00:00 - 00:04This is Brent, and I'm excited to go after our first assessment. In this video,
00:04 - 00:07we're going to do the Ely test, but first let me explain how I personally would
00:07 - 00:09use this a test like this.
00:09 - 00:13This is a specific flexibility test for a specific muscle group.
00:13 - 00:19This becomes important after I've done a dynamic movement assessment, something
00:19 - 00:23like the overhead squad. The limit of something like an overhead squat, is it
00:23 - 00:29implies joint actions. That is, we are determining what joint action occurred
00:29 - 00:35to get somebody outside of optimal posture. If we have a joint action to
00:35 - 00:41look at, it then only implies a group of muscles. In the Ely test,
00:41 - 00:45what I'm trying to determine is which of my hip flexors are tight. So like, let's
00:45 - 00:49say, I have something like an excessive forward lean. Excessive forward lean is
00:49 - 00:55excessive hip flexion. Excessive hip flexion would imply that my psoas,
00:55 - 00:59iliacus, rectus femoris, or TFL could be tight.
00:59 - 01:05Now I'm going to go to something like my Ely test, Thomas test, or Ober's test, to
01:05 - 01:09determine which of those structures are tight, and which need to be included in
01:09 - 01:11my exercise program.
01:11 - 01:14So here we go. We're starting with the Ely test. I'm going to have my friend Yvette
01:14 - 01:19come out and I'll show you guys how to perform this very simple, very easy, test.
01:19 - 01:23Now first things first, they lie prone. Make sure they're in a comfortable
01:23 - 01:26position. You have your kinetic chain checkpoints lined up.
01:26 - 01:29You don't want to start your assessment already out of alignment.
01:30 - 01:35Next thing I'm going to do, is I'm going to find her PSIS, alright, her posterior
01:35 - 01:40superior iliac spine, and you guys can do that if you haven't done that before, you
01:40 - 01:44can kind of google some pictures and see where those are located.
01:44 - 01:47If you guys have ever seen somebody with their pants hanging a little low in the back,
01:47 - 01:51and they get those two little dimples in the back right here.
01:51 - 01:57Those are pretty close to the PSIS. You can also just feel the ilium, until you
01:57 - 02:01get to these two bony notches, just lateral to the spine.
02:01 - 02:04So what I'm going to do is I'm going to take my index finger and my thumb,
02:05 - 02:10and put those on her PSIS. Next thing I'm going to do, since this is a rectus
02:10 - 02:15femoris test, is I'm going to go ahead and take her foot in neutral position
02:15 - 02:19here, and just try to push it towards her backside.
02:19 - 02:23Now for the most part, I use this as a pass/fail test.
02:23 - 02:29You should be able to get to the heel within a couple inches of the back side,
02:29 - 02:34or actually touching the back side, without any compensation, and with a
02:34 - 02:37fairly soft end feel.
02:37 - 02:42Now, Yvette's not really terribly tight, but she is a little tight, and here is how I can
02:42 - 02:47tell. As I push her towards her backside, I actually feel the pressure of
02:47 - 02:51her PSIS pushing in to my thumb.
02:51 - 02:56So what does that mean? It means she's going into an anterior pelvic tilt. Her
02:56 - 03:02rectus femoris, a hip flexor, is pulling her pelvis this way. So we got
03:02 - 03:06just a little bit of tightness in her rectus femoris. And if I test the
03:06 - 03:09other leg,
03:10 - 03:16I actually already feel, feel some pressure here, and then you guys will get
03:16 - 03:18to see another compensation start to happen.
03:18 - 03:22She does a couple things here, and I don't know if you guys can see it, but
03:22 - 03:27she actually starts to rotate up this way, as she tries to, as this rectus femoris
03:27 - 03:32tries to pull this side of her pelvis into an anterior pelvic tilt. She
03:32 - 03:39also starts to deflect into abduction a little bit. So I start
03:39 - 03:45feeling pressure in my index finger here, at her PSIS. She starts to rotate up
03:45 - 03:50towards me, and I'm actually seeing just a little bit of deflection this way.
03:50 - 03:55So those are all signs that her rectus femoris is tight. Now, she's not terribly
03:55 - 03:57tight, and I'm pushing pretty hard.
03:57 - 04:00You'll be surprised. You'll find some people and it's like, stuck right here.
04:00 - 04:05Now if I had somebody where I thought the rectus femoris was not only tight, but
04:05 - 04:10a key structure in their dysfunction, something I really wanted to keep track
04:10 - 04:10of,
04:10 - 04:17I do think this test is simple enough, and reliable enough, that I may take a
04:17 - 04:20goniometer to this test.
04:21 - 04:30And all I would do is go through my same exact steps, and when I feel that first
04:30 - 04:31resistance barrier,
04:31 - 04:35all right Yvette, can you hold that for me? Good. I would have her hold that
04:35 - 04:36position.
04:36 - 04:41My stability arm goes through the center of my knee joint and I can palpate her
04:41 - 04:48joint line here, and then through her greater trochanter, and then the movement
04:48 - 04:49arm,
04:49 - 04:55we line up with the lateral malleolus. And I'm going to make this up, because
04:55 - 05:02this is actually not her end range, but that's 62 degrees. Now, what I would
05:02 - 05:07do is, I would then implement my corrective programming and either, at the
05:07 - 05:10end of every session, or maybe at the end of every week, or at the end of every two
05:10 - 05:15weeks, I would go ahead and reassess to make sure that we are getting gains. Of
05:15 - 05:17course, if I'm not getting gains,
05:17 - 05:22there's something wrong with my program and I need to change what I'm doing with
05:22 - 05:22her.
05:22 - 05:27I hope you guys enjoy the simple test. I hope it helps refine your exercise
05:27 - 05:30selection and exercise program. I look forward to talking to you guys again
05:30 - 05:34soon.