Daniel Philpot - Ten Golden Exercises: (As chosen by a 20 year Physical Therapist)

All content found in this book, including: text and images, are presented for informational purposes only. The content herein is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment by a physician or a physical therapist. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this book. I do not endorse any specific equipment that may be mentioned herein. Reliance on any information provided by 10 Golden Exercises is solely at your own risk.

Ten Golden Exercises

(Chosen by a 20 year Physical Therapist).

Chapter Outline

Ch 1 What, Why, How... Some Background

Ch 2 Its all about Hip Strength Hip Abduction , IR, ER, and Bridge

Ch 3 ...And Hip Flexibility ; Hip Flexor , Hamstring, and Figure 4 stretch

Ch 4 Are you Grasping this? Grip Work and Wrist Flexor/Extensor stretch

Ch 5 Like a Tree Trunk ; Cat/Camel Stretch , Superman and Plank

Ch 6 On your Shoulders ; RTC x 3 , Push Ups and Rows

Ch 7 Postulate Posture ; Back Extension , Crunches and a Foam Roller

Ch 8 Neck like a Ballet Dance r; Levator Pushdowns , Chin Tucks and Pecs

Ch 9 Toes, yes Toes (and Ankles) ; Scrunching , Spreading and SLB

Ch 10 The Shoulder Complex ; Shoulder IR , Overheads, and Scapular Stab

Ch 11 When and Where ... Tip of the Iceberg

(Those Underlined are the 10 Golden Exercises)

Chapter One

What, Why, How...

Welcome and thank you for your interest in this book. After 20 years as a practicing Physical Therapist, I know without a doubt that exercise is medicine and that it can help you feel better on a daily basis. The activities presented herein are, in my estimation, the Golden Exercises. That is to say, they are the bread and butter to preventing joint and muscles injury and biomechanical dysfunction. Corrective exercise is the term we often use, and that is because these stretches and strengthening movements are designed to change patterns of weakness and tightness that we all tend to fall into over time. So join me, as we fight to stay one step ahead of gravity and inactivity.

Over my many years of helping patients, I would often be asked, If I could only do a few exercises for my (insert body part here) which should I do? Not easy to answer without a history, physical exam and specific plan of care as we are trained to provide. But the fact is that many, and even most types of orthopedic imbalances are fairly universal and can be corrected and more importantly prevented with a fairly basic group of exercises. And that is what I hope to provide herein.

First, a brief professional history; I have been a practicing Physical Therapist for more than 21 years. I attended Texas Tech University and Graduated in 1997 with a Master of Physical Therapy Degree and have been Licensed by the State of Texas and working in the Fort Worth area ever since. I worked full time the first 17 years of my Career with a fantastic company called SporTherapy which has been around since 1989. I worked for them as a Student, Staff PT and spent my last 12 years there as a Clinic Manager. I was also a Clinical Instructor during that time and guided 30 different students through their internships. Moving on in late 2015 to gain more flexibility in my schedule and more varied experience, I worked in home health and for a large hospital based company, as well as for a Physician owned clinic until early 2018. At the time of this writing, I am a contract therapist for three local outpatient orthopedic clinics including SporTherapy in Fort Worth.

All of these varied settings have one thing in common; injured, post-operative, and deconditioned patients who need guidance and motivation to recover lost function. Most importantly they need to understand what is wrong, why it causes pain or dysfunction, and how they can correct the problem. With that said, I hope to address each of those three questions for every chapter of this book.

This book is all about patient education. It is not intended as a do it yourself manual to replace in person MD or PT visits, but instead simply to provide the public with some essential knowledge about biomechanics and the common, but correctable physical dysfunction that all of us may eventually face. Put simply, it is the same free advice Ive been giving to my friends and family for decades! Everything you are about to read I have said thousands of times to thousands of patients. And more importantly, I have observed thousands of times, how these very exercises have improved the physical well being and day to day function of people.

Chapter 2

Its all about Hip Strength...

Yep. Weak hips, especially hip abductors (the muscle that lifts your hip out sideways), is practically an epidemic. Weak hips can cause knee pain, back pain and even contribute to ankle/foot dysfunction; not to mention wear out your hip joint. One principle remains true for every chapter of this book; Remember it!

Weak, tight muscles surrounding a joint put pressure on that joint, and wear it out. Strong, flexible muscles take pressure off of that joint, and keep it healthy.

Without going into arthrokinematics, lets just say that muscles control joint movements (putting aside the passive effect of tight or loose ligaments for now). So if you keep strong, you help your joints work better. This is never as important in any joint as it is in the hip. That is because your hip is the foundation to your back and it determines how your leg hits the ground (affecting both knee and foot). How often have you observed someone walking in, say, the airport, leaning heavily to one side or the other with each step (sometimes both)? This is because their hip abductors are so weak, that during walking they have to shift their center of gravity (in that moment when only one foot is on the ground) just to stay upright.

Whats truly amazing about this is how weak you can actually get before you cant walk. Many people laying on their side cannot even lift their upper leg in the air against only the resistance of gravity, and yet they can still walk without a cane (albeit with a shortened stride and a lot of leaning). The body is remarkably effective at just getting by, and adjusting to dysfunction. Which is great because it keeps us going. Unfortunately, its also not so great, because it contributes to the further weakening of that hip muscle, since we use it less and less over time, with every altered step. In addition, we are wearing out our hip joint and putting pressure on our backs and knees.

How do I help prevent this you ask? So simple! Just lay on your side with your knees straight and inline with your torso (dont bend forward at the hip) and then lift your upper leg in the air!

See Photos below:

Rules to do it Right (correctly):