneven surfaces you can feel like your ankle 'gives out' momentarily with or without pain. Luckily its never to late to start working on restoring ankle stability, proprioception and function. Exercises focused first on strengthening the ankle inverters, everters, dorsiflexors and plantar flexors is a good start. Then moving onto more 'balance' training exercises that still challenge the foot and ankle's endurance and strength is usually the next 'step' to take (pun intended). Here are a few exercise examples with Rehab Hero massage therapist @petern_rehab Tag a friend that NEEDS this! Follow @rehabhero for more physical rehab content 🇨🇦 Book Appointments in the GTA today (link in bio) ➖➖➖➖➖ #rehabhero #anklesprain

❌Tight Neck & Shoulders?❌ Keep Reading! The muscle of the neck and shoulders can start to experience localized stiffness after a long day of work. Why? Previously it was thought this happened due to 'poor posture' but now it is better understood to occur due to 'lack of movement'. Rather than it be about holding specific posture, we now know that symptoms can arise even if you hold 'good posture' for long periods of time. This is why the phrase "the best posture is your next posture" has been coined by many therapists to educate their patients to continue to be active When taking this into account, mobilizing the muscles / joints of the neck and shoulders will be the main goal. Whether they be stretches, stability, strengthening or mobility exercises, all of them can contribute to feeling better at the end of the day. Here are a few movements by Rehab Hero massage therapists @og.lau and @jonahren.rehab Tag a friend that NEEDS this! 🇨🇦 Book Appointments in the GTA today (link in bio) ➖➖➖➖➖ # rehabhero #neckpain #headache

I feel like a lot of people (myself included) didn’t really realize where this quote came from and the true intention of it. And it couldn’t apply more to the rehab situation. Better to expose yourself to a variety of movements than to spearhead your program into a single focused movement. #rehabhero

🚨GOT SHOULDER ‘IMPINGEMEMT’?🚨 ✅ Subacromial shoulder impingement is one of six types of impingement that is a condition that causes sensitivity of the subacromial structures including the bursa and supraspinatus tendon. As a result, pain can often be experienced when raising the arm up the side or in any general overhead position (including those associated with clean & press, tennis, volleyball, overhead press, etc). In essence this issue occurs due to inappropriate overloading of this space, and to get better from this condition re-training the shoulder mechanics can give the it an opportunity to recover. So how do you get started? Going back to the basics is 🔑. Exercises that focus on improving motor control of the scapula will help to give the subacromial space a much needed break. This includes patterning the lower and upper trapezius, in conjunction with the Latissimus Dorsi and pectoralis. Today we have some examples in collaboration with a Rehabh Hero massage therapist @jonahren.rehab 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

🎾TENNIS ELBOW REQUIRES STRENGTHENING🎾 💢Tennis elbow, also known as lateral epicondylagia, is a repetitive overuse condition of the common wrist extensors. Contrary to most people's beliefs regarding overuse injuries, this condition requires active strengthening of the wrist extensor muscles in combination with relative rest from aggravating activities. While rest alone might be enough to decrease pain, it often is NOT enough to recover from this condition. Most may deal with injury on and off for months in this manner because they have not done the work to increase the forearm's capacity to handle workloads. They'll rest to improve pain, then return to work only to experience pain again, and the cycle continues. ✅To break out of this repetitive cycle strengthening exercises are required to re-condition the muscles of the forearm. This will allow you to return back to sport / work without having to deal with the issue over and over again. Here are exercise examples from Rehab Hero chiropractors @dr.emilykawaguchi, Dr. Tiffany Lai, and Dr. David Song 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

🚨PATELLAR TENDINITIS?🚨 💢 Patellar tendinitis is a condition that is on the spectrum of tendinopathies that affects the tendon connecting your knee cap to your shin. It is a tendon that is continuous with the quadriceps tendon which connects the quadriceps muscle (front of your thigh) to your patella (knee cap). With this condition you can experience pain with movement, which begs to question how are you supposed to exercise the tendon in order for it to recover? 1️⃣ First things first, with tendinopathies pain does NOT always equal to tissue damage or injury. This means if you feel some discomfort or low levels of pain (~2/10 pain) that you don't necessarily have to worry about making your condition worse. Generally speaking some pain is to be expected during exercise rehabilitation when dealing with tendinitis. Exercises can also be modified so that you can tolerate the movement while continuing to strength train the tendon. In today's post we have exercises from Rehab Heroes @og.lau @physiowu @dr.jessieluc.chiro 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero

🚨Have you been told that you have 'TENDINITIS'?🚨 ✅ Hip flexor tendinitis is a repetitive overuse or repetitive microtrauma condition that involves inflammation of the tendon of the hip flexors. Truth be told, 'tendinitis' is an antiquated term used to describe this injury as we now know that pain can be experienced even in the absence of inflammation. Instead, tendinosis or tendinopathy are terms that have been coined instead as it infers that there is pathology of the tendon with or without inflammation. Semantics aside, the overall management for this umbrella of conditions is roughly the same. 🦸🏻‍♂️ So how is this condition managed? The gold standard approach is to include strength training of the hip flexors into your program of care. Depending on your specific situation, exercises may include concentric, eccentric or isometric exercises. Really, what matters most is the rating of perceived exertion, or subjectively how difficult the exercise is for you to complete. While most may believe light exercises are the way to go, if tolerable, medium to high intensity would be preferred instead as a threshold will need to be reached to trigger positive adaptation of the tendon, leading to increased capacity and strength. It's due to this that light exercises and stretches may not be getting the results you are looking for. 🇨🇦 Still dealing with pain or performance issues? Now accepting new patients at both of our clinics in Toronto and Markham. Check in with us by using the link in bio! 👉Follow @rehabhero & @rehabhero.ca 🙌Tag a friend that NEEDS this! #rehabhero