|| Can we preferentially activate VMO? .....Unlikely ||
At the Functional Movement Group we have always been big advocates that contrived muscle activation exercises usually have little value beyond helping a patient or client gain some "body awareness" in their movement. The most effective exercises are those that promote the development of Movement Capacity, Competency and Variability throughout the kinematic chain, rather than just a single part.
VMO training has often been used in the therapeutic and rehabilitative fields as a corrective exercise for those suffering from Patella Tracking Syndrome. The reasoning being that the Vastus Lateralis becomes hyperactive and pull the Patella "out of place."
The following research review by Chris Beardsley went through the literature to investigate whether or not exercises focusing on preferential VMO load and strengthening were possible. Many studies were cited seeming to not support the effectiveness of this as a training goal but we believe it can be summed up nicely by the following paragraph.
"One recent investigation indicated that the vastus lateralis and vastus medialis actually share the majority of their neural drive (Laine et al. 2015). This would make it not merely difficult to target the vastus medialis separately from the vastus lateralis during resistance training exercise, but actually practically impossible."
If you would like to learn more effective training principles and strategies for your Patella Tracking Syndrome patients and clients check out:
https://www.functionalmovementgroup.com/…/functional-treatm…/
https://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/…/vastus-me…/
CEO OF NEUROPRACTIC CLINICS INTERNATIONAL
8 年Sorry : function is complex .... Thank you .
CEO OF NEUROPRACTIC CLINICS INTERNATIONAL
8 年Dear Mr Pauwels - or Dr Powels , sorry I don't know your specialty, To use sensoprotrainer requires tones of patient neuro-education on kinetic patterns in advance . Everybody is talking about function today , but function is complex , so we have to specify exactly what we mean with the term .Also kinetic chain in a global activity may involve many dysfunctional sub-programs which you have to identify and treat-correct. That can not happen during the training of your total system activity . Function Isco plex
Lifestyle Health Architect ?? | Founder Longvitality concept | I'm Helping You Reset Your Life Force ??| Sport-Osteopath.
8 年For me always train the Kinetic chain in total. Just watch at the www.sensoprotrainer.com website. This should be a standard in every Physio - Reha clinic.
CEO OF NEUROPRACTIC CLINICS INTERNATIONAL
8 年Good afternoon Dr Lemon, It is always nice to see a dialogue . Thank you for your comment . Yes it is difficult to train "correct sequencing " by using contrived exercise - if you mean verbally instructing the patient on how to activate . In cases like that we usually first activate the Medialis by using VOJTA method, then we instruct the patient how to activate in a specific way the Medialis locally , and then we exercise the whole body having the Medialis integrated in a kinetic chain which stimulates the Medialis maximally . For local activation of the proper sequence, we teach the patient to activate the Medialis and simultaneously palpate the patellar tendon and Medialis , himself, trying to feel that the two spots are activated the same moment . Thank you .
Stop guessing, start measuring
8 年Great debate gentleman. My personal feeling is that you can have a combination of some of the explanations that you both describe however I have reservations that we can train "correct sequencing" of the VMO though contrived exercise.