Have you ever tweaked your shoulder or your hip and then struggled to pinpoint the exact muscle and treatment method? If the answer to that is yes or if you just want an excellent resource to provide step-by-step instructions to improve your mobility and reduce your likelihood of injury, Dr. Nick Chretien’s book, Mobility, is the answer.
Dr. Chretien sent a copy of the spiral-bound book to review and I’m honestly very impressed. Like many of you, I have read previous mobility books and while they were useful, each of them seemed to be missing something.
In Mobility, there is a comprehensive set of functional tests to help determine which protocols you need the most. After that, each area of the body is covered in detail. Each section (or body part) covers the functional anatomy, overuse and pain patterns, muscular anatomy and several mobility protocols.
The anatomy photos are a great addition and are something I have found very useful. A search on the Internet for the anatomy of a shoulder, for example, can bring up hundreds of photos – many of which are either too detailed or too simplistic to actually be useful. In Mobility, the illustrations are easy to understand and provide a great guide to figuring out which muscle is truly giving you problems.
I recently had shoulder pain, but had difficulty pinpointing the specific muscle that had been affected. I was pretty sure it was not a rotator cuff tear, but other than that I was a bit lost. Fortunately, I received my copy of the book right after this injury occurred.
Since the shoulder is very complex with many small muscles intertwined, it requires attention to detail. There are over 24 pages dedicated to the shoulder area covering the infrapinatus and teres minor, subscapularis, rhomboids, deltoid and the pectoralis major and minor. After reading this section, looking at the anatomy illustrations and trying the functional tests, I pinpointed my injury to a strained teres minior.
After following the mobilization protocols along with some rest, my shoulder is feeling much better and I can now do pull-ups again without pain.
If you are a CrossFitter or know someone that is, I highly recommend this book. Not only can it help you troubleshoot your existing injuries, it can increase your mobility and range of motion to prevent injuries as well. The book is available on Amazon and is $19.99 for the Kindle version and is $49.95 for the spinal-bound book.
