What is Corrective Exercise?
In this Guide
Corrective exercise is a technique that leverages an understanding of anatomy, kinesiology, and biomechanics to address movement compensations and imbalances. Correcting your body’s wayward movements through corrective exercises will not only help you progress more efficiently in your fitness endeavors but also reduce injury risk during other activities,” says The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM).
Not only this, Corrective Exercise is used to help assess and determine the root cause of imbalances, faulty movement patterns that lead to issues with posture. This includes everything from balance all the way down into total body coordination; a number one priority for any athlete or individual trying to be in peak shape!
The idea behind Corrective Exercises is not only assessing but also determining what causes these problems which can include anything from muscle imbalance, injury recovery progressions, etcetera. Want to know what the best part of this training is? It’s versatile enough so it can work as rehabilitation after an injury such as back pain where you’re looking primarily at building up strength while relieving pressure on joints with exercises like yoga poses followed by some light weight lifting.
Once the issue or issues are identified, a Corrective Exercise Specialist can then develop an exercise routine that addresses your problem areas with foam rolling techniques and stretches. These exercises address problems in muscles like tight hamstrings due to sitting too much at work as well as strains on joints caused by bad posture which makes you less likely to be injured from everyday activities such as running errands for example.
Importance of Corrective Exercise
With the rapid pace of modern life, it can be easy to neglect your body’s needs. But if you’re not careful, all that sitting and standing around will lead to mobility problems for years down the line! That is why corrective exercise is necessary. Corrective exercises help identify imbalances that cause posture issues as well as stability and mobility limitations so fitness professionals know what they need to focus on with clients’ movements during a session or workout routine when helping them overcome these weaknesses.
The best way to ensure you get the most out of your workout is by ensuring that your movements are as efficient and safe as possible. Sometimes it takes a single set of exercises to improve an issue. True corrective exercises are the most effective in retesting and identifying what will work. Other factors can muddle up your results, so test one intervention at a time for the best clarity on which is going to help you progress forward! This can be accomplished with Corrective Exercise, which uses a specially designed assessment system known as NASM’s Corrective Exercise Continuum (CEx). CEx assessments allow professionals to provide personalized solutions specific to their client’s needs in order to improve movement efficiency while reducing injuries. Studies show this type of intervention has increased neuromuscular control, leading people not only to feel better after completing an exercise routine but also to reduce the risk of future injury too!
A lot of people think that all exercise is the same. However, it’s important to make sure your workouts are tailored to correct any imbalances you may have in your body. This will help reduce future injuries, pains, and improve your performance overall. A few ways that corrective exercises can do this include: stretching tight muscles, strengthening weak muscles, and improving posture. Corrective exercise is a great way to customize your fitness routine so you can reach new personal goals!
What is CEx?
Corrective Exercise is a key element in the way your body moves, feels, and recovers from workouts. This can be achieved through NASM’s Corrective Exercise Continuum (CEx) that assesses proper movement patterns so you are less prone to injury. Studies show that with CEX intervention, neuromuscular control improves which reduces the risk of future injuries!
The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) has built a proper plan to approach this process: The Corrective Exercise Continuum. This continuum is based on the idea that there are four primary phases that correspond with different areas of need for athletes, no matter what their level or age group might be. The four phases are:
Inhibition Phase:
The process that comes before activation is called “inhibition” which uses various methods such as self myo-facial rollers to achieve this goal. This stage aims not just at releasing tension but also decreasing any excess activity from overly active muscles throughout your system – all while increasing mobility!
For instance, the inhibition phase uses inhibitory methods to release tension or decrease the activity of overactive neuromyofascial tissues in the body. Self-myofascial release techniques are often used as a way for people with persistent pain and discomfort to find relief by balancing muscle tone, stimulating blood flow at injury sites, improving flexibility and range of motion.
Stretching is a common practice in the physical therapy world. A person’s flexibility can be increased through stretching, lengthening techniques such as static or neuromuscular stretches. The inhibitory phase uses this same method of stretching but will use them with an intention to decrease pain and inflammation from tightness by using gentle movements (eccentric) while slowly increasing the range of motion over time before transitioning into the lengthening phase which continues this stretch process for more than 10 minutes each session.
Lengthening Phase:
The inhibitory phase is used to decrease extensibility, length, and range of motion in a specific area while the lengthening phase works on enhancing it. This technique can be done with either static stretching or neuromuscular flexibility training.
The stretch session alternates between phases that help you relax muscles (inhibit) and those that work your muscles through stretches for increased mobility (lengthen). The cool-down portion of this routine might last about five minutes where an individual would just lay still to allow their body time to recover from what they’ve been doing.
Activation Phase:
The activation phase is when the body works to increase tissue activity and balance. One way that this can be achieved through isolated strengthening exercises, positional isometrics, or other active components like sports massage therapy.
Integration Phase:
The Integration Phase seeks to balance muscular development between antagonistic muscle groups (i.e., biceps/triceps) while also working on functional progression – striving for more intensity without compromising form or safety.
The integration phase aims to collectively retrain and re-educate the synergistic function of all muscles in a body through functionally progressive movements. This is done by performing integrated dynamic movements, which is often thought of as exercises that utilize one’s entire range of motion with various degrees and types of exercise resistance.
Advantages of Corrective Exercise
- Increases flexibility because it eliminates muscle imbalances
- Improves your posture and joint stability
- Increase muscle activation in your glutes and hamstrings.
- Improves neuromuscular efficiency
- Trains the body for higher intensity exercise
- Improves improvement patterns
- Increases the ability to recover from injury and accidents
- Prepares the body for optimal performance
How long does the correction take, I hear you ask? Well, it really depends on the complexity of your defect. It can range from 2 sessions to a year or more depending on what type of defects and injuries need work. In all instances, there is much work required by both patient and therapist alike, with the focus necessary so that gains made do not diminish over time.
But even if there is not an immediate change in the posture we have seen many cases where people experience less pain as they start correcting their movements which makes this process worth starting sooner rather than later!
Who Can Benefit From Corrective Exercise?
Most of us live our modern lives in such ways that we end up with some pretty big functional movement disasters on both ends. We spend hours hunched over the computer clicking away as if it was second nature (even though you know your posture is garbage) only to go home and do something else because working out sometimes feels like too much after being stuck behind a cubicle throughout the whole morning- except this time there are weights involved! A sedentary lifestyle with poor posture is enough for most of us to benefit from corrective exercise. However, combining this with extreme workouts means that everyone will see improvements in movement and performance while also experiencing less pain or injury.
There are a number of factors that contribute to poor health, but one major factor is inactivity. And with today’s sedentary lifestyles and lackadaisical posture habits, this has become an even more significant problem because prolonged periods of slouching can hurt your body from head to toe! But thankfully you know that there are solutions for this problem with corrective exercises during inactive hours or even while working out!
Those who spend most of their time sitting at work all day have no idea what it’s like until they start feeling pain from improper form or too much stress on one part of their body. With so many people being sedentary these days thanks to technology and desk jobs we’re seeing more injuries than ever before because our movements aren’t as free-flowing anymore- but luckily trainers can help remedy some problems by correcting bad habits when just relaxing around the house or doing light workout routines.
Conclusion
Corrective exercise strategies such as the NASM Corrective Exercise Continuum provide health and fitness professionals with an integrated systematic approach to addressing muscular imbalances and minimizing injury. These two-way programs help restore functional movement patterns for a wide range of populations.
The purpose of corrective exercises is to address muscle imbalance in order to promote healthy living by restoring proper function; these are usually done within a one on one session but can be tailored based on each individual’s needs or preferences. One way that they do this is through their system called “corrective exercise continuum” which provides educators with different levels depending on where clients may need assistance whether it be mobility issues due from aging, rehabilitating after surgery, or just want some light stretching before cardio. This helps restore functional movement patterns while also providing a cost-effective solution for clients of all levels who require personalized care.
