By Dr. William Booker, D.C.

In Part One of the Rehabilitation Sequence, the focus of the rehabilitationprocess is to reduce inﬂammation, normalize joint motion and increase length inshort or overactive tissues. In part 2, the secrets of the professional and eliteathlete are revealed. Have you ever wondered why professional athletes can twistan ankle or pull a muscle and they are back to their sport in a matter of days or weeks, but the same injury keeps us on the bench for months and years? eanswer is simple. Athletes and the elite medical professionals, who treat them,recognize that the true goal of rehabilitation is not pain reduction, but therestoration of full function. Steps four, ﬁve and six of the rehabilitation sequenceare designed to retrain biomechanical function and performance.

IMPROVE MOTOR CONTROL

ere has been a very large push to move away from complicated rehabilitationequipment and machinery, to low-tech forms of rehabilitation. Exercise balls,therabands and balance balls have largely replaced Olympic bars, weightedmachines, dials and gauges. Research has shown that these modalities allow forpatients to more eﬃciently challenge and train normal movements that may havebeen lost due to injury. We call this "Improving Motor Control". My patientsroutinely refer to these activities as their exercises. (To be certain, they are a formof exercise, but I will discuss this step in more detail below.) But motor control isbetter understood as movements that you once did naturally and automatically,but were lost as the result of an injury or repetitive stress. Motor control activitiesare designed to "re-train" your brain to "tell" your body what to do, until the point where your body begins to once again, do it automatically.

INCREASE SPEED OF CONTRACTION

When we speak of Speed of Contraction, we are talking about balance andcoordination. Why is it that one person can walk down the street, accidentally miss the curb, and continue on their way without a second thought, but the nextperson misses the same curb, and ends up twisting their ankle? e answer is theﬁrst person had a well-developed "proprioception" system. Proprioception is along word for balance and coordination, but what is important to realize is thatproprioception is developed in the brain AND in the ligaments. It is alsoimportant to realize that this is THE MOST IMPORTANT step in preventinga re-injury. Did your rehabilitation program include a comprehensive balance andcoordination program?

Part 2 of 2

Why Didn´t Rehab HelpMy Rotator Cuff Auto or Sports Injuries?

Dr. William Booker D.C.

Dr. William Booker D.C. holds aDoctorate of Chiropractic from theCleveland College of Chiropractic,Los Angeles. He completed hisundergraduate studies at theUniversity of Virginia, where hegraduated with a major inpsychology and a minor in Biology.After completing his internship inPhiladelphia, Dr. Booker relocatedto Arlington to open the ﬁrstCapitol Rehab inside of Gold’sGym. Dr. Booker establishedCapitol Rehab-Arlington as theﬂagship for what would be theeventual opening of eightadditional Capitol Rehabs locatedthroughout Virginia, West Virginiaand Maryland.