Research and News
Posts tagged theraband
New book helps develop “Effective Functional Progressions in Sport Rehabilitation”
May 20th
Developing functional exercise programs for athletes is sometimes difficult, particularly for rehabilitation professionals without much experience in their patients’ sport. Human Kinetics recently released the book, Effective Functional Progressions in Sport Rehabilitation by Todd Ellenbecker, Mark De Carlo, and Carl DeRosa. The book is divided into 2 parts. Part I provides the benefits and guidelines for developing successful sports rehabilitation programs, while Part II reviews functional progressions for 3 body regions: upper extremity, lower extremity, and trunk.
Functional Exercise Progressions
Each regional chapter reviews relevant functional anatomy and describes appropriate functional tests with normative data. The normative data can be used to set goals for the athletes’ rehabilitation, which can be very helpful to practicing clinicians. Exercises are grouped into specific progressions and labeled with different stages in the progression. The exercises start with isolated, joint-specific exercises and progress to more functional movements. Some exercises also include “Pearls of Performance,” which provide additional hints on performing and progressing the exercise. The 3 chapters also include interval programs that provide specific exercise protocols for returning to sports such as tennis, baseball, football, soccer, and basketball. The exercises include easy to use and convenient equipment such as elastic tubing, dumbbells, and exercise balls, making them More >
Musculoskeletal Injury Prevention & Performance Enhancement Screening for Professional Tennis Players
May 16th
by Todd S. Ellenbecker, DPT, MS, SCS, OCS, CSCS
For the last three years, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) has provided musculoskeletal screenings to its players at the Italian Open in Rome Italy. Led by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Gary Windler of Charleston, South Carolina, and physical therapist Todd Ellenbecker of Scottsdale, Arizona, these screenings consist of a series of musculoskeletal tests focusing on scapula and core stability, rotator cuff strength, and both upper and lower body flexibility and range of motion measurement.
Testing with Thera-Band Soft Weights
One of the key components of this program is the immediate follow-up of exercises for tennis players following their testing. Results are immediately tabulated and shared with the player, his coach, and physiotherapist, and often their personal strength and conditioning specialist. Based on the test results, players are given a series of individualized, tennis-specific exercises which utilize the Thera-Band® product line. These include Thera-Band elastic bands, tubing, and loops; Stability Trainers, Pro Series exercise balls, FlexBars, and Soft Weights. These products have been chosen due to their effectiveness as well as for their portability since professional tennis players travel most weeks of the year and need to have their exercise programs accessible to them at all times. Exercises to increase the strength More >
How much resistance do Thera-Band® bands & tubes produce?
Apr 7th
One of the most frequently asked questions about using Thera-Band® elastic resistance is, “What resistance do the bands and tubes produce?” The simple answer is that it depends on how much the band or tubing is stretched, or “percent elongation”. The “percent elongation” that the elastic is stretched is based on the increase in length from it’s resting length. For example, a 2 foot length of tubing that’s stretched to 4 feet would be elongated 100%. If you stretched it another 2 feet, that would be 200% elongation.
Using the “force elongation” chart, you can predict what the force will be at a specific percent elongation for Thera-Band colors. For example, if your 2 foot length of band was Red, then when you stretched it to 4 feet (100% elongation), you’d have about 3.9 pounds of force. Download the full-color Thera-Band force chart to quickly find the resistance level at a given percent elongation.
Both Thera-Band resistance tubing and bands are calibrated to offer the same resistance levels at the same percent elongation. No other elastic resistance manufacturer provides the quality and consistency you can expect and trust.
