Research and News
Posts tagged shoulder exercises
A better way to prescribe shoulder rehab exercise intensity?
Aug 31st
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OMNI-RES Scale
Physical and occupational therapists often use both elastic and dumbbell resistance during shoulder rehabilitation exercises. Unfortunately, many therapists arbitrarily assign resistance levels to patients during their exercises based only on clinical experience. In the fitness setting, RPE (Rating of Perceived Exertion) scales have been used successfully in dosing the intensity of both isotonic and Thera-Band® elastic resistance exercises (Colado & Triplett, 2008). In addition, RPE has been shown to be similar between Thera-Band and isotonic resistance of similar EMG activation during shoulder exercise in healthy subjects (Andersen et al, 2010). Most recently, as discussed on the Academy Blog, the OMNI-RES scale for perceived exertion was shown to be valid when used to prescribe elastic resistance exercise in healthy individuals.
Todd Ellenbecker DPT
Scientific Advisory Board memberTodd Ellenbecker, DPT from the Physiotherapy Sports Clinic in Scottsdale Arizona wanted to see if he could use RPE during rehabilitation exercises for his shoulder patients. He presented the results of his pilot study at the 13th annual TRAC meeting in San Francisco.
31 shoulder patients including 21 post-operative and 10 non-operative patients were in the study. They were asked to More >
Rehabilitation for Shoulder Instability Update
Dec 2nd
Shoulder instability is a common cause of shoulder pain. Shoulder instability patients have been traditionally diagnosed from 2 groups: from traumatic, unilateral instability, resulting in surgery (TUBS), or atraumatic, bilateral multi-directional instability best managed with rehabilitation (AMBR). However, a new classification scheme suggests there are 3 groups of shoulder instability patients: 1. Traumatic structural; 2. Atraumatic structural; 3. Muscle patterning / non-structural. Traumatic shoulder dislocation (Group 1) is best managed through surgery. Atraumatic structural instability (Group 2), while best managed through rehabilitation, may improve with surgery after failed rehab. However, surgical intervention in Group 3 patients with non-structural instability often results in failure.
Jaggi and Lambert provide an excellent review of the examination and management of all 3 groups of instability. In their article, the authors describe physical therapy management of Type 2 and 3 shoulder instability, including biofeedback, postural taping, and rotator cuff strengthening with elastic bands and dumbbells. In addition, exercise balls and wobble boards serve as unstable surfaces to “enhance neuromuscular control at a reflex level. They emphasize that core stability is a vital component to rehabilitation of Type 3 (“muscle patterning”) shoulder instability. According to the authors, rehabilitation of Type 2 and 3 shoulder instability requires an average of 6 months of rehabilitation. More >
