Deadlift alternatives for the compressed spine

By Skylar Pond | November 16, 2015

When and athlete is recovering from a lower back injury it is important to keep the lower body and posterior chain engaged. Deadlift alternatives for the compressed spine include the TRX, Ring or erg supine knee flexion from a reverse plank set-up.

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Upper Back Mobility for the Overhead Athlete The Bench Sphynx Seattle Sports Chiropractor

By Skylar Pond | November 12, 2015

As a Seattle Sports Chiropractor I see a lot of middle back and shoulder injuries in overhead crossfit athletes due to their lack of T-Spine mobility. When you are deficient in middle back flexibility you will buckle at the T-L junction to get a weight centered overhead. Avoid that painful trip to my office with an injured lower back. This mobility can open up your range, protect your shoulders and stabilize your midline with overhead loads.

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What Exercises are Safe After an Exertion Headache?

By Skylar Pond | August 19, 2015

I am often asked the question “What exercises are safe after an exertion headache?”   Assuming that your headache is a primary exertion headache or exercise headache it is safe to reintroduce progressive exercise after a 4-7 day rest.  Here are some guidelines to and progressions to follow in the early reintroduction phase:

You begin with low-threshold activities.  Those are the movements least likely to bring about a relapse of symptoms.  Those are low intensity movements that keep the athlete upright, keep the neck neutral, are low impact and do not require aggressive upper trap activation.

High Threshold activities that are re-introduced last include:

1) Bearing down or valsalva monouvers.

2) Increasing intracranial pressure by lowering the head below the waist. (Bench press, burpee, deadlift)

3) Extending the neck during a lift. (Burpee, The bottom of an overhead squat)

4) Aggressive Upper Trap Activation. (Clean grip shrug, power snatch, deadlift)

5)  Jarring impact (Reboundig box jumps)

Early on in the process it is important to eliminate all of these factors and slowly re-introduce these challenging elements phase by phase WITHOUT reproducing any headache symptoms. This is critical to avoid chonicity of these episodes. Picture letting a scab heal without ripping it off and causing scar tissue formation.

Today’s post will focus on safe initial re-introduction movements.

Keep the above criteria in mind with all of the following movements as all can be done in a way that will trigger a vulnerable condition.  To keep it simple, apply this guideline to the following movements for best success:  Exhale during the concentric phase of all motions, keep the head and neck neutral, avoid shrugging motions  and eliminate jarring impact with the ground.

Phase one introductory movements:

Belted Sled Drags and Reverse Sled Drags

  • Reverse or backwards sled drags are at the core of your exertion work this early phase.  Use them as the base and integrate the following low-threshold movements in alternating fashion
    •  Reverese Sled Drag- Belt the sled off from the hips and walk backwards looking back at the sled with the hips sitting back and the neck in neutral.
    • Sled Drag- Belt the weight from the hips and walk forward with a consistent, slow and even pace focusing on hamstring recruitment and neutral neck position.
  • Banded Shoulder traction cervical stretches
  • Supine Deep Neck Flexor Drills 3 planes, 10 reps
  • Towel traction
  • Isometric Supine extension
  • Upright Towel Isometric Extension
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What is Shoulder Impingement?

By Skylar Pond | July 28, 2015

If you have been told that your shoulder pain with overhead movements is the result of “Shoulder Impingement Syndrome” the next questions are: “What is Shoulder Impingement?” and “How can get rid of it?”

Supraspinatus Tendon Impingement


1- What is Shoulder Impingement?

Shoulder Impingement Syndrome is typically diagnosed with orthopedic tests that closely resemble a poorly executed sumo deadlift high pull. Shoulder impingement is caused by the joints of your shoulder moving in a way that causes it to bind upon its own soft tissues. A single incidence easily becomes a chronic condition as the swollen and irritated soft tissues then become a likely pinch point for future impingement. The same mechanics are at work when you continually bite the same place on your tongue. This is a common problem for novice weight lifters and crossfit athletes who have recently made rapid gains in overhead strength without cultivating equal overhead stability and middle back flexibility.

The Sumo Deadlift High Pull puts the shoulder in the same position as the Hawkins Kennedy Test for shoulder impingement. Photo courtesy of becomethebull.blogspot.com

2- How do I get rid of it?

Your family practitioner will tell you to ice the shoulder, take 800mg ibuprofen/ day and to stop lifting heavy objects overhead. That is fine for the short-term, but the only way to resolve the condition is to address the faulty movement patterns within the shoulder that created the initial impingement. The process that we use at Sports Medicine Northwest is two-fold: 1- We address any motor imbalances that are identified in exam, and 2- We optimize joint centration. We achieve both of these objectives through corrective exercise prescriptions.

With shoulder impingement syndrome “Optimizing Motor Imbalances” can mean everything from treating a rotator cuff muscle injury to scapular dyskenisia and a rigid upper back. In the absence of an acute tissue injury, joint centration movements such as the kettlebell arm bar, turkish get-up, and the kettlebell windmill are useful for regaining joint centration. At Northwest Strength and Performance and at Sports Medicine Northwest, we acclimate the injured athlete to the kettlebell windmill with the banded version demonstrated below.

After initiating these movements under traction, overhead lifts are progressively reintroduced and weight is added. When progressive weight is increased, the athlete is often stronger and more stable than they were before their initial injury.

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