Our brain controls our posture and our muscles. Therefore posture and muscle tone (i.e. how tight or relaxed a muscle is) is an expression of the brain. We must pay attention to this expression and how it relates to movement. A frequent cause of disturbance in our movement quality, why muscles get tight, why we display poor posture, and why we may ...

Movement gets a lot of hype these days and receives plenty of attention in the fitness industry, strength & conditioning industry, and rehabilitative fields. From movement screens to movement coaches, movement is a buzz word it seems some are simply trying to capitalize on.Movement screens don't prevent injuries, they just give you information....

Personal trainers or strength coaches don't have a license to diagnose, treat, or manage musculoskeletal conditions. Yet some are convinced they can play 'therapist' or 'doctor' on the regular.While I do agree that it's important for coaches/trainers to understand pain and how to make appropriate modifications to an exercise plan based on a client/...

Disc herniations and bulges can heal without surgery. Expert neurosurgeons will tell you the same thing. Yet why most elect for surgery is they never find conservative treatment that solves the problem.We must identify the underlying reasons WHY the disc herniated or became sensitive. Often these reasons deal with improper movement and postures tha...

Muscle action is also known as 'Direction of Muscle Pull'. The direction of muscle pull is a critical part of kinesiology that is often overlooked. It has huge importance in rehab and performance as it helps us better understand the motor control aspects of movement. Direction of muscle pull defines the kinetic chain. Most people that learn muscle ...

There seems to be a growing number of programs and trainers touting how they offer 'pain-free training' and that anything less than what they offer is simply inferior by design.Any intelligent trainer, coach, or therapist will acknowledge the value of proper training to ensure no serious orthopedic issues develop. No one wants their clients becomin...

I've never highly regarded myself. There's tons more athletic and stronger people out there. For what I lacked in natural ability, I've been disciplined and worked to accomplish tasks and goals. Even at age 36.I've loved training hard and learning about the human body since I was 14. Ultimately it's what lead me to what it is I do today. I knew as ...

This exercise is a hybrid of the bottoms up kettlebell (KB) serratus press and the McGill one arm bench press. The bottoms up KB serratus press is often performed on the floor or on a foam roller. The problem is the floor will impede natural scapular motion and the foam roller is frankly awkward and uncomfortable. We want to enhance muscular activa...

Introducting the Best Hip Exercise You're Not Doing - Half Kneeling to Heel SittingFor all you glute and booty fanatics, nothing beats properly performed squats, deadlifts, lunges, and RDLs for glutes that not only look great but work even better.Problem is most people don't perform the big exercises well and therefore resort to ways to "activate" ...

Sensory Motor TrainingSMT is a targeted approach to training the proprioceptive system and it's pathways involved with the control of equilibrium and posture.SMT is used to train the upright posture of the body with the emphasis placed on ideal posture during dynamic stability.Benefits of SMT:1️⃣ Increases speed of activation of muscle2️⃣ Improves ...

Use active stretches to improve muscular flexibility, joint range of motion, and posture. These stretches and exercises can be incorporated into your warm-up routine, as an active recovery method, or used on a regular basis to improve the way you move and feel.When compared to traditional static stretching, active stretches carry a number of benefi...

The gateway to change in the body is the sensory system.The balance of excitatory and inhibitory signals coming from our body's sensory system influences the level of performance of the human body. And this balance of stimuli is always under the control of the brain/central nervous system (CNS).Be it a chiropractic adjustment, massage or manual the...

This one is for those dealing with foot pain, calf pain, Achilles tendinitis, plantar fasciitis, or maybe your running/sprint form needs a ground-up makeover. Whether it's pain or performance issues residing in the lower body, if the foot isn't working properly, the hip can't do its job properly.Most people get too nervous about pronation of the fo...

Contrary to what has been preached for years, it is now known that interventions such as rest, ice, anti-inflammatory medications and electrical stimulation will not solve the problem of tendinopathy. The application of these interventions was based upon the assumption that inflammation within connective tissue or joints was created by repetitive m...

"I thought chiropractors only treated backs." This is one of the most common statements we hear in our office. Considering chiropractic is rooted in the treatment of the spine and that the majority of chiropractors treat spine-related conditions, this line of thinking is naturally expected. However, at Gallagher Performance we do things differently...

"Trigger points are a good thing in a poorly functioning system."  - Brett Winchester, DC One of my favorite quotes I've heard. Period.Identification and treatment of muscular trigger points is often a common therapeutic intervention of physical therapists, massage therapists, chiropractors, and other physical medicine providers. There's an en...

Neck pain can be quite common in MMA, grappling sports, and wresting. A big reason can be simply over reliance on the neck and inefficiency of the extensor system and trunk stabilizers.Once an athlete learns to improve how their body works as a system, tissue and joint stress reduce and performance efficiency will be almost immediately noticed. Esp...

FUNCTION IS AS REAL AS ANATOMY  The way our body functions is as real as our anatomy. There are some that like to act or state that "function" or "functional training" are fitness industry buzz words. They make light of the concept. And rightly so, as most of what is labeled  as "functional training" has very little to do w...

Our brain controls our posture and our muscles. Therefore posture and muscle tone (i.e. how tight or relaxed a muscle is) is an expression of the brain. We must pay attention to this expression and how it relates to movement.

A frequent cause of disturbance in our movement quality, why muscles get tight, why we display poor posture, and why we may have trigger points or pain is due to insufficient muscular stabilization of our spine.

Insufficiency is our stabilization system is exactly the reason why patients and athletes who have poor body awareness demonstrate poor ability to simply relaxation. Believe it or not, relaxation is easier said than done. If the brain doesn't know how to relax fully certain muscles, the low-grade state of contraction will keep muscles and surrounding joints under constant stress. This constant stress will ultimately lead to trigger points in muscles, dysfunctional movement patterns, and altered posture.

This is why specific exercise progressions that respect the developmental aspects of posture and movement are so critical. Exercise should not only address muscle function, but it must also address brain control to change how our body functions.

"Brain Education" focuses on the efficiency of our postural and movement control to avoid overloading of specific tissues and joints while promoting muscular balance.

Movement and relaxation is a skill. It must be practice daily through purposeful exercise with complete awareness to the feeling of the movement. This is the gateway to change in the body. These changes are valuable to anyone who is simply looking to get out of pain or improve their athletic ability.

However, there are still those that challenge the notion that there is an “ideal” or “good” posture. They will have you believe that there is no such thing as “good” or “bad” posture. The reality is, when it comes down to determining what is “good” or “bad” posture can be simply summed up by saying….”It depends.”

What will dictate “good” or “bad” when it comes to form or posture will depend upon a number of variables specific to the individual. We can find efficient form and ideal posture that someone should respect and when they don’t, the result is excessive wear and tear on their joints and tissues, leading to pain and progression of degenerative changes.

Yes we need to be efficient in movement and have a vast movement capacity. Yes there is no single posture that we should maintain for an extended period of time, no matter how “good” it is.

But those notions go out the window when our body meets increasing external resistance to our movement or we are performing movement at increasing speeds.

What does that mean?

Yes, we should be able to flex our spines and perform a body weight squat with posterior pelvic tilt (aka the dreaded “butt wink”) and resultant lumbar spine flexion. Yes this would be considered normal healthy human motion. But that doesn’t mean that one should perform a loaded barbell squat with the same intent or form. This could be an injury waiting to happen. When increased load or speed of movement comes into the picture (ex. barbell squat), very specific considerations must be made to that individual on the form and posture they express during the squat pattern to maximize their muscular efficiency and minimize stress placed on the joints.

These are the same considerations that must be respected when it comes to rehab and the subsequent development of fitness/physical ability. According to McGill, this breaks down into two stages:

• Stabilization of the injury and reduction of pain by approaches that follow desensitization and healing.
• Development of strength and physical ability only begins when the first stage has been achieved.