Bill Hartman

Author: Bill

  • Thoracic Mobility is a Myth?

    The following came to me via a comment on a recent post on thoracic mobility.  I found it to be quite interesting and felt is deserved to be a answered in the blog rather than in the comments section.  Read this question with great caution as it’s pretty scary:

    Mr. Hartman,

    When you talk about Thoracic spine mobility are you referring to the flexibility in the musculature or the mobility of the vertebrae themselves. I recall a few weeks back in one of my graduate classes my professor was very clear in stressing the point because the thoracic vertebrae were attached to the sternum, via the ribs, that there was no measurable movement within these joints. He then demonstrated with a model that the only freely movable vertebrae were in the cervical and lumbar regions. Just want to be sure I’m understanding what you mean exactly by mobility. Thoughts?

    Thanks for your time.

    I am very concerned over your question.  I am hoping that it’s a misinterpretation of what your professor explained rather than a true representation of what you’re being taught at a graduate level.  Let’s review a little bit about thoracic spine mobility.

    If your statement in regard to your professor’s comments is true, then I’m afraid your professor is dead wrong.

    While it is true that thoracic spine mobility is restricted by the ribcage (one of the reasons why <1% of disc herniations occur in the t-spine is because the ribcage does a good job of limiting spinal flexion), it is far from immobile.

    The upper thoracic spine

    The zygapophyseal joints of the upper thoracic spine are orientated toward the frontal plane.  This limits spinal flexion to about four degrees per segment from T1-T6, but it allows about 8 degrees of rotation per segment from T1 to T8.  From T1 to T10 you’ve got roughly 6 degrees of lateral flexion per segment.

     The Lower Thoracic Spine

    Because the zygapophyseal joints change orientation to a more sagittal plane alignment in the lower t-spine, the ability to flex increases from about five to about 12 degrees per segment as you work your way down from T6-7 to T12-L1.  The orientation of the joints also limits rotation to about 2 degrees per segment below T10.

    So you can see that while movement is restrained by the anatomy, the thoracic spine does move quite a bit.  In fact a loss of mobility in the the thoracic spine can lead to neck, shoulder, lower back, and even lower extremity dysfunction and pathology.  This is one of reasons we spend so much time working mobility drills from Inside-Out and Assess and Correct in my clinic and at IFAST.

    I would suggest that you research spinal mobility yourself and challenge your professor to prove or clarify his point.  Also, seek out resources that show how a reduction in thoracic spine mobility reduces shoulder range of motion and shoulder girdle posture.  At worst, you’ll get the correct information, and at best, you’re professor may learn something and change his tune a bit.

    Best of Luck.

    Bill

  • Exercise tweaks with Adam Campbell and the Big Book of Exercises

    I was emailing back and forth the other day with best selling author of The Men’s Health Big Book of Exercises (he’s also the author of the women’s version), Adam Campbell.  Since, the Big Book is now a very big book on the best seller list, I thought our conversation would be of interest (yeah, I know I mentioned the book yesterday, but this is good stuff).
     
    The topic of the conversation was using little cues or tweaks to maximize the benefit of common exercises and to assure that a guy is using proper technique.
     
    Here’s some of the cues we came up with that you may find beneficial:
     
    When performing the plank exercise for the abdominals and general trunk stability, push your elbows into the floor to improve serratus anterior activation and improve shoulder girdle stability.
     
    Everyone says to brace your core and squeeze glutes as you do a hip extension like a glute bridge.  Instead, cue yourself to lift the trunk and hips as a single unit with a single hinge at the hip joint.
     
    When performing a barbell, dumbbell, or cable row, initiate the movement by pulling the scapula (shoulder blade) back and then follow through the pull with the arm.  Let the scapula lead the arm.
     
    When performing kneeling exercises like cable chops, lifts, pushes, or pulls, co-contract the stabilizing muscles of the hip by “sucking” the hip joint in tight.  You’ll instantly feel all the muscles surrounding the hip activate making the exercise more effective.
     
    Get your copy of the Men’s Health Big Book of Exercises or the Women’s Health Big Book of Exercises.

    Bill

    P.S.  If you’d like to read more coaching points to improve exercise performance, just let me know.

  • The Men’s Health Big Book of Exercises is a Best Seller!

    Have you checked the New York Times Best Seller List lately?

    I’m sure it was on your list of things to do today, but I’ll save you the time and effort.

    If you check the paperback advice/how-to/misc. list, you’ll see my buddy Adam Campbell’s The Men’s Health Big Book of Exercises at #12.  This is a pretty big deal because exercise books rarely even make the list.

    If you don’t have it yet, get it.  Not only do you get over 600 different exercises, buy you’ll get a bunch of training programs from the top names in fitness (uh, including yours truly).

     

    Bill

  • Making a few changes…

    Hey, just a quick “heads-up”.

    I’m in the midst of making a few changes to the site as you may have noticed, so if you see some weird stuff going on that is why.

    I’ll have some new posts in the very near future.

    Thanks and check back later.

    Bill

  • Thoracic Spine Mobility and some other stuff

    Are you working to maintain or improve your thoracic spine mobility?

    I hope so.  It seems with all the assessments that I do in my PT clinics and at IFAST, I’m seeing more and more mobility issues with the thoracic spine on my patients and clients.

    Most of these people with limited thoracic spine mobility also present with either neck pain or shoulder pain.  This isn’t really a big surprise as we’ve known for quite some time that reduced thoracic spine mobility limits scapular mobility which, in turn, limits shoulder and cervical range of motion.  As these joints typically require a great deal of mobility for normal function, it’s common to see compensations that lead to pain and injury.

    Mobilizing the thoracic spine with a foam roller has become quite common in fitness and sports training fields, and while this is a great contribution to improving mobility, even the foam roller has limitations.  When mobilizing your thoracic spine, you need to mobilize not just in the sagittal plane with extension mobilizations.  You also need to mobilize in rotation and sidebending to optimize mobility.

    For those of you who are using the Assess and Correct program, you’ve already experienced the benefits of approaching thoracic spine mobility from multiple planes.

    At IFAST, we’ll also reinforce thoracic spine mobility during horizontally loaded cable exercises, like horizontal pushes and pulls, as well as unilateral shoulder exercises such as PNF diagonals, and total body exercises like chops and lifts.

    What else can you do to positively influence your thoracic spine mobility?

    You need to reinforce it throughout the day.  There’s a concept called competitive adaptation in fitness and rehab fields.  Basically, it means that what you do most often or with the strongest stimulus will result in the greatest adaptation.

    For instance, you’re most likely sitting in front of a computer as you read this.  If you spend a great deal of time doing computer work or playing video games, break the postural cycle every 15 minutes by sitting up as tall as possible to reduce the slouching influence.  Make sure you stand up and squeeze your buttocks together every 50 minutes or so.  If you drive long distances on a regular basis, stop every hour to stand and stretch. 

    The real fix is a matter of breaking those patterns that negatively influence thoracic spine mobility and then doing enough progressive mobility work to assure optimal thoracic spine mobility.

    Other Stuff…

    Congratulations to Mike the Intern on the completion of his IFAST Internship and his graduation from Western Michigan.

    My good friend and fitness director at Men’s Health Magazine has a brand new book combo out for Christmas.

    The Men’s Health Big Book of Exercises

    The Women’s Heatlh Big Book of Exercises

    Order it now and you can have 619 new exercises for your best body in 2010.  Oh, and you’ll also get some cool workouts from yours truly in there too.

    Bill