Weekend in Phoenix.....Cadaver Lab....NMT Seminar

I Went to an amazing seminar in Phoenix last Weekend:

Neuromuscular Therapy / Care of soft tissue pain and dysfunction (American Version developed my Judith DeLany NMT. The course was LOWER EXTREMITY

In the late 90's I took a couple of the Paul St. John's NMT seminars but in many ways this seminar was more digestible, easier to understand and taught in a very precise yet clear format. You can't go wrong either one but I have decided to go ahead and take all 5 of their courses and become certified through them.

Friday: Friday morning was a cadaver lab which was optional but I decided to do it since I have never studied on a cadaver. There were 4 different bodies and I must admit that initially it a little creepy. I changed my mentality, focused quickly, put on my gloves and morphed into scientific mode. The bodies were predisected so that muscles of the leg and pelvis were easily accessible and easy to seperate. I must say that seeing the muslces and touching them without the skin is the BEST way to learn anatomy. Talk about a visual. Here a couple of things that really surprised be about general anatomy that I never realized.

1) I never realized how small the quadriceps actually are. When you think of legs you think of hams and quads and how they provide the bulk of muscle in the legs. WRONG! The quadriceps are not even close to being the biggest muscles in the leg. It may appear that way because they are the most superficial. The biggest muscles in the leg are the addcutors, and mainly the ADDUCTOR MAGNUS. The Magnus is so thick and once you pick it up in your hands you get an appreciation of how powerful and big this muscle is. The Magnus is what gives you the girth and thickness. The instructor for the course, an amazing teacher named Don Kelley,says that the Vastus Lateralis and the Adductor Magnus are in competition with each other for the biggest muscle in the leg. Either way, both the lateralis and magnus are big honking muscles.

2) The hamstrings are puny little guys as well. I always thought they were these giant muscles, not so. Perhaps they can be but they just do not have the bulk or size of the previous two muscles we talked about.

3) I was shocked on how big the GLUTE MEDIUS is. In fact it the glute medius that gives the butt the rounds shape. The glute maximus in thick but doesn't have the attachments high on the illum like the medius does. What I never appreciated before was how low on the femur the distal portion of the glute maximum attaches to. To fully treat the maximus you have to go fairly low on the femur to treat it.

4)The Sciatic nerve is fricking big. You could almost pick up the entire body by pulling on this nerve. I didn't realize how big it actually id.

5)Remeber this acronym; VAN. Veins, arteries and nerves. They almost always travel together in the body and seeing that in a body drives the point home.

6)We always hear about how fascially wrapped muscles are in the body but I never knew to how great of an extent that is true. Your body, organs, muscles, ligaments and tendons are so wrapped in fascial connective tissue that it showed me how essential fascia is and what a forgotten component it is in therapy, exercise and stretching.

Overall the seminar was a life changing for me. I am so excited to be re-learning my anatomy because I am in a time in my life where my focus is much better. I plan on doing as many cadaver labs as I can in the next two years and hopefully next year I will travel to Florida to do a week long course in cadaver disection where each team gets a fresh body and gets to disect layer by layer for one week. I would recommend any therapist and strength coach to get into some cadaver disections to REALLY learn the anatomy. It can only make you a better coach and therapist.

The rest of Friday was a lecture on the principles of NMT.

SAT and SUN: These days we went over all the routines for the lower extremity.
The Routines:
Anterior Thigh
Medial Thigh
Pubic Attachments
Pes Anserinus
Anterior Leg
Lateral Leg
Lateral Thigh
Lateral Hip
Hip Rotators
Posterior Thigh
Posterior Knee
Posterior Leg
Achilles Tendon
Plantar Foot
Dorsal Foot
Structure and Examination of the foot
Osseous Structures of the lower extremity

Track meet Results 100 meter - 12.04 seconds - 4th place in my heat

Overall the track meet was fun. My time was a second slower than I usually run but I think the lack of training and focus on high tension exercises the last 4 years has really slowed me down. I am axcited to start sprinting more and focus less on high tension exercises and more on ballistic (high rate of force development), stability exercises and mobility movements. I have another track meet this weekend at UCSD - The triton inviatioan - one of the biggest meets in the country. Should be fun.

God bless all those souls who lost their lives yesteryday in the Virginia Tech Shootings. May God's holy spirit minister to the families who lost children and to the Virginia Tech students!

Be well, enjoy life..it is short!