🏃WALK, RUN, WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? [Info]

When you switch from walking 🚶 to running 🏃, have you ever thought what you change? Of course you don't! It's so engrained in our motor patterns, that we don't think of what running actually is

There's a few changes:
🔺A 'Flight' Phase (that's right, you're literally floating )
🔺More Joint Range of Motion
🔺More Ground Reaction Force 💥
🔺More Eccentric Muscle Use (Muscles work to control you landing)

This circles back to injuries ➡️ if you haven't ran or played a sport in YEARS, you're using muscles and joints that haven't been active at that level

This is especially important when you're 'floating' and the lead foot 👟 makes first contact with the ground (stance phase). A few things happen ➡️

🔹The shin muscles contract to stabilize foot landing
🔹The quad muscles contract to slow knee flexion
🔹The side-hip muscles contract to stabilize 〰the pelvis

The whole process loads the joints and muscles up to 4️⃣times your body weight when you jog (Nilsson, 89)

This is all good when you run around the block . But say you go for that Marathon your friend signed you up for? You take around ~ 55,000 steps during a marathon! It means if you have a flaw during ➡️ landing ➡️stance phase, this is magnified over FIFTY THOUSAND times. Even worse if you're tired 😴

💪Shoulder Pain with Sideplanks? Try this ➡️➡️
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Shoulder pain is a common barrier for a lot of patients doing sideplanks, to strengthen the lateral core . But I found a nice simple variation in a book by the great 🏅Dr. Stu McGill that I wanted to show you guys ⬆️. Try it out:
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🔹Go Sidelying, Support your neck
🔹Stack your legs
🔹Increase core tension
🔹Lift Your Legs so Your feet hover just a few cm off the ground
🔹Do 10second holds, 12 Reps per side
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✳️Note you're not doing quick repetitions or crunches, but slow holds. It doesn't give quite the intensity or Burn of sideplanks but gets the job done if you have shoulder pain.
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For Variation ⏩⏩. Attach a small resistance band around your legs. Do the same leg lift, but create tension between the band.

💢The Hidden Culprit for Low Back Pain
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Recently we've had a ton of low back pain cases so we thought we'd give you guys a week of info on the Lumbar Spine ➡️. A recent case I saw had 'radiating pain' into the glute (but no sciatic pain). How is that possible?? The likely culprit is the nagging QL (quadratus lumborum) muscle.
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It's a broad muscle at the back of the abdomen, which mostly stabilizes the Lumbar spine. If you run  long distance or are sitting at a desk all day, the QL can get tired and tight leading to the symptoms I mentioned.
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Anatomy: It attaches from the top of the iliac crest of the pelvis to the final rib and the Lumbar vertebra
🔶Function: 
🔸Stabilization of the low back 
🔸Extension, Rotation or Lateral Bending of the Lumbar Spine
🔸Support of Respiration (attaches to the final rib)
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How Do I Know if QL is causing issues?
🔻Referral Pain into your Hip or Glute
🔻Long periods of Sitting cause discomfort
🔻Mild Low Back Pain with coughing/sneezing
🔻Functional Scoliosis (curve) of the low back due to excess tension of one QL

🔴WHY YOUR SHOULDER HURTS
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Through your lifetime you'll likely have a painful 💥shoulder at some point. Most of us fixate on 'I tore my rotator cuff'. But what's actually happening with this, quote: 'tear'?
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In the pic there are 3 examples of rotator cuff conditions:
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1️⃣ Impingement Syndrome - occurs due to friction of the supraspinatus in the sub-acromial space (the small tunnel formed between the acromion and humerus). This occurs more often with overhead activities or someone's individual anatomy: some people have smaller sub-acromial spaces.
2️⃣ Acute Rotator Cuff Tear - occurs due to a traumatic event ⚡️, like a fall with your arm out, or something simple like trying to quickly grab an object about to drop
3️⃣ Chronic Tendinopathy - occurs due to overuse of certain activities: such as swimming, throwing, even deskwork.
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Most of these conditions are NON-Inflammatory in nature. The tendons have degenerative changes that occur over time. They've even found bad diet over time can lead to fatty deposits within the tendon, making them weaker and more prone to injury .
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Although I listed 3️⃣ separate 'conditions' it is not always this simple. You can have variations that occur together: like someone with sub-acromial syndrome, who has a small tear from a fall. These are among the most stubborn conditions I see in my clinics. It takes consistent rehab and good habits to decrease pain. 

🔁WHAT IS THE ROTATOR CUFF?
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Virtually everyone has heard of the 'rotator cuff of the Shoulder. But it's function and importance can be confusing for anyone that  Strains it when weightlifting  or other activities.
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Your main shoulder joint (glenohumeral joint) is a ball and socket joint with a lot of range of motion 🔄. Think of your GH joint like a golf ball on a golf tee 🏐. Pretty unstable, eh? Well the rotator cuff acts like mini bunjee cords around this 'golf-ball' to initiate, support and sense all movement around it. They're super versatile.
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The rotator cuff is composed of 4 main muscles arising from the shoulder blade and attaching around the humerus (arm bone)
1️⃣Supraspinatus - Acts to initiate abduction (raising the arm)
2️⃣Subscapularis - Acts to internally rotate shoulder
3️⃣Teres Minor and Infraspinatus - Act to externally rotate shoulder
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It's important to know that these aren't the only muscles to perform these actions. They function to have specific control their respective actions (aka slow down internal or external rotation).
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What's cool about these muscles is that they create a negative pressure environment for the GH joint, sucking the ball into the socket. So that if you have a dislocation, your body can literally help relocate the shoulder...if you can stop tensing up from all the pain 😢.
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All week I'll be going over rotator cuff exercises to help from rehab to weight-lifting