Blogs

The final step in our groin pain analysis is to look at a few movement patterns and see if you can pick up on any “abnormal” movement.   Nothing too complicated here.  Basically we just want to have them perform a couple double-leg and single-leg movements and note the positions of the femurs, hip, and […]

Coming down the home stretch of the groin/hip pain analysis…  A couple simple tests I’ve borrowed from Shirley Sahrmann and Stuart McGill to assess hip and “core” strength: The Seated Psoas Test, Lying Hip Abduction Test, Front Plank Endurance Test, and Side Plank Endurance Test.   The Seated Psoas Test involves testing the strength and […]

5 weeks of relatively severe calorie restriction and intense training… On Thursday I was down almost 20 pounds from when I started.  Lucky for me, it was time for my second schedule refeed day, which I celebrated with, among other things, a Trader Joe’s Pizza for breakfast and a hefty dinner at P.F. Chang’s with […]

Sahrmann’s Quadruped Rocking Exercise, that I’ve mentioned a couple times in the last few weeks, can reveal a lot of valuable information about hip flexion range of motion.  My interpretation of a conversation I had with Sahrmann is that 8-10 reps of quadruped rocking should loosen up any soft tissue restrictions.  If it doesn’t, the […]

At least once a week I get a question from someone about which supplements to take to get the most out of their efforts.  There is no shortage of options-that’s for sure.  Unfortunately, MOST supplements aren’t worth your money.  As a general statement-the more colorful and flashy the label, the more expensive and worthless the […]

The question is often thrown around: “If you could only do one exercise, what would it be?” My Answer: The Deadlift! An argument could be made that the deadlift is the best exercise around.  This argument is often made for the squat, which I circumstantially disagree with. Reasons why the deadlift is better than the […]

The next step in analyzing groin pain and hip pain is to take a look at the range of motion around the hip.  The four primary ranges of motion you want to concern yourself with are hip flexion, hip extension, hip internal rotation, and hip external rotation.   A couple important notes: While it’s best […]

Continuing on yesterday’s discussion on the groin injuries that plague hockey and soccer players…The second step in analyzing an athlete’s groin pain is to do a crude posture analysis.  I don’t advocate strength coaches or sport coaches pretending to be physical therapists, but there are some pretty basic posture assessments that sometimes provide a lot […]

At least once a week I get a question from an athlete, parent, or coach involved in soccer or ice hockey about “groin” pain.  I put groin in quotations because the groin is often referred to as one muscle, although the injuries people refer to as groin strains typically involve several, usually the adductor brevis, […]

This week was…different.  Gym was closed on Monday and Wednesday so I went 4 straight days (Tuesday-Friday) instead of Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.  Wednesday I did 100 rep chin-up and 100 rep push-up tests in the shortest time possible.  That was probably the worst feeling ever-Everyone should do it once…no one should do it twice. […]