by Mitch Hauschildt, MA, ATC, CSCS You may have noticed that I took last week off of blogging to focus on one of my favorite events of the year…RAGBRAI. For those of you who don’t know what RAGBRAI is, it is the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (or RAGBRAI for short). It is […]
5 Variations of the Mini Band Sidestep
By Mitch Hauschildt, MA, ATC, CSCS Many of us use the miniband sidestep as part of our injury prevention, performance training, or rehab programming. Some refer to them as monster walks, banded shuffles or some other term, so for our purposes today, we are going to refer to it as the miniband sidestep and know […]
Improving Post Op Knee Flexion
by Mitch Hauschildt, MA, ATC, CSCS One of the first things clinicians learn about post op patients is to improve their range of motion as quickly as possible. Because, in order to have joint stability, you have to have joint mobility. Over the years of working with tons of knee patients, I have found a […]
Post Op Knee Taping Technique
by Mitch Hauschildt, MA, ATC, CSCS I’m always looking for ways to improve the outcomes for our post operative patients. One of my irritations over the years has been with the braces that a lot of orthopedic surgeons place on knee patients while in the operating room, shortly after closing their incision and then require […]
Reengineering the Straight Leg Raise
by Mitch Hauschildt, MA, ATC, CSCS I, like so many clinicians, was taught in school that we must perform the standard quad sets, glute squeezes, and straight leg raises with every patient immediately after knee surgery. To be perfectly honest, these movements didn’t make a lot of sense to me then, and they still don’t […]
Don’t Run with (open) Scissors
by Mitch Hauschildt, MA, ATC, CSCS “Don’t run with scissors!” That was something that we all learned from our parents when we were kids, right? The thought of tripping and impaling someone with a sharp metal object is pretty scary as both a child and adult. I was curious, so I did a quick search […]
Lumbar Disc Taping Technique
For the most part, I usually cringe when I hear that one of our athletes is getting an MRI on their low back, because I never know exactly what it is going to tell us and what some physicians will want to do with the findings. I’m a firm believer that the vast majority of […]
Update: Trap Bar Deadlift: Friend or Foe?
A while back, I wrote a post about the positives and negatives of the Trap Bar Deadlift as opposed to a traditional, barbell deadlift (if you missed it, read it here). That article drew quite a bit of attention from fitness and performance professionals and lead to some great conversations. In that post, I made […]
Feed Forward: Good or Bad?
An interesting question that I get quite often relating to coaching our patients and athletes is regarding the Feed Forward Mechanism. They don’t typically use the term “Feed Forward”, but it is essentially what they are asking. So, I thought for this post we would break it down little bit to understand the positives and […]
Looking at the Transverse Plane from 30,000 Feet
Many of you who have caught one of my live events in the last year or so have heard me say that I’m “All In” when it comes to training in the transverse plane. Rotation seems to be the lost plane of movement for a number of our athletes and patients. I have been just […]
Multi Prong Approach to Ankle Mobility
by Mitch Hauschildt, MA, ATC, CSCS Ankle mobility is a very common problem that wreaks havoc on the human body in general, but especially lower extremity movements. As an example, one can make a strong argument that lack of ankle dorsiflexion has a larger negative impact on the squat movement than any other restriction or […]
Is Movement Based Therapy for Everyone?
In this talk, Mitch Hauschildt gives us an overview of the concepts — such as regional interdependence and the joint by joint approach — and some techniques that make up a movement-based approach, including evaluations and outcomes. “We can really get a lot of good movement work done, either in the absence of pain or […]
Poor Pelvic Alignment
What’s going on in anterior or posterior pelvic tilt — what do these mean, and what affect does it have on a moving body? What injuries are common from these, and what steps do we take to correct them? Mitch Hauschildt gives us an overview and explains what he does to reprogram pelvic motor control […]
Are Rehab & Fitness the Next Power Duo?
by Mitch Hauschildt, MA, ATC, CSCS The world has created some great combinations over the years. Peanut Butter and Jelly, Batman and Robin, Mac and Cheese, Han Solo and Chewbacca, and the list can go on and on… I would like to add another duo to that list…Rehab and Fitness. Some of you may think […]
Upslip
An Upslip of half of the pelvis is an extremely common injury for athletes. It involves half of the pelvis (usually the left side) moving upward relative to the opposing side. This has a ripple effect on the rest of the lower body. It can change leg length, place a stretch on specific muscles, and […]
Typical Treatment
Lateral Knee Pain: Typical Treatment Many clinicians wonder why their patients don’t trust them to fix their problems. Why?? MANY CLINICIANS ONLY TREAT PAIN, NOT THE PROBLEM! Unfortunately, lateral knee pain is typically treated in a way that does little to fix the origin of the problem. This is a mechanical issue, not a […]
Squats and Lunges
Ankle Dorsiflexion: As we have discussed, there is a ripple effect up the entire kinetic chain. A dorsiflexion restriction is very evident in squatting and lunging patterns. Keep in mind that the very same squatting and lunging patterns are some of the most fundamental movements in all of sport. So, ignoring these issues and problems […]
Squat Technique
Ankle Dorsiflexion: As we have discussed, there is a ripple effect up the entire kinetic chain. A dorsiflexion restriction is very evident in squatting patterns. The Squat is likely the most fundamental movement pattern for all athletics, and for life in general. If we can’t squat in functional manner, we will struggle to sit in […]
Sport Specific Movements
Thoracic Spine Mobility: The easiest way to explain the impact the Thoracic Spine has on sporting movements is to go watch a friendly golf outing between 2 gentlemen. One friend is the taller, thinner athlete, who doesn’t appear to be all that athletic, but has a smooth, “sweet” swing that appears effortless. His friend […]
Metabolic Factors
Improving the Anaerobic capacity is the final key to improving an athlete’s movement skills as it relates to speed and power sports. Research tells us that there are a great number of advantages to training anaerobically on a treadmill. Payne demonstrated an increase in Oxygen uptake and lactate levels with interval uphill running. Itoh attributed […]
Metabolic Training
Improving the Anaerobic capacity is the final key to improving an athlete’s movement skills as it relates to speed and power sports. Research tells us that there are a great number of advantages to training anaerobically on a treadmill. Payne demonstrated an increase in Oxygen uptake and lactate levels with interval uphill running. Itoh attributed […]
Improved Running Mechanics
Everyone performing any kind of motor learning with an individual can attest that utilizing a very controlled environment is the easiest means to achieve desired results. The treadmill makes motion analysis very simple because of the controlled environment that the athlete is placed in. In most cases, it eliminates the need for video analysis because […]
Leg Length Evaluation
Assessing Leg Length is important for preventing injury, treating injury, and increasing performance. It is a simple process that involves a table and a close to eye. It is a fluid movement, which can be broken down into 5 parts for ease of explanation. The total movement should take less than 5 seconds or so. […]
Knee Injuries
Ankle Dorsiflexion: If you take a moment to review our information on how poor dorsiflexion affects the body, you’ll understand how a dorsiflexion restriction can play havoc on the entire kinetic chain. It can make squatting and lunging difficult and can decrease glute firing, which are all very important for performance and health. But, the […]
TRX Lat Pin & Stretch
by Mitch Hauschildt, MA, ATC, CSCS I am always looking for new ways to improve tissue quality and performance for my athletes and patients. While I love hands on manual therapy, I often need my athletes to be able to treat themselves to a certain degree. Foam rolling and trigger point therapy with balls is […]
Self Joint Mobs
Ankle Dorsiflexion: Teaching an athlete to fix their own restrictions may be the best way to achieve long term success. Teaching them about their problems helps them understand their issues and empowers them to fix them on their own. This allows the athlete to buy into their treatment plan. It also allows them to perform […]
Thoracic Spine Rotation
Thoracic Spine Mobility: So, what are the best ways to improve Thoracic Spine Rotation? There are a variety of ways. If you have the manual skills, there are manual mobilizations. If you have access to a good Chiropractor, they can make some dramatic improvements with some good manipulations. At MTS, we prefer to combine therapeutic […]
