It has been shown that between 60-85% of the American population will experience some incidence of lower back pain in their lifetime. Such a high prevalence of back pain not only causes discomfort but also a loss of productivity at work. Not to mention how it can affect overall health.

The largest causes of back pain are from sitting too much, lifting with improper form, and trying to lift weights that are too heavy. Fortunately, there is something that can be done to counteract the prevalence of injury and to rehab once there is a low back injury.

From the desk of Shane Doll, CPT, CSCS
Founder- Shaping Concepts Personal Training Studios
Charleston, SC

Hi, this is Shane Doll. Thanks for coming to check out my page on knee rehabilitation exercises.

If you’re going through knee rehab right now with a physical therapist, just finishing up rehab, or getting ready to schedule corrective surgery, I think you’ll find this page to be very helpful and informative.

If you participate in any sport that involves some form of jumping, cutting or changing directions quickly you run the risk of an ACL injury. The purpose of this article is to help shed some insight on why ACL injuries occur and how to prevent one.

If you’re a female athlete pay special attention as you’re four to five times more likely to experience a non-contact ACL injury than a male athlete. There are numerous reasons for this but a primary difference in males and females is the width of their pelvis.

The wider pelvis in females creates a greater “Q angle” or the angle at which the femur (upper leg bone) meets the tibia (lower leg bone). The increased angle places more stress on the knee joint during landing or changing directions.

What should you do if you’re the unlucky recipient of a groin pull? And even more importantly how can you prevent a groin pull from happening altogether.

A “groin pull� (aka groin strain) is often a bruise, stretching, or tearing of the muscle fibers that run from the front of the hip bone to the inside of the thigh.

These “hip-adductor” muscles move the thigh toward the center line of the body (adduction) and also help to control and limit movements of the thigh away from the body’s center line.

Thus, the adductor muscles stabilize the hip and leg during any activity which involves running. In some groin pulls, the muscles themselves are okay, but the tendons attaching the muscles to the front of the hip bone are stretched and inflamed.

Do you suffer from low back pain that just won’t seem to go away? Are you sick and tired of having to miss out on your favorite activities because you are afraid of how you’ll feel the next day? It isn’t enough to live life half way!

According to the American Chiropractic Association, thirty-one million Americans have low back pain at any given time. One half of all working Americans admit to having back symptoms each year. One of the main reasons that so many people are susceptible to low back strains is due to our sedentary lifestyles (sitting too much).

The low back is comprised of five lumbar vertebrae which are connected with ligaments and surrounded by several muscles, tendons, nerves, and intervetebral disks.

When someone develops back pain, or an injury occurs, one or more of these structures will often be affected. The surrounding muscles are what you’ll most likely find injured during a strain.

The Plantar Fasciitis corrective exercise routines we use here at Shaping Concepts are divided into two types – those that emphasize stretching and those that stress strengthening.

In a previous article I reviewed a painful knee condition with runners, Patella Femoral Syndrome. One of the main objectives of that article was to inform you that pain in any joint can often be traced back to muscular imbalances. The same concept holds true for Iliotibial Band Syndrome.

This is another common injury with runners and can often be confused with the earlier discussed Patella Femoral Syndrome. What the two conditions have in common is pain felt on the lateral aspects of the knee when running, squatting or climbing stairs.

Trying to self diagnose the two would not be well advised. As always, I recommend seeking the counsel of a trained professional if you suffer from knee pain.

In this article I’ll be discussing a common runner´s ailment in shin splints that can be extremely painful and counterproductive to your training routine. The objective of this article is to address what causes shin splints while giving you some tips on treatment and prevention.

We´ll start by discussing some basic anatomy for a better understanding of how the injury occurs.

Your tibia or shin bone is connected to the tibialis anterior muscle which assists in dorsiflexion of the foot. If you pull your foot upwards you can feel this muscle working. This is commonly your source of the pain and inflammation with shin splints.

Your calf muscles (gastrocnemius and soleus) work in opposition to the tibialis anterior during the gait cycle. While running on hard surfaces and having worn out shoes can certainly contribute to the shin splints there are often underlying issues with muscular imbalances that you don´t want to overlook.