Ready to start a new workout routine, sport, or season? Use this simple self-screen to take yourself through four different movements that will help you identify possible areas of injury prior to starting a new activity. Follow along with the transcription written out below.
Video Transcription
(00:01) Hi, I'm Dr. Gianna Bigliani, physical therapist and owner at Fluid Physio. Today I'm going to show you how to take yourself through a movement screen of four different movements.
(00:15) Now that the weather is nice and you are thinking of getting back into sports or running; I want to have you go through these four different movements so that you can look out for any pain or stiffness, because those pain and stiffness can become either nagging injuries or big injuries.
(00:34) You want to make sure that you avoid those big injuries, lower your risk, and then be able to enjoy what you really want to do, which is to go out and have fun or race or have more performance. So here are the four movements:
(00:52) Arms. The first one is going to be with your arms. You're going to make big circles all the way out. And you're looking out for shoulder stiffness or pain.
(01:04) If you stop and it's a little stiff, or if you're in a little bit pain, that is definitely something that you want to address because with that is usually the most common thing I see in patients is impingement. Impingement can lead to rotator cuff sprains or even tears. Not something you want to have to rehab is a rotator cuff tear. So really you want to look out for a full range of motion and no pain. The second movement is going to be in the back.
(01:35) Back. So there are two different movements in the back. The first one is going to be hands on your back, then arch backwards as far as you can. Can you go back without any pain? Without bending your knees? If you bend your knees, it's because you probably don't have too much movement in your lower back. So definitely looking out for any pain or stiffness.
(02:00) Stiffness in the lower back is a big problem precursor for that back pain that so many people have to deal with, you don't want to have to deal with that. So again, pain in the back, stiffness, and the same thing bending forward. You're going to bend forward, keeping your knees straight. Can you come all the way down? Without any pain? Without any symptoms down the leg? Numbness, tingling, things that travel, you don't want to feel those.
(02:30) And if you, do definitely see a physical therapist. Are you bending forward and then that's as far as you can go? Maybe you just feel that back there, but you just don't go any further. And that's a lot of hamstring, stiffness and tightness that you want to address because eventually if you don't address it, that's going to cause back pain. The fourth one is going to be a squat. And this is a good one to do in front of a mirror.
(02:55) Knees. Okay, when you get in front of the mirror, you're going to sit back into a squat. Make sure that the knees, looking in the mirror, do the knees roll in? Do they roll out? If they roll in, that's a sign of hip weakness. Do you have knee pain?
(03:09) Do you have ankle pain? Definitely something to look out for so long from the sideview. Make sure your hips can go back? Can you keep your back in a neutral position along with the squat? We're going to do a mini squat.
(03:30) And you're looking in the mirror to see if you can keep your knee nice and straight above your toes, or is your knee rolling in? Is your body leaning over? Those are all signs of hip weakness, ankle weakness, and things to make sure you take care of so you don't have any other bigger injuries as you start your sport.
(03:52) The last one is going to be kneeling, and we're going to make sure that you're going to be nice and straight. You can do this one in front of the mirror, too, and I'll show you in a second. So you're going to lean forward, bring your knee forward, and really keeping your heel down. And you're going to look for a stretch in the back of your ankle. Any kind of pain or pinching in the front of the ankle, in the side of the ankle, really looking out for stiffness in your joints, which can lead to other problems later on.
(04:28) So we're looking for a stretch in the back. So when you're facing the mirror as you do it, you want to make sure that the knee stays nice and straight over the toes, making sure that it doesn't roll in. So as you lean forward, you want that in the back of your ankle.
(04:48) And that concludes our self assessment-self injury screen with four different movements. Any pain or any stiffness with any of those, definitely address it. Whether you see me, your physical therapist in the Princeton area, or you seek out help from other physical therapists we are the ones that are going to be in charge of making sure that you either prevent those big injuries or hopefully rehabilitate you to be able to go back into your sport full force. But again, the screen is to prevent these injuries. And that's the most important part to keep you in the game and keep you active.
(05:36) Take care. Bye.
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