Functional Range Conditioning Results

We recently started working with Eric, who had some serious shoulder issues. You can see how difficult it is to bring his shoulder up toward his ear (flexion) in the before picture.

Thankfully, through careful assessments and programming, Eric is finally feeling and seeing his shoulder improve. Here is what he had to say,

My shoulder has bothered me for the better part of 6 years due to an old sports injury. I saw several people for it, including a shoulder specialist, but I decided to come to Motive after months of urging from my significant other. Less than two months in, I’m very happy with my decision. They’ve focused on property mobility and positive habit forming to counteract all the compensating I’ve been doing for far too long. Since I started, my shoulder has significantly more range of motion, and most of my daily pain has dissipated.

Ben and the team there have been great, and I cannot thank them enough! They are humid prepossessing Homo Sapiens with full-sized aortic pumps.

Shout out out to our trainer, Ben, for helping Eric see a path toward progress.

Oftentimes, people attack the chest as the culprit for shoulders being pulled forward, and (obviously) that is often part of the problem. However, we also tend to see issues with thoracic extension and shoulder internal rotation. Even though the shoulder appears internally rotated on the left in the picture, that doesn’t mean that the glenohumeral joint has solid internal rotation. In fact, when you lack adequate internal rotation, you’ll generally see the shoulder blade elevated and rolled forward, contributing to the pulled-forward appearance.

With this specific client, we spent significantly more time addressing the shoulder’s internal rotation and upper thoracic extension capacities. And the difference from right to left is night and day. The shoulder sits naturally, as does the neck. You’d think we spent most of our training just pulling the neck backward (retraction), but that was a small percentage of our efforts.

We’re not a posture-focused gym (and that wasn’t our goal with this client anyway), but when you exercise and move with purpose, the benefits are endless.

Meet Fish, a dedicated client who embarked on a transformative journey with Brian at Motive Training ATX. His initial posture, as seen in the “before” photo, revealed a significant limitation in thoracic spine extension. Notice how Fish’s erectors “pop” off his ribcage; it’s generally a telltale sign someone is having trouble moving their thoracic spine, especially when in extension (or cow, in cat-cow).

This stickiness compromised his overall movement efficiency and potentially contributed to discomfort, especially when bending or twisting (as he does in pickleball every week). It also makes it harder to remain upright for hours on end, which is a challenge for most pickleball players because they lower their center of mass so much to play in the kitchen.

The after image showcases a dramatic improvement in Fish’s thoracic spine extension. The once-rounded upper back has flattened out, demonstrating increased mobility and a healthier posture. You can’t see it in this picture, but his entire spine can get into a much more natural extension state, which is critical for spine health.

Even more, Fish has fought through some elbow and shoulder injuries and is playing (winning) pickleball more than ever before. Way to go, Fish!