Eccentric Strength Training for Injury Rehabilitation and Injury Prevention
Correcting Muscular Imbalance
One of the core values in HMT (Hanson Muscle Therapy) is the importance of muscular balance. Muscular balance is when two antagonistic muscles are able to oppose, but not overpower, each other. Any time a muscle has been injured from use, abuse, overuse, trauma, nutritional deficiencies, or ongoing mental/emotional stress, it will tense up and shorten. Shortening of muscles, i.e excessive tension, is always due to a form of excessive stress. This stress could be physical, due to acute trauma, ongoing physical strain from overuse , nutritional, environmental, as well as mental or emotional. This shortening will happen rapidly in physical trauma or slowly and gradually with long standing ongoing stress. Muscle shortening will create a muscular imbalance where the short muscles are overpowering their antagonistic muscles and pulling unevenly on a joint. This uneven pull causes postural changes, range of motion limitations, as well as decreased space in joints. Over time, this will lead to friction, impingement, tendonitis, tears and ruptures, joint dysfunction, and eventually joint degeneration.
Restoring muscular balance will restore proper posture, full range of motion, and proper joint function.
Corrective Exercises
This means that if we can specifically stretch / lengthen the short and tense muscles, and strengthen / shorten the elongated weaker antagonists, we can restore muscular balance; restore function.
Michael Granlund, with the San Jose Sharks and Finlands national team, doing eccentric strengthening of hip adduction with extension, primarily activating “weak link” adductor magnus.
Fred Warner, San Francisco 49ers, and one of the NFL best linebackers, doing high intensity heavy duty eccentric strengthening of abdominals to prevent excessive lumbar lordosis and lower back pain and strain.
This is analogous with aligning the wheels on your car so that the car isn’t pulling to the left or the right. When the wheels are out of alignment, the car will pull to one side, which will cause the tires to wear unevenly and certain parts of the car to eventually break down. The car will perform better with the wheels aligned and balanced in the same way as a person with restored muscular balance will function and perform better.
With the HMT assessment, it is possible to pinpoint a muscular imbalance.
By observing posture deviations from a normal posture, evaluating joint range deviations to normal range of motion, and by manually testing muscles for their strength, it is possible to know which muscles are short and need to be stretched / lengthened, and which muscles are elongated and need to be strengthened / shortened to restore muscular balance.
Customized Exercise Protocols
In this way custom made HMT exercise protocols with isolated strengthening exercises using Eccentric Strength equipment, and isolated PNF stretching exercises for any individual, will restore muscular balance and function faster than anything we have seen.
Heavy duty eccentric strengthening with ECCENTRIC STRENGTH technology allows the user to isolate, fully activate, and fire muscle fibers that have previously been under performing. By using HMT assessment for muscular imbalance we can use Eccentric Strength flywheel technology to isolate and strengthen the weak muscles in athletes and every day patients.
By strengthening the “weak link”, muscular balance is restored to rehabilitate injuries and prevent potential injuries: A chain is not stronger than its weakest link.
Dru Brown, quarterback for the Canadian Football League’s Ottawa Redblacks. Doing a reversed throwing motion exercise eccentrically strengthening weak antagonistic throwing muscles: external rotators, scapular retractor, and horizontal shoulder abductors. Great exercise for rehabilitation and prevention of shoulder impingement injuries.
Vitek Vanecek, San Jose Sharks goalkeeper, recreates an ice hockey goalie butterfly save. Eccentrically strengthening and neurologically activating “weak link” hip adductors and core muscles in his rehabilitation from adductor tendon and sports hernia surgery.
World Class sprinter, Udodi Onwuzurike, rehabilitating a high hamstring tear.” Above “Eccentric Strengthening of a “weak link” hamstring from its fully stretched out and weakest position; full hip flexion and full knee extension.