CORE ESSENTIALS

Intro for Core Essentials

00;00;00;01 - 00;00;25;29
Molly
Lo everyone and welcome to your Car Essentials video. This is your recovery at home. Tools for the next module. This is Molly and I am so excited you are here. Now before we get started, always remember this is for educational purposes only. So before making any changes, please see your health care provider. We are all coming in with different health histories, different backgrounds, different things affecting our next.
00;00;25;29 - 00;00;49;22
Molly
We always want to make sure you are safe. Now let's dive into an overview for the Core Essentials Program. The Core Essentials consists of three key exercises. It is really ideal for those starting out or who would benefit from a simple, straightforward plan that requires less time but still delivers effective results. Now you'll complete the exercises in this video 2 to 3 times a week.
00;00;50;02 - 00;01;08;22
Molly
Make sure you give yourself a day off in between. And then, of course, you'll continue the exercises for at least 2 to 4 weeks after you start feeling better to make sure you have all the strength and endurance that you need. Now, what this is going to look like is you will see three sections to you presented in this video.
00;01;09;00 - 00;01;31;16
Molly
It will start with the stability of the thoracic spine. And that's important to give you a really strong base for which the next since then it'll go into proprioception in testing and treatment, followed by progressions to address the sensory motor system as well. All this means is does your neck know where it is in space and can coordinate with other systems in the brain to move properly?
00;01;32;00 - 00;02;01;14
Molly
We know this is affected after injuries. We want to make sure this is addressed for you. And then the last piece is your neck flexor strengthening. So you'll see it starts at the lowest and then progresses all the way up through fall, strengthening. So you will progress through as appropriate. Without further ado, here are your core essential neck exercises.
00;02;01;14 - 00;02;17;05
Molly
So we're going to do a little bit of strengthening of the upper back kind of shoulder complex, because it's really important to address not only the neck but the upper back area too, so that you're getting the stability you need in your neck to sit on top of. So we're going to start with just a really simple exercise.
00;02;17;05 - 00;02;34;15
Molly
You can do this standing like I am. You can do this exact same thing sitting down, and you can also do it lying down. So choose the position that feels good for you and then you can progress up through them. So you're going to start with your band and it's going to be in your hands just like you're serving a platter here.
00;02;35;01 - 00;02;54;13
Molly
You'll wrap your hands around here, a gentle tuck of your pelvis here. Remember, we're getting our good posture that we learned a gentle shoulder blade squeeze until up with the neck, and we're ready to begin. What you're going to do is pull the band apart. And when you go to about 45 degrees, you're going to very gently squeeze the shoulder blade.
00;02;54;13 - 00;03;21;16
Molly
That's not a very large movement. So we're not doing one of these. It's just a very gentle squeeze at the end. And then we're slowly coming back to start the resistance. And your band should feel challenging enough that you can feel it working, but not so much that you're really struggling to move it through, that you're starting to use other muscles as you get stronger, you'll progress to higher bands for higher resistance and bands.
00;03;22;05 - 00;03;56;12
Molly
But this is what this one looks like. Hey, also in this video you are going to learn how to test for joint position. So this is the test that really gives us an idea of does your neck know where it is in space? And if not, it's something we really need to retrain. So we have the JP test, which stands for Joint Position Air now to get set up for both the test and if you need any treatment, we're going to be in this position.
00;03;56;12 - 00;04;16;23
Molly
This is on page 41 of your workbook that walks you through step by step on how to get set up. But essentially you're going to be about 90 centimeters back from the target, which I am now. You will have the target pasted on the wall and you will have the laser here on your head. Now, what we're going to do here is test your neck in each direction.
00;04;16;23 - 00;04;42;06
Molly
So we're going to go right. We're going to go left, we're going to go up and we're going to go down. So we'll do three for each one. And basically what you need to know is if you're in the green, you're good to go. If you have a direction where you're in the yellow, the red, or just off on the wall, that's letting us know we need to retrain that direction because your neck isn't totally sure where it is in space when it comes to that direction.
00;04;42;06 - 00;04;58;11
Molly
So here's what I mean. Let's go ahead and get started. So I will turn on my laser. And from here, what I'm going to do is just make sure my neck is in a good position. So I'm going to just suddenly lift the base of my skull, about a millimeter off my spine, kind of like we do for the posture.
00;04;58;23 - 00;05;14;12
Molly
And you can see here, my laser is right about the center of the target, which is where you want it. And if that's not the case for you, you can either move the target up or down or adjust the target or just the laser on your forehead. But once you're in this position, we're going to start our test.
00;05;14;12 - 00;05;45;28
Molly
So we'll start with the right. So I'm going to close my eyes, rotate my head to the right, keep my eyes closed, and then I'm going to come back to where I think center is. So. Oop, I'm on the red, so I'm going to take a note of that. My first time was red. You'll come back to the center and close your eyes once again, rotate your head to the right here and then bring it back with your eyes close to where you think center is, where you are.
00;05;46;07 - 00;06;08;13
Molly
And I'm on the green. So I've got one red, one green. And so then when you do that one more time, rotating out to the right, coming back to where I think center is, and now I'm on the wall. So this would say, okay, I didn't get three in the green, so that's letting me know I need to trade, I need to train this direction.
00;06;09;02 - 00;06;30;27
Molly
So you would do this exact same thing for the left and then we're going to do up and down. So we'll do up together. Just to give you idea of what a normal test would look like. So you're going to be again at center. Close your eyes, bring your head up, move your head back down. And when you feel like you're at center, open your eyes.
00;06;30;27 - 00;06;58;10
Molly
So I'm on the green here. Reset. Close my eyes again. Bring my head up and back towards the center. Open my eyes. I'm at the green once more with one. That border is going well. Then let's do it one more time and back down. Open my eyes and I'm right smack in center so you can see for this direction.
00;06;58;10 - 00;07;18;17
Molly
I had all three in the green, so that's not a direction I would need to train. So the goal is for each of the directions. You want to just make note of which ones were out of that Green Zone. So in this case I would be training my rotation to the right, but I wouldn't need to train my rotation up because I'm already good there.
00;07;18;27 - 00;07;37;14
Molly
So once you've done all four directions and got an idea of which areas, directions you need to train and which ones are okay, then you can head on over to the treatment portion of this. All right. So if you're with me now, you've had a few directions in our joint position error test that came up out of the green in the yellow, red or on the wall.
00;07;37;14 - 00;07;56;07
Molly
So we're now going to start to train those positions. So remember, you only need to train the directions that you were out of the green in, and you don't need to train the ones that you were in the green. So for this, there's a couple of ways to do it. You can start by practicing about two sets of ten in each direction.
00;07;56;17 - 00;08;14;21
Molly
With that said, if you are just way, way off, you could do the first set of ten, maybe with your eyes open to give your body a better sense of where you are and then try again in your eye with your eyes closed. Another caveat here is maybe this makes you particularly dizzy. Maybe this brings on some nausea.
00;08;15;11 - 00;08;41;15
Molly
We're okay with having a little bit of symptoms because that's letting our brain know we need to adapt. Right? We like that. But if your symptoms are increasing more than 2 to 3 points on a ten point scale, right. You're just moving from that mild nausea to really feeling sick. That's the time that you would pause, maybe do some of your breathing regulation and see if it goes away, if it goes away within about a minute to 2 minutes, then you can try again.
00;08;41;15 - 00;09;02;27
Molly
If not, that's letting you know that's where your training level is for that day. And that is totally okay no matter if you start with two reps or ten, it's all about meaning your body, where it is. Okay, so I'm going to get started here and go through. So for me, let's say I have to train my neck to the right.
00;09;03;07 - 00;09;21;04
Molly
So again, I'm going to get myself in the starting position. I can see the legs are here and so all I'm going to do is just start practicing. So I want to close my eyes, turn to the right and come back up. I'm like, really far. Okay, maybe I modify this and I just turn a little bit less.
00;09;21;27 - 00;09;41;26
Molly
So I'm going to turn my head just a little less severe range and then bring it back to center and I'm within the green. So maybe that's a good place where I start. That's I'm getting green. So maybe let me turn my head a little bit further. Just and then coming back to center field. Oops, I'm still on the wall.
00;09;41;26 - 00;10;04;00
Molly
So maybe that's my training area is just turning my head to the point where it's challenging me, but it's not way, way out. And then as you progress, you're going to notice that I'm actually really good at that range. Let me turn my head a little bit further and then eventually we want to work ourselves up to being able to turn all the way to the right, all the way back to center and hit within the green.
00;10;05;02 - 00;10;43;25
Molly
If we're doing it, do it back to that test about three times. So once you can get to full range back in the green, then you know you've trained that area. So let's say I also on my test had issues to the left. I could then go to the left after that and do the exact same thing. So you can do all the directions that you need to do, take the amount of breaks that you need to take and you can progress it by either shorting, shortening the range, doing a first set with your eyes open or a combination there of and all you're doing is working all the way up to full range, back
00;10;43;25 - 00;11;10;22
Molly
to center, hitting that green, and then you'll know you're ready to progress that all. So we are going to dive into the next strengthening portion of your program. So we're going to start with those neck flexors. Now, the neck flexors, those deep ones that we talked about in your course, the longest habitus, the longest core is really strengthening those after injury.
00;11;11;01 - 00;11;34;15
Molly
So to start, we're going to start with something called isometrics. You can do them sitting or I'll show you lying down in a moment, but all you're going to do is lie gentle pressure with maybe two or three fingers to the side of the head. So this is a contraction where there's no movement. So if my hand wasn't here, my head might be doing this, but all I'm doing is applying gentle pressure and meeting that pressure with my head.
00;11;35;06 - 00;11;59;01
Molly
And then I'm going to do the front. I'll do the other side, and then I'll do the back. Initially, we'll start with a holding for maybe 3 seconds and gradually you'll work your way up anywhere from ten to about 30 seconds with each of these. So what this would look like lying down of sitting up doesn't feel good for you is much the same.
00;11;59;01 - 00;12;26;08
Molly
So same fingers. And you're going to again do the side. You can do forward the other side, and then your head's already there. So you can just gently press against the pillow. You'd like to use a little head pressure. You certainly can, but the pillow is there as well. So that is neck isometrics. From here. We're going to go into your next progression, which is chin tucks.
00;12;26;08 - 00;12;48;28
Molly
So chin tucks are going to be your head on the pillow. We want your head to be at neutral. So not up too high, not down too low right in the middle. And all you're going to do to start is I want you to picture sliding the back of your skull up just a millimeter. This will gently tuck the chin and then you'll come back out and you're going to repeat like that.
00;12;49;16 - 00;13;13;16
Molly
Hold for three and back out. We'll start with three second holds or whatever feels good for you, and then you'll gradually work your way up to ten second holds at least ten times around. But that is Chin tucks. So then once you tension tucks, we're going to go into the next progression. The next progression is going to be strengthening those deep neck flexors even more.
00;13;13;16 - 00;13;38;20
Molly
It's going to start with one pillow stacked on top of the other. You're going to lay back on that. And from here you're again going to do your chin tucks. So, again, sliding the back of the skull up a millimeter. And from here, we're going to do a little bit of a lift and just gently picture there, just being enough space to slide a piece of paper between you and the pillow and then back down.
00;13;39;18 - 00;14;09;10
Molly
A couple of things to be aware of is we want to make sure it's the deep muscles working. So these big muscles in the front are starting to contract or feel firm under your fingers. Then you can reset your head and do it again. We want these deep muscles. Once you feel like you're able to get two or ten times for 10 seconds each, you'll then be ready for the next progression, which is making it just a little bit harder for those neck muscles to work.
00;14;09;10 - 00;14;40;10
Molly
So we're going to go down to one pillow and we'll repeat the same process. So you're again going to slide the back of the skull up a millimeter, tilting the chin. You're going to do a lift just enough to slide a piece of paper in between the two hold, and then you'll come back down again. You can start low, maybe one, two, 3 seconds, and then you'll build up to 10 seconds, making sure that this big muscle up it is for me a little bit so slightly I might be where I need to work.
00;14;41;04 - 00;15;03;07
Molly
So making sure that that stays quiet, I can do it well as you lift. So this is probably the level I'm at right now. But then once you're able to do that on your own, your final progression for our neck, neck flexors is going to be just straight from the ground. So this is going to challenge them the most.
00;15;03;07 - 00;15;27;11
Molly
Again, you'll slide the back of the head up a millimeter and then you're going to lift and you'll hold again for a count of 1 to 3 and then work your way up to a count of 10 seconds. Now, these big muscles should be off. They are on for me, which means that I am probably meant to work at the level before this one.
00;15;27;18 - 00;15;50;09
Molly
But that gives you a really good idea of what these would look like when they're kind of turning on too much. We don't want these big guys. We want the the deeper ones here. Beautiful. Okay, so that is your zip neck flexors strengthening series work all the way through and then please pop into the group with any questions.