Research and News
Thera-Band Elastic Resistance
Thera-Band® bands featured in New York Times for tendon pain
Mar 3rd
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An article in the March 1 edition of New York Times described how tendinopathies (the correct term for chronic tendinitis) don’t really respond to corticosteroid injections based on a scientific review of the literature. While the author mentioned that eccentric exercise is often helpful, she didn’t mention the successful Tyler Twist eccentric exercise using the Thera-Band FlexBar® for Tennis Elbow! However, at the end of the article, Dr. Marilyn Moffat, a long-time friend described how Thera-Band® resistance bands can help shoulder tendinopathy.
Prehabilitation exercise for total knee replacement helps patients with severe end-stage arthritis
Feb 22nd
“Prehabilitation” refers to exercise performed before surgery that helps reduce functional decline after surgery. The theory is that a higher level of function pre-operatively will provide a higher level of function post-operatively, thus shortening the rehabilitation process. Prehabilitation exercise has been shown effective at preventing functional decline in frail elderly individuals (Gill et al. 2002).
For the past 4 years , Dr. Robert Topp and his colleagues at the University of Louisville have been researching the effects of a “prehab” program for patients scheduled for total knee replacement surgery. Their exercise program features progressive Thera-Band resistance exercises performed over a period of 4 to 8 weeks before surgery. Last year, I featured Dr. Topp’s prehabilitation program in the Academy Blog after his publication in Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Most recently, Dr. Topp’s colleague, Dr. Ann Swank was the lead author on a paper in the February 2011 issue of Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. The article described the pre-operative outcomes of 71 patients with severe knee arthritis who had pain that didn’t respond to medication. The patients were randomly assigned to either a control group or a 4 to 8 week prehab exercise group prior to total knee replacement surgery.
Patients were tested More >
Long term benefits from Thera-Band exercises for shoulder pain
Feb 9th
Last year, I reported on a study from Norway comparing elastic resistance exercises with shockwave therapy in patients with shoulder pain. In that 2009 study, the researchers reported on the outcomes of 194 patients randomly assigned to 12 weeks of exercise using elastic resistance or 4 to 6 treatments of radial extracorporeal shockwave treatment (RESWT). Their paper reported on the 18-week outcomes, finding nearly twice as many subjects in the exercise group significantly improved their pain and disability levels compared to the shockwave group (64% vs. 36%). In addition, there were no significant differences between the groups in function or range of motion. Download the exercise protocol here.
Recently, Engebretsen and colleagues provided their 1-year follow-up in the journal Physical Therapy. One year after the intervention, there was no significant difference between the groups: both the exercise and RESWT groups significantly improved in pain levels, disability, function, and range of motion. In other words, while the shockwave therapy was less effective than exercise in the short term, there were no long-term differences between the treatments.
The authors noted a greater tendency of patients in the exercise group to return to work and to require fewer additional treatments than the RESWT group. Unfortunately, the More >
Neck pain in office workers relieved with 2 minutes of Thera-Band exercise!
Feb 7th
Neck pain combined with shoulder pain is a common problem among desk workers, particularly those using a desktop computer. One study noted a 50% incidence of neck/shoulder pain over a 1-year period. Lars Andersen PhD and his colleagues in Copenhagen, Denmark, completed a randomized controlled trial of 198 office workers with neck/shoulder pain and tenderness to palpation. The researchers wanted to develop an “exercise program as simple and feasible as possible.”
They chose Thera-Band® elastic tubing with handles for an exercise routine using only 1 exercise for either 2 or 12 minutes. The subjects were randomly assigned to either a non-exercising control group, a 2-minute exercise group, or a 12-minute exercise group. The exercise groups performed a lateral raise exercise in the scapular plane to 90 degrees of abduction with elastic tubing. The exercises were performed 5 days per week (10 minutes and 60 minutes per week in the 2- and 12-minute groups, respectively) for 10 weeks. Female subjects started with Red Thera-Band resistance tubing, while the male subjects started with Green tubing. Both groups gradually increased their repetitions and resistance to Blue Thera-Band resistance tubing. The 2-minute group performed the exercise for one set to failure, while the 12-minute group performed 5 to 6 More >
Thera-Band exercises featured in new book from China
Feb 2nd
Alvin Wong is a physical therapist and strength and conditioning specialist in Beijing, China. He has been an instructor for Thera-Band Academy for many years as one of the first trained in China. In 2009, he opened a studio called REFORM Exercise Therapy Studio in Beijing that mainly provides therapeutic exercises to correct posture and biomechanics to relieve musculoskeletal problems. Alvin has just published a full-color book, “Functional Training and Conditioning with Elastic Band” in Chinese featuring Thera-Band® products. Alvin is currently a Director of REFORM Exercise Therapy Studio. Even though the book is in Chinese, the language of elastic exercise seems universal…The full color photos explain the exercises well-enough to replicate in any country. I’ve known Alvin for several years and was pleased to see many great exercises he’s incorporated. I asked him a few questions about his book for our Academy Blog.
What motivated you to write the book?
Firstly, elastic band training is increasing popularity in the Chinese fitness industry; however, we don’t have any training books or manuals specific to the usage of elastic band exercises in Chinese language. Secondly, I wanted to share my training experience to the usage of elastic resistance to the personal trainer and conditioning More >
