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Seminar Preview: Accelerated Healing from Sports Injuries: The Lower Back

Insight into the upcoming PICP seminar on the best rehabilitation techniques for lower back injuries

While the issue of medical insurance looms as the biggest medical crisis in America, a more immediate health care concern is lower back pain. Let’s take some questions.
 
Q. How common is back pain?
A. About 80 percent of Americans will experience back pain at some point in their lives, and 20 percent currently suffer from back pain.
 
Q. How much does back pain affect work performance?
A. It is the number-one cause of job-related disability and is one of the major reasons for employees missing work.
 
Q. What is the impact of back pain to the economy?
A. Treatment for back pain is estimated at $50 billion per year.
 
Because the issue of back pain is so important in athletic performance as well as in general health, we will be offering “Accelerated Healing from Sports Injuries: The Lower Back” as part of our Special Consideration Training Series. The seminar will be held over two days, January 9-10, at the Poliquin Strength Institute in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Because of the advanced nature of some of the material, the seminar is only open to those who have achieved a Level 1 PICP certification or above.
 
The seminar will be taught by Charles Poliquin and Nick Liatsos. Liatsos is a licensed physical therapist and the owner of HealthPro Physical Therapy in Lynn, Massachusetts. Liatsos is trained in ART®, clinical kinesiology and Frequency Specific Microcurrent, and is PICP Level II.
 
The focus of the seminar is to teach the most effective treatment protocols for the prevention and treatment of lower back injuries – much of the information has never been published or available from any other source. And as with all the seminars sponsored by the Poliquin Strength Institute, attendees will be taught skills they can implement immediately – as we like to say, “You will be able to apply this knowledge when you get back to work on Monday!” Here are just four of the many topics that will be discussed.
 
Strength Training. You have questions that the seminar will answer: What are the best exercises for training the lower back, both for rehabilitation and for maximum athletic performance? If your budget allows you to purchase only one piece of equipment to train the lower back, which should it be? What are the optimal loading parameters for these exercises, and how should workout programs be periodized to ensure continual progress? And what’s all this fuss about “core” training? In addition to learning the answers to these questions, those who attend the seminar will perform many of these exercises and will be shown how to teach them. And there is no better classroom for this purpose than our 5,200-square-foot teaching gym. Among the equipment at the Poliquin Strength institute are the reverse hyper, glute-ham raise and 45-degree back extension (all manufactured by Atlantis); a variety of cable machines and a complete line of Eleiko barbells, bumpers and platforms. Numerous machines are also available that allow the limbs to be trained while stabilizing the spine.
 
Myofascial Stretching. Fascia is the connective tissue that envelopes, shapes and connects every muscle in the body. As such, it plays an important role in determining the range of motion of all the lumbar and cervical vertebrae. Stretching this tissue helps restore and maintain the proper functioning of the spine but requires a specific form of exercise called myofascial stretching.
 
Myofascial stretching involves positioning the body in specific postures and contracting muscles so that the specific myofascia (myo meaning “muscle”) is elongated. This is a radically different type of stretching from the static stretching that is usually taught by most personal trainers, strength coaches and health care professionals – but the difference in results is remarkable. As a bonus, a specific type of myfascial stretching will taught that decompresses the entire spine and helps normalize alignment of the vertebrae.
 
Microcurrent Therapy.  This seminar will include a practical demonstration of Microcurrent Therapy (MCT).  MCT is a type of treatment that involves applying specific frequencies of electrical current matched to the particular tissue and injury.  As such, it is carefully designed to treat the exact tissues and conditions affecting individual patients.  MCT has been found to be a valuable method to treat many types of chronic pain, often accelerating healing by as much as 200 percent!
 
FMS is especially effective in dealing with inflammation; in fact, if treatment is conducted within four hours after an injury or surgery, tissue inflammation may be decreased by 60 to 80 percent! For example, after ACL surgery, rehabilitation usually cannot be conducted for 10-14 days due to inflammation. Coach Poliquin has found that with FMS, rehabilitation can often begin after two to three days!
 
Supplementation. There are many new and exciting supplements available that help fight inflammation and may reduce pain. Research on these supplements will be presented, along with specific protocols on their use.
 
“Accelerated Healing from Sports Injuries: The Lower Back” is a valuable seminar for personal trainers, strength and conditioning coaches, and health care professionals who are involved in the care of clients with lower back pain. Classes are small to maintain the highest quality of instruction, so make your reservations early!
 
(Important Note: At the time of this writing, only four spots remain for the January 9-10 seminar. If you are interested in attending, call The Poliquin Strength Institute as soon as possible at 401-398-7845 so you won’t miss out.)