This transcript includes highlights from the live, interactive session of our Clinical Conversation: Alternate Grips for Upper Limb Rehab. 

If you missed the live webinar, you can read about using alternate grips for upper limb rehab in your clinical Pilates practice, below. 

Please join our next live event, where you can participate in our Case Study discussion and Q&A session. 

Check out our upcoming Clinical Conversations here. 

GRIP & GRASP

• Grip and Grasp Anatomy: The carpals.
  
  • The carpus is designed to increase the tension in the tendons of the fingers (both extensors and flexors) and optimise these movements.
  • The proximal row are functionally separate from the distal row.
  • Flexion of the wrist initially occurs between these two rows, with the scaphoid acting as a bridge, so that in the final stage of flexion the whole carpus moves as a single unit.
  • The same occurs in...

This transcript includes highlights from the live, interactive session of our Clinical Conversation: Footwork Options for Pregnancy.

If you missed the live webinar, you can read about some of the biomechanical changes during pregnancy, as well as footwork options for your clinical Pilates practice below. 

Please join our next live event, where you can participate in our Case Study discussion and Q&A session. 

Check out our upcoming Clinical Conversations here. 

OUR FEET AS OUR FOUNDATION

•  Pilates sessions traditionally begin with footwork and other strength work to set a foundation for movement.
• By spending time building strength through the feet, you can help to support a stable and dynamic support for standing, and for upright movement.
• This is an incredibly functional place to begin, and it's no different when working with a pregnant body.

 CLINICAL PILATES EMBODIED ANATOMY: FOOTWORK...

 This transcript includes highlights from the live, interactive session of our Clinical Conversation: Axial Elongation. 

If you missed the live webinar, you can read about how to use axial elongation in your clinical Pilates practice below. 

Please join our next live event, where you can participate in our Case Study discussion and Q&A session. 

Check out our upcoming Clinical Conversations here. 

WHAT IS AXIAL ELONGATION?

• Many Pilates courses extol the virtues of axial elongation, and teach this principle as an elongation of the spine: creating space between the vertebrae.
  • Axial elongation opens space between the joints, and thus creates space for movement.
  • This space between the joints helps to decompress joints and rebalance the soft tissues around those joints. 
• Axial elongation can also be used along the axes of the long bones, or between any other joints in the body.
  • Wherever there is an...

This transcript includes highlights from the live, interactive session of our Clinical Conversation: What is a Neutral Head Position? 

If you missed the live webinar, you can read about neutral head position and how to integrate it into your clinical Pilates practice below. 

Please join our next live event, where you can participate in our Case Study discussion and Q&A session. 

Check out our upcoming Clinical Conversations here. 

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY NEUTRAL? 

• The optimal alignment of a joint.
  • A position of efficiency.
• The position of a joint where the bones that make up the joint are placed in the optimal position for maximal movement.
• The midrange of a joint, where there is the least amount of load on the ligaments and non-muscular tissues around the joint.
  • Stabilizing muscles are working...

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.

ANATOMY REVIEW: 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 synovial impingement...

This study compared various measures of lumbar trunk stability with a previously described unstable sitting task¹.

Larivière, Christian, Richard Preuss, Daniel Ludvig, and Sharon M. Henry. "Is postural control during unstable sitting a proxy measure for determinants associated with lumbar stability?" Journal of Biomechanics 102 (2020), 109581. doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2019.109581.

Of these measures, parameters of lumbar structural function and muscle activation and coordination were predictive for the unstable sitting task²:

• Angular kinematics of pelvis or lumbar spine following rapid arm movement.
• Lumbar intrinsic stiffness when resisting trunk perturbations.
• Thickness of perimuscular connective tissue around abdominal muscles.
• Onset of internal oblique/transverse abdominals and iliocostalis lumborum before rapid flexion/extension of a single arm.
• Percent thickness change of internal oblique and transverse abdominal muscles at rest...