The bird dog exercise is a classic of the basic stability in the world of physical therapy, and is definitely a favorite of mine too. Quadruped can be a great position to challenge the stability of a patient and motor control without fully load their spine. Add a little hip movement and shoulder and see how they react.
The idea behind the basic stability of resist lurching through the pelvis and spine during movement through the hips and shoulders . However, this is not what I usually see my patients or people who teach the exercise.
See the video below to see the exercise done incorrectly (the first 3 representatives), then right (next 3 repetitions).
When performed incorrectly you can see how much movement occurs through the
lumbar spine. Many of our patients are stuck in excessive lumbar lordosis and choose to use bone approximation for stability rather than engaging the core muscles. The majority of athletes I work with, including dancers and gymnasts, fall into this category. Going into more lordosis only exacerbates their pain and dysfunction of the movement.
As you can see when done correctly, nothing moves through the pelvis and spine. It is only my shoulders and hips. Running a bit of a posterior pelvic tilt will bring the person into excessive lordosis and help stabilize the trunk. Also note that there is much less excursion with upper and lower extremities. There is no way you can raise your arms and legs as high as in the first example and maintain any kind of stability.
To learn how to stabilize in this position, using a water bottle or through or along the spine is a nice thing (the latter being the most difficult). The patient immediately feels excessive and their reflexive movement stabilize with good timing while keeping the spine and pelvis stable.
Progressions:
- hold the end of the beach and the cycle of respiration - the patient can maintain their position in the spine "neutral"
- Remove the water bottle - the patient can be stabilized without feedback
- Add a resistance band -. they will need the bottle at first, but then work away from the cuing
Give it a shot and let me know what you think!
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Joe Heiler PT, CSCS
Joe Heiler MSPT is the owner and content manager SportsRehabExpert.com, a site dedicated to the advancement of education rehabilitation and performance professionals. The site focuses on orthopedic and sports physical therapy subjects through webinars, audio interviews, articles, manual therapy and exercise videos, and more.
Joe is also the owner of Elite Performance Physiotherapy and Sports in Traverse City, MI specializes in orthopedics and sports medicine, as well as training of athletic performance. It is Graston Technique (GT) and a certified instructor GT SFMA FMS and trained, and is passionate about a number of soft tissue and manual techniques, including Trigger Point Dry Needling and manipulation.
Latest posts of Joe Heiler PT, CSCS (view all)
- The Bird Dog - basic Classic stability - April 4, 2016
- Points triggering and pain shoulder - Part 2 - February 29, 2016
- trigger Points and shoulder pain - Part I - January 19, 2016
- basic stability vs core strength - Part II - April 1, 09
- basic stability vs core Force - March 1, 09
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