This past week was travelling Wednesday through today for NBA Predraft and Art Horne’s BSMPG seminar. Some time ago, the first time I met Ben Shear, my interest in the Prague School and Pavel Kolar came up. Through his network, he mentioned a physical therapist from Chicago, Robert Lardiner, that was one of Janda’s premiere students. I remember Ben saying that Robert rocked some people several years ago in asserting that the rounded fat belly filled with IAP is the objective standard for a strong core. As a powerlifter, that is hardly a far reach for me, but certainly having been formally exposed to DNS and segmental stabilization, this suggestion is best practice at this time.
Anyway, Ben set me up with Robert, and he and I had dinner one evening. I suppose it went well as Robert came over to the Predraft hotel the next day to continue our dialogue.
I certainly didn’t expect it to be the first topic, we talked about WBV first. Robert knew through Ben of my background, so he brought it up. Robert is well travelled and trained with European methods, so he knew of Galileo/Vibraflex and the major differences. Like most smart people, his view of Powerplate was jaded and skeptical. He regulalrly works with DePaul basketball, and their Powerplate collect dust because they don’t know how to use it. My suggestion that they probably got it for free made sense as to why they didn’t much care about it.
My connection of WBV to a movement-based approach was that if you have the requisite mobility or passive centration in a static pattern, I believe you can begin to chip away at an aberrant active motor program through spinally-mediated contractions. Bad movement exists in the brain. If we can establish sections of a quality patterns and bombard it with mechanorecption independent of the current brain motor program, I think we have reason to believe we can improve the pattern. I think this just PNF when it comes down to it. I do not always see respiration normalize immediately on the Vibraflex, and I am certainly using RS and cortical techniques as well, but like most WBV indications, I think there are trends to believe there is a comparable sign and training effect.
Certainly it was flattering that Robert came over to the Sheraton the next day to the NBASCA trade show to play around on the Vibraflex, particularly when I had no intentions of talking about vibration.
My selfish end of trying to meet colleagues in this case was to get more DNS questions answered. My biggest issue as a novice practitioner of Reflex Stimulation is to truly know if I am doing the technique correctly when you do not get an anticipatory pattern and/or there is no magic fix post-treatment.
His suggestions were……..
1. Reinforcing the notion that the anticipatory pattern is not required for success
2. Sometimes the treatment time required is tedious and long; Kolar has this luxury
3. You may need to change the position; I only know 2 positions
4. You may need multiple treating clinicians; 3 people = 6 zones for a summated response
5. The input may not be right for that person, aka the magic isn’t magic for everybody
Stuff we discussed……………….
–The body is a series of fixed points. Just another way of saying joint by joint, I believe.
–It is very okay to squat with a posterior pelvic tilt during an unloaded demonstration, NOT as an exercise with load or repetition.
–The brace is not as objective as a core indicator appraisal as there is no assertion from anyone what a good brace is or isn’t. The breath for ISSS tests has criterion of direction, sequence, navel migration, upper and lower landmarks. I do not disagree, but rather suggest the quality of the brace is not measured in the abdomen like the breath, but rather in the expression of force production @ hand. My suggestion continues with the thought that people brace when they don’t need to in lesser tasks, which to me is a screen for inner core limitations.
–Robert was vehemently against my suggestions regarding the vertical tibia. I agree that it is not an accurate portrayal of squat the movement, but that is not my suggestion. You have all heard me say if you go out wide to a box, you better earn the right to be out there with narrow, feet straight, ass to grass. As we got deeper, Robert explained that when he has been brought to DePaul basketball, he sees big squats sitting way back, chest down, toes curled upwards. That was his perception of what I was proposing when in fact, whoever the jackass at Depaul is simply allowing his athletes an excuse to do what they call a squat. It is unecessary and/or a technique these young men are not prepared for in terms of mobility and stability. Putting that bar low on your back is a free pass to put more weight on the bar, but if you do not take that advantage of a shorter lever to L5-S1 by buttressing the shear with T-spine extension and minimizing anterior tilt, you have done nothing but fooled and damaged yourself. The vertical tibia box squat is about sparing the knee and properly loading the spine. You must arrive with strong shearing restraint. I believe this comes with progressive load and a great program. That is not what Robert was seeing @ Depaul.
–Gua Sha has both of myofascial effect and a neural modulation. I forgot to mention FAKTR to him, which I’m told is a combination of IASTM and Mulligan. Who know where I’ll be by that time, but I am looking to take FAKTR in September.
Robert is one of the 3 authors of what I commonly call Clare’s book, The Janda Approach. I would be remiss to continue to not acknowledge him and Phil Page as well.
It is quite gratifying to get closer to the Janda clique, and if I play my cards right, I will be in Prague in 2011.
