Interested in keeping up to date with research relevant to your clinical practice?

The Calibrate Pilates team rounds this up so that you can integrate new information into your evidence-informed practice: join our newsletter now.

Age-Related Reduction in Motor Adaptation

Wolpe N, Ingram J, Tsvetanov K, et al. (2020). Age-related reduction in motor adaptation: brain structural correlates and the role of explicit memory. Neurobiology of Aging 90: 13-23.

The authors of this study examined the differences in the brain structure and cognition underlying motor adaptation in a population-based cohort. Results support the hypothesis that sensorimotor adaptation is a composite of multiple learning strategies, which are differentially affected by age, and the authors conclude that "that across the lifespan, motor adaptation declines with age as a result of the deteriorating explicit learning system".

Key Points: Motor Adaptation and Age Related Changes

• ...

Interested in keeping up to date with research relevant to your clinical practice?

The Calibrate Pilates team rounds this up so that you can integrate new information into your evidence-informed practice: join our newsletter now.

Brachial Plexus Injury After Shoulder Dislocation: A Literature Review

Olga G et al. Brachial Plexus Injury After Shoulder Dislocation: a literature review. Neurosurgical Review (2020) 43:407–423. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10143-018-1001-x

This literature review examined the neurological implications of shoulder dislocation. The authors analyzed the implications of brachial plexus injury, the incidence of neurological injuries in patients with shoulder dislocation, and proposed the algorithm for management.

Key Points

• Traumatic anterior shoulder dislocation has an incidence estimated of 2% across the population.
• 4-55% incidence of neurological complications after dislocations is reported in the literature.
• Neurological...

Integrating neural mobility exercises into functional movements and clinical Pilates practice can have multiple benefits, regardless of whether a client is displaying neural mechanosensitivity: all tissues in the body need to move!

Key Points: Neurodynamics

• Mechanical and physiological events within the nervous system are dynamically interdependent.
• Neurodynamics (ND) is the term used to describe the integration of the morphology,
  biomechanics, and physiology of the nervous system." ¹⁰
  
• In neurodynamics, posture and multi-joint movements are combined to apply force to a nerve.
• Mobilisation triggers a range of responses in nervous tissues, including tension and pressure changes, and positive impacts on nervous impulses, axonal transport, viscoelasticity, microcirculation, and abnormal impulse-generating sites.
• Theoretically, neural mobilisation restores homeostasis in and around the nerve, dispersing intraneural oedema in the nerve root and axon, thereby decreasing...

Guidelines for managing rheumatoid arthritis consistently recommend exercise to support and maintain joint function. In practice, however, when working with people in chronic pain or during an acute flare of the condition, this may not be such an easy task. This is especially true when there may be fears around pain and dysfunction.

Key Points: Pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis

• Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an immune mediated inflammatory disease: immunological activation + inflammatory pathways contribute to an auto-perpetuating process.
• RA primarily presents as symmetrical polyarthritis, with patients dealing with painful joints, restricted mobility, and fatigue.
• 3 phases of disease: initiation phase, amplification phase, chronic inflammatory phase.
• TNF, IL-1, and IL-6 are the prominent inflammatory cytokines that mediate the disease response in RA.

_{Pathobiology of Rheumatoid Arthritis - Smolen et al. (2016)}

• In RA, the...

An informal poll of our colleagues has concluded that no-one knew that the iliocapsularis muscle existed until two days ago… This got us thinking about other muscles of the hip that insert into the joint capsule, and their role in hip function and movement dysfunction.

Let’s dive in.  

Key Points: Iliocapsularis

• The iliocapsularis is a constant muscle. ie., found in all human specimens!
• Origin = Inferior border of the anterior inferior iliac spine + antereomedial joint capsule.
• Insertion = Distal to the lesser trochanter.
• Runs anterolaterally to posteromedially.
• Lies under rectus femoris and lateral to iliacus (sometimes blends with iliacus).
• Contraction pulls the hip joint capsule zona orbicularis superomedially -> stabilizing the hip anteriorly. 

• Hypertrophy of the iliocapsularis is seen in patients with hip dysplasia, particularly helping to stabilize the femoral head when there is a deficient acetabulum.
• Iliocapsularis limits...