In this part of the interview, Anthony shares several client success stories and what the transpires during the process. Exercise is the vehicle, but there are plenty of other elements that must be in alignment as well.
Posts Tagged ‘Anthony Carey’
An Overview of a Function First Initial Visit
Sunday, June 3rd, 2018We are regularly asked, “what does a visit at Function First look like?”.
Function First founder Anthony Carey takes you through an overview of what that first 2 hour appointment is all about and why it is so pivotal for so many.
Be sure to take note of the differences of how we approach our process compared to what you might experience elsewhere. Even if you are an existing Function First client, this video will be great to share with friends who you know can be helped by what we do.
Please pass along to those that are ready to take a powerful step forward with a movement based program that is backed by science.
Event: Age 50 Plus Training for the Life You Want to Live
Monday, October 30th, 2017
Saturday, November 11th at 10:30 am Brainstorm Fitness opens its doors for the workshop: The Importance of Training for the Life You Want to Live: the tools, the why & how.
Learn about the state of the art equipment at Brainstorm Fitness that helps individuals like you move better during their sessions and in everyday life. Hear about the specific physical benefits of moving certain ways and be able to ask questions of fitness professionals that understand the scientific reasoning behind them.
Understand how these different ways of exercising translate to improving the way you enjoy your life and how exercise makes you stronger and more efficient when going about your everyday activities that you have to do.
This will be an interactive workshop where you will be able to grasp more than the “exercise is good for you” idea but instead, understand why moving better is so important to maintaining your health and well being.
The speakers will be Anthony Carey and Damien A. Joyner
Anthony holds a Master’s degree in biomechanics and athletic training and is the inventor of the Core-Tex™. Anthony is recognized internationally as a leading expert in biomechanics, corrective exercise, functional anatomy, and motor control.
Damien is a Functional Aging Specialist that works with individuals 40 years and up so they can continue to do what they like and want to do in life easier and with less discomfort.
Pain Free Programming
Thursday, November 13th, 2014More than 5 years ago I wrote a blog post on Exercise Sequencing vs . Exercise Progressions. Sequencing of exercises is a critical part of how we design our corrective exercise programs and instrumental in what we teach in the Pain Free Movement Specialist.
From the feedback that I’ve received in the 18 years or so that I’ve been teaching principles of the Function First Approach-programming is always the most challenging aspect. Too many fitness pros go down one of two “rabbit holes”:
1. Programs built around giving symptomatic relief which is clearly outside of our scope of practice. For example, the client whose knee is painful is given all “corrective” exercises focused on the knee. The inherent risk in this for fitness pros is that you have indirectly (and possibly unintentionally) made a medical decision because your intervention is based on pathology you have determined existed. Unless you are working in a post rehab capacity (different paradigm) with directives from a licensed professional you are treading on thin ice.
2. Programs that follow a linear progression=”if this than that” or “first this than that” do not address nor acknowledge the diversity of the human body or human experience. Examples might be mobility always before stability or activate than integrate.
If working with the human body was that easy, programming from either of those rabbit holes would work every time. I wish it were that easy. We understand that programming, especially for the chronic pain client is difficult. Biomechanics is a piece of the pie and strategic movement is critical to success. And as movement professionals, that is our tool of the trade. But there is so much to the choice of the tools and the delivery of those tools that make or break a successful program for the chronic pain client.
Movement is more than motion for the pain sufferer. It should be strategic, efficient, non-provocative & confidence building.
The follow up programming is no different. We change our client’s exercise program every two weeks. The major objectives do not change, but the variability of the input via the exercises is a critical piece of the process toward meeting those objectives. The role of variability in the corrective exercise domain cannot be underestimated. When exercises are of limited biomechanical, neurological and physiological demand for the purpose of influencing the quality of motion, variable learning opportunities are necessary. Waiting for completele mastery of any exercise may actually slow the process toward the long term goal.
The real goal is not to get better at exercise “x” or “y” or to strengthen this or lengthen that. No. The real goal is to assist the client to move better and be prepared for as much physical demand to the body that they may encounter.
There is a process to this and understanding the pain experience for the client is a necessity. Marrying the role of biomechanics with the neuroscience and psychology of pain are pillars of the Pain Free Movement Specialist curriculum. We can teach you this if you have the desire to help those that have not gotten help before. Would you like to take the journey with us and become a resource to people from around the world-not just your neighborhood?
This journey is not for everyone and we understand this. Because this is not just a curriculum that teaches you how to write an exercise program, it is a curriculum that moves you through stages of in-depth understanding of how to best serve this incredibly diverse yet underserved population. Everyone should be given the chance to realize a life void of pain and you can help facilitate that for them.
Contact us to see if you are right for this curriculum. Email education@functionfirst.com or kmurray@functionfirst.com or call 619.285.9218.
Cheers for the PFMS
My corrective exercise abilities as a trainer are profoundly different after learning the Function First approach to Corrective Exercise. The Pain Free Movement Specialist Certification Program takes you on in-depth journey into the field of Corrective Exercise and Pain Science utilizing sound biomechanics, principles and strategies to address your clients needs. The real-world tangible benefits from this program were evident immediately as I not only became confident but also proficient and successful at working with my clients suffering from various forms of pain.
What I particularly enjoyed about this program was the immediate benefit I experienced as a result of the curriculum. Not only was I able and had the confidence to work with and assess my clients, I was also armed with effective and proven exercise strategies and protocols. I have seen the benefit of these skills and my clients have too!
I highly recommend the Pain Free Movement Specialist Certification for anyone looking to set themselves apart from the rest, who has a desire to learn proven and successful strategies and who wants to master the intricate in’s and out’s of both Corrective Exercise and Pain Science!
Reyci Martorell
ACL and Knee Rehab Exercises with the Core-Tex
Wednesday, July 13th, 2011Ways to use the Core-Tex to assist in the rehabilitation process for ACL and other knee injuries. The unique motions of the Core-Tex provide excellent proprioceptive stimulation to the rehabilitating limb.
Keep Your Hands to Yourself
Wednesday, July 13th, 2011What happens when a practitioner places their hands on a client or patient in a purely professional manner? Just like anything else, it depends on your perspective AND the expectations of your client or patient. A chiropractor is likely to respond that that is the only way they can perform an adjustment. A cardiologist may say that she has no need to touch the patient. Exercise professionals may say that it helps facilitate what they are doing with their clients.
The power of the human touch cannot be underestimated. To the client/patient it may bring a sense of connection with you, confidence in your ability and reassurance. The opposite may be experienced by the patient whose doctor provides a diagnosis only through oral communication and visual observation and never touches the patient.
I believe that some good and some bad come from the hands on approach. The chiropractors, physical therapists and massage therapists clearly have a need to contact their patients with their hands to practice their disciplines. The hands are used as both an assessment tool and to deliver an intervention. The accuracy of a skilled practitioner is used for reducing joint subluxations, mobilizing joints and relaxing and manipulating soft tissue. All of which have been scientifically proven to be beneficial to the patient.
The exercise professional may need to place their hands on the client for assessment purposes such as measuring body composition or pelvic landmarks. Some trainers will also use their hands to provide manual resistance for certain exercises and over-pressure to aid in flexibility. And at times, the hands are placed on the client to guide them through desired movement patterns.
With so much to gain how can there be a downside? What if the question was not what was provided to the patient with contact but instead, what is the patient being deprived of? And this question can completely change our perspective on the “hands on” approach to care.
Whatever is provided to the patient/client by the practitioner removes the need for the patient/client to do it themself. We obviously don’t want people going around adjusting or attempting to adjust their own necks or manipulating their own gleno-humeral joints. We do want an attitude and belief system that ALL practitioners are simply adjuncts to the individual’s own abilities. We are facilitators.
Could chiropractic care and manual therapy create learned helplessness? Do clinics relying predominantly on passive modalities like ultrasound and electrical stimulation fool the patient (and themselves) that the modality is making them better? Is a client psychologically and emotionally dependent on the trainer if she refuses to work out unless the trainer takes her through a workout?
If I ask a client what he does regularly for his health and he tells me chiropractic care, I respond by telling him that is what the chiropractor is doing for his health care. I then ask again, “What are YOU doing?”
Could this kind of learned helplessness and dependency even be contributing to the obesity epidemic? It may not be that big of a leap from the dependent patient to the obese individual. If my healthcare consists solely of people doing something to me, how can I be expected to eat right and exercise on my own? The psychosocial behavior of anyone who is not responsible or response-able for their own musculoskeletal health will ultimately suffer from comorbidities.
This certainly is not a knock on any kind of manual care. I’ve personally benefitted from chiropractic care, manual physical therapy, acupuncture and Structural Integration. Of course I also have a specific corrective exercise strategy I follow along with my general fitness routine.
I believe one of the greatest gifts we give our corrective exercise clients at Function First is the ability to produce the same result at home that we produce with them in our facility. That is why we only need to see our clients once a week. They are expected to continue with their home program daily. If they don’t do their homework-they are fired. This is an expectation of all our clients before they begin with us for a corrective exercise program.
For this reason, the referral from me to a chiropractor is much easier than the referral from the chiropractor to Function First. Our clients are already engaged in a comprehensive corrective exercise program. The chiropractic or other manual care is an adjunct to the exercises and can often help us expedite the results.
A referral to Function First often requires a complete paradigm shift for the person referred to us. They now have to go to work on themselves. And quite frankly, many long-term recipients of manual care just aren’t willing to do that.
We might say people are lazy and don’t want to do the work. Or, can we say that people have been conditioned that they don’t need to do the work?
Corrective Exercise #19
Thursday, March 31st, 2011Corrective Exercise #19 is for one for both your pronators and your supinators. This is a great reactive exercise from the foot to the hip.
Corrective Exercise #15
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010(Due to a server crash, this is being reposted after originally being posted on January 20th, 2010)
As you are reading this, my guess is that your thoracic spine and the lower cervical (if not all the cervical segments) are in flexion. So I’ve taken another of the exercises from the Pain-Free Program for Corrective Exercise #15.
As always, I hope to offer you a little more insight and detailed information on an exercise/posture like this that goes way beyond the obvious.
Click on the image to watch this short, informative video.
Corrective Exercise #14-Supine Hip Rotations
Friday, September 11th, 2009I hope you enjoy the latest in my series of Corrective Exercises. Up until now, the exercises have been in written form with still photos to accompany them.
Corrective Exercise #14 has gone to video. We are currently working on a membership web site that will contain a tremendous amount of educational content similar to this. We want to get this content to as many professional as we can, so the membership fees will be very reasonable. Along with the membership, there will be monthly discounts on products and events.
Supine Hip Rotations look like a familiar ab exercise. Surprise! The ab work is down low on the application of this exercise.
The Hip Rotations is one of the many exercises presented in The Pain-Free Program: A Proven Method to Relieve Back, Neck, Shoulder and Joint Pain. As with so many of our corrective exercises, the Hip Rotations has a lot more going on than just the obvious.
More Neutral Pelvis for you
Monday, September 29th, 2008A follow up to the last commentary on the “myth” of the neutral pelvis: