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This is Brent of the Brookbush Institute,
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and in this video we're going to do
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flexor carpi radialis activation. This is an exercise that is for those who are
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exhibiting forearm dysfunction. That'd be anybody with issues of the wrist, forearm
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or elbow. I'm going to have my friend Cryistal come out, she's going to help me
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demonstrate. Now forearm dysfunction, postural dysfunction of this part of our
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body generally looks like too much pronation, too much ulnar deviation, too
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much extension, and of course we end up in this typing position. Which is
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probably why we're seeing a lot more hand, wrist, and elbow dysfunction as
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people are increasingly doing more desk jobs, more computer work right. So what
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we're going to do is this excessive ulnar deviation, we're going to try to
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correct this a little bit by activating the muscle that does the opposite which
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would be the flexor carpi radialis. Now the only thing we have to try to figure
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out is how to activate the flexor carpi radialis, without also activating the
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overactive synergists extensor carpi radialis longus and brevis. So all of
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these forearm exercises are fairly simple,
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but kind easy to mess up if you not paying attention to your details. So what
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I'm gonna have you do is grab one of these FlexBars, These are FlexBars
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from Theraband they are the best tool I have found for
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this stuff. I'm gonna have you take a grip just like this. I'm then going to
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have you smash the FlexBar into your forearm. So that automatically turns
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you down into ulnar deviation, which means now all of your radial deviation
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is now resisted. So we're actually resisting radial deviation not just from
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neutral, because if you try to resist radial deviation just from neutral
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alright, like if you let this go, if you were to just go from neutral and then radial
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deviate like you don't really have that much motion. But if we resist all the way
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from end range ulnar deviation through end range radial deviation, we get a
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little bit more motion that way. Alright so you're going to go ahead and radially
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deviate. Now what are we going to do to ensure that our extensor carpi radialis
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longus and brevis do not kick in, well that's actually pretty easy, all we have
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to do is make sure that Crystal here stays in a little bit of flexion.
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So if you imagined her having another one of these FlexBars right
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here, we don't want her to break neutral with her wrist, go ahead and show us
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radial deviation, boom and she stays in just a little bit of flexion and that
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works perfect. And you notice here Crystal, you don't even have to use
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both hands to do this. You can just kind of smash the FlexBar underneath your
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forearm if you're sitting at a table and do it with one hand. This is a
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surprisingly challenging exercise, and of course I would use the same activation
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exercise protocol that I've used for everything which is 2-4-2, or
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2-2-4 count. All right so it's nice and slow, hold at the top and then maybe back
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down for four seconds if I want to work on eccentric control. I'm going to do
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that twelve to twenty repetitions range, if she can do twelve to twenty perfect
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repetitions without veering into extension, without letting those
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overactive synergists come into play, then I can give her a bigger FlexBar.
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And they actually come in like four or five different sizes here you guys can
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see here this blue FlexBar is actually incredibly challenging. But if you have
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somebody who has a history of elbow dysfunction, a history of wrist
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dysfunction, and for example they play sports it might be very important for
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them to start getting very strong at these exercises. You want to try the
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other hand? Let me see setup the other hand. I always check, always make sure
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that your patient your client can set it up on their own and having them do the
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other hand sometimes this is an easy way to do that. What aren't you doing on this
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hand that you need to watch out for? Okay good, smash yeah, make sure your wrist
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is in flexion. There you go, that's actually a pretty easy thing to teach
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guys. Make sure as you're giving these exercises, you're probably giving them
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one or two exercises at a time. I wouldn't give them you know a whole
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slew of forearm exercises that they're really unfamiliar with to take home,
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because chances are things are going to get a little.. not so perfect when they
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come back. I hope you guys enjoyed this exercise, that's flexor carpi radialis
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activation, with just a little tip to inhibit extensor carpi radialis longus
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and brevis.