Bob Fanelli, MSc, FAFS
PREHAB
Versatility and Adaptability are the most important characteristics an athlete/individual can possess regarding enhancing performance and avoiding injury.
All sports and activities have specific biomechanical demands that require efficient and effective versatility and adaptability of movement. The question is, does YOUR body have them? Or, is your body creating these motions with compensations and poor movement patterns, which lead to overuse and injury? It’s a critical question to answer in keeping you safe and healthy and allowing you to perform your activities and play your sport pain-free.
Prehab involves creating a detailed analysis of the biomechanics of your sport, from basketball to baseball to golf, swimming to lacrosse to work, or leisure time activities such as gardening, biking, running, etc.
What degree of motion is needed at the foot, ankle, knee, hip, low back, thoracic spine, shoulders, and neck to perform the task and sport efficiently? For example:
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What are the strength requirements? The Power requirements? What degree of flexibility is required? What degree of agility?
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How does the environment affect the training or activity? Is the environment variable? Is it stable? Is the athlete riding on something, or are they on their feet? Are they in the water? Is weather a factor, and how does that affect the sport?
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What are the sport-specific and activity-specific movement patterns that may need to be ‘unwound’ or facilitated?
An effective Prehab program is critical to developing versatility and adaptability so the body will have multiple options when encountering a situation. If not, the body will repeatedly resort to the same familiar patterns, leading to overuse and injury.
Contact me today for your personalized, individualized scientific Prehab Training Program drawn from the Sciences of Kinesiology, Exercise Physiology, and Applied Functional Science.
ASSESSMENT
If you are not assessing, then you are guessing. We cannot afford to guess about an athlete/individual's health. A complete understanding of the athlete’s and individual's functional movement patterns for their activity or sport provides the Prehab roadmap regarding how to achieve versatility for the individual in all aspects, such as increasing mobility, strength, balance, power, reducing pain, avoiding overuse injury, and improving efficiency and athleticism.
A detailed assessment is critical to an effective Prehab Program. The Three-Dimensional Movement Analysis & Performance System (3DMAPS) assessment meets these demands.
The Three-Dimensional Movement Analysis & Performance System (3DMAPS) assesses:
• 66 Tri-Plane Joint Motions
• Biomechanics of Primary Body Complexes
• Mobility Analysis Movements
• 6 Vital Transformational Zones
• Stability Analysis Movements
• 6 Chain Reactions®
• Three-Dimensional Interaction of Joints, Muscles, and Proprioceptors
• Range of Motion / Shape of Analysis Movements
• Control of Motion / Quality
Once the sporting/activity movements have been categorized and examined, programs can be designed to foster and encourage versatility of motion. This begins with your detailed assessment utilizing The Three-Dimensional Movement Analysis & Performance System (3DMAPS) assessment.
TRAINING
One of the benefits of Prehab functional training programs is that programs to enhance training also work on injury prevention.
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Based on the functional biomechanics of the sport and activity you want to perform successfully and your detailed 3DMAPS Analysis, a Prehab program is designed to mimic the requirements of those activities.
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A comprehensive Prehab program will include foundational training movements that will build success in all athletic endeavors. These global exercises utilize the entire body to challenge the neuro-musculoskeletal system to load and explode.
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Prehab training will incorporate the body’s resources built during the foundational and sport-specific movements into “skill-focused” training sessions.
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The number of repetitions, the speed of the movement, and whether any loads are used during the analysis will be altered to match any specific goals for that particular client. These principles, integrated with neuromusculoskeletal Chain Reaction™ biomechanics, lead to powerful strategies that guide decision-making.
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A well-designed Prehab program will also serve as injury prevention. Performance training and injury prevention are the same, suggesting that the best training programs decrease injuries while increasing performance.
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An individualized Prehab Program is integral in developing a practice plan and warm-up training protocol. It will guide you to prevent overuse injuries and achieve your full athletic potential through practice and movement.