Optimal Shoulder Performance (DVD)

Earlier this year, Eric and Mike released a 4 disc, 8 part dvd set titled, Optimal Shoulder Performance. Because of their extensive experience and diverse yet seamless backgrounds, this product is a great resource for any sport medicine and/or performance professional working with overhead athletes. While I consider myself a "hockey guy", I do get my fair share of baseball players and work closely with a varsity swim team so the information contained really resonated well with me.

Oozing with both practical and nerd-ical content, this dvd set is very comprehensive but also very user friendly. Grounded in scientific information, Eric and Mike presented various concepts ranging from the epidemiology and etiology of shoulder injuries to injury prevention and performance enhancement.

Here are some highlights from Optimal Shoulder Performance:

The importance of assessing Total Range of Motion

• Both Eric and Mike go into great detail to explain the importance of  the continual assessment shoulder total range of motion. Using the example of Glenohumeral Internal Rotation Deficit (GIRD) vs Instability, Eric and Mike explain why stretching the posterior capsule and cuff may not always be the best idea. In fact, they explain that doing so may even be pathological. So while the sleeper stretch has become a mainstay in many training centers, these two gentlemen provide their reasons why you probably shouldn't be prescribing such exercise.

Dynamic Stability Progressions

• Supine to standing, stable to unstable, open to closed, Mike does an excellent job of introducing his exercise progressions for eliciting and achieving dynamic rotator cuff stability through rhythmic stabilization. I, myself, use his progressions quite frequently and really think this is a great way to "activate" the cuff prior to functional therapeutic exercise. In fact, I believe Eric may even use these progressions prior to training as well. The only downside with this type of exercise is that while gains can readily be made in clinical settings, there really wasn't a similar exercise (that I knew of) to send the patient home with...until now. After several months of using this technique, especially early in the progression, I realized that bottoms up kettlebell work was a great way to repeat the objective at home. So here are two exercises that I now often sent my patients home with. The screwdriver and the armbar.

Note: For the complete exercise progression continuum for training dynamic cuff stability through rhythmic stabilization, I would highly suggest Mike's Treatment of the Shoulder Joint Complex: Principles of Dynamic Stabilization DVD. You can pick it up at AdvancedCEU.com which, unsurprisingly, is an affiliate link to fund my "continuing education for life" endeavors.

Impingement

• Going back to assessments, Eric and Mike use the differentiation between internal and external impingement ESPECIALLY as they relate to specific demographics to illustrate the importance of comprehensive assessments prior to training. Knowing your athlete history and choosing the most appropriate assessment recipe is can be a difficult thing to master but a trainable skill to practice nonetheless. It is often stated that if you're not "assessing, you're guessing" but how easy is it for us clinicians to simply assume and treat? Shooting for perfection 100% of the time will make us better practitioners and assessing will help us get there.

Practical Labs

• In the lab portions of the dvds, while Eric and Mike don't dump the exercise tool box and give you all their exercises, they do spend plenty of time teaching proper form and optimal cueing strategies. I think this approach is far more important and effective than demonstrating hundreds of exercises. Because in each exercise, the principles stay the same - perfect form and proper joint positioning. That said, for those of you who are seeking an exercise database, they're at your fingertips on each of their respective youtube channels. In fact, Mike has come out with some great exercises as of late so be sure to check out his page.

Finally, there were countless pearls embedded deep in the Optimal Shoulder Performance ocean. One specific pearl I liked was the fact that during rhythmic stabilizations, Mike almost wants the athlete fail on some of the reps. This is showing him that the exercise is difficult enough for the athlete to force an adaptation. Because like the clinical audit process, only with a significant but controllable challenge will a new pattern emerge.

All in all, I really enjoyed Optimal Shoulder Performance. It has provided me with excellent principles for effectively managing not only my 74 year old cuff patients but also my varsity swimmers. So if you work with overhead athletes, make sure you check it out.