I had two days off this week and relly spent them doing some weird stuff (making cookie dough so I could eat all of it, buying placemats, etc) but I did have some time to read a little. Besides grazing through Movement again, and picking up Bird by Bird (which I’m just reading to read, not necessarily become a fiction writer) I had some time to scour the internetwebs and provide you with these brain tingling treats.

Yesterday on my facebook page/twitter I wrote, “You won’t get good just by being busy….”. Now this was more me thinking out loud than preaching. I had 11 patients yesterday, but I was really thinking back to when I used to workin the PT factory world. Not being over booked, allows you to hone your skills, not treating as many people as physically (and let’s be honest, emotionally too) possilble. Once you are good, then you should become busy, but as my high school friend Josh Gould of Exercise Expertise writes is his post, 3 Personal Trainer Mistakes You Make that Come with Success (part 1), “Don’t become over-booked”. Please, click and read on. And if you’re in the Boston area and need to get in shape, give him a call.

We all know that education in the mid 1900’s put the USA where it was. A glowing beacon of hope that people dreamed to one day visit or even live in to have a better life. Now, as we see the USA slipping in it’s world rankings in basically everything except obesity, it’s time to revisit the education discussion. So, I don’t usually get on a soap box, but I do think that education needs a revolution, not just evolution to get this country back to where it once was, but Sir Ken Robinson, discussesin this TED Talk, “taking things for granted,” and I couldnt helpbut draw upon my Physical Therapy education. I took it for granted that what I was learning would drive me into the eternal sunshine of the physical therapy profession, that I was learning everything I needed to know to be a great PT. AND THEN, I went on clinical andrealized I knew nothing. Also, I took for granted that the way people were to receive PT was with limited exposure to their physical therapist, not one-on-one care. It’samazing what we take for granted, and as Sir Robinson says, “It’s hard to know wht we take for granted, because, we take it for granted.” (I got this from Don Reagan. – follow him!)

This is a picture of the piriformis (and otherposterior hip muscles). Look at it, study it, know it. At some point in your life it will probably bother you. It is a hip external rotator, and oddly enough you stretch it by external rotation. This makes no sense if you think about stretchign muscles. The bicep, an elbow flexor and forearm supinator is not stretched by flexing the elbow and supinating the forearm, but because of the insertion of the piriformis, when we go to stretch it like this, the line of pull actually makes the piriformis into an internal rotator above 90ish degreesof hip flexion allowing a pretty good stretch.

Two random other thins I think you should read.

Stand up while you read this, you’ll feel less bad about yourself.

More words explaining why kettlebells are awesome and rolling, the turkish-get-up, or the half get up are great to do with them.

Always Evolve,

Mike