Month: February 2016

ATA Turns 6 (and gets a big makeover!)

Posted on by Leigh

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It’s hard to believe that this past January the ATA website turned six years old! For those of you who have been along for the ride from the beginning, you have seen a few different versions of the site now. What started as a little clinic wordpress blog has grown into a virtual warehouse of pictures, videos and content. In fact, managing all of that content and keeping it organized, user friendly, and time efficient has been my biggest challenge so far! Thankfully, you have all been a wonderful feedback loop over the years.
That’s why when I sat down to plan out the next phase for ATA, it was with your suggestions and feedback in mind.
  • Problem #1: Site Navigation. Let’s be honest, there is A LOT of information on the site. The body map was a great start in terms of organizing all of it by region, but it still made for large amounts of clicking around to find stuff. Despite my attempts to organize and reorganize, I never really could find a good fix for this until now. The new site is truly an educational site, complete with “courses”. These courses allow me to not only deliver the content in a streamlined way, they allow me to keep everything all in one place, on one screen. The new site is essentially an “app”. It’s simple and incredibly easy to use.
  • Problem #2: Information Overload. The new course setup allows me to keep things short and to the point. Even the videos have a whole new look. There are little timers built in and directions so that you can literally watch and let the video do the rest. Each treatment will take you less than 10 minutes from start to finish.
  • Problem #3: Not mobile device friendly. The new site is more mobile friendly than it is desktop friendly. Why? Because I want you to be able to pull this stuff up on your phone or tablet while you’re on your family room floor using the treatment techniques.

 

Here’s a video to show you how it all works:

So what does all of that mean for you as the user??

To access the courses, you will need to create an account and sign up for a membership plan. 🙂

Here’s what you can expect with your membership:

  • Access to all of the courses. As of today, there are 18 courses currently on the site. This number is only going to grow over the next few weeks as I start loading up the injury specific courses. Once those are done, you can expect 1-2 courses per month on average. My plan is to have three types of courses per region:
    • Basic- these courses are region specific and focus on how to use the different self treatment techniques on that area only.
    • Intermediate- these courses are more in depth and take a more total body approach by working on areas above and below the symptom area.
    • Advanced - these are injury specific courses. Like the intermediate courses, these are more in depth and designed to not only cure your symptoms, but also help you identify the cause behind them.
  • Access to monthly webinars and Q&A’s. These will be announced on the blog and also through member emails. Each will be recorded so if you miss one? No problem. You will be able to download it when you have the time.
  • Access to me for questions, feed back etc. As things get rolling I will be posting “office hours” for you to reach me on skype.

In addition to individual plans, the new site layout also gives me the ability to create custom courses for teams and groups. Coaches? Need an offseason maintenance plan for your athletes or a post workout recovery routine? This is the option for you. Simply use the contact page to tell me what you are looking for!

Sounds pretty good doesn’t it?

 

 

Strengthening

Posted on by Leigh

What:

Muscles and joints that have been stuck in a tight/short position lose the ability to function normally over time. This is a fact. Remember, the body is phenomenal at being able to adapt when something breaks down. It will find a way to keep moving forward even if it has to call in every muscle it can to compensate. This is why need to restore strength and balance to the entire functional chain.

How:

The ATA system uses a total body strengthening approach that works from the proximal joints out. This means that we want to create stability where it is required and power/strength that can use that stability. In other words, we want to restore balance to the entire functional chain so that each muscle is working to its potential, when it should be working. We also want it to be resting when it should be resting.

What You Need To Get Started:

Equipment will vary based on the area you are working on. Examples include: hand/ankle weights, resistance band/tubing, and a stability ball. Wherever possible options will be given for both home and gym routines.

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Kinesiology Tape

Posted on by Leigh
What:

Kinesiology tape is a specially made elastic tape that can be applied to your muscles or joints to decrease pain and swelling, correct faulty motion, and assist weak or injured muscles. It can also be used as a proprioceptive tool for muscle re-education for sport specific movements such as running, cycling, and swimming. In short, these $20 rolls of tape are a must have addition to your training bag and can be used in several different ways throughout the healing cycle.

How:

The ATA system uses the tape in four different ways:

  • For symptom control to decrease pain and swelling.
  • To restore normal muscle position and joint alignment (blocking faulty motion as needed; providing negative feedback to inhibit faulty motion).
  • To assist weak and injured muscles to promote recovery.
  • As a proprioceptive tool to re-educate muscles to improve form and athletic performance through sport specific movement patterns.

What Do You Need To Get Started:

A roll of tape and the sharpest scissors you can find. Seriously. Cheap scissors will fray the tape and cause it to roll up.

tape

Stretching

Posted on by Leigh

What:

In the ATA System, we use self massage and mobilizations to break up restrictions and restore mobility. The next step is to stretch those muscle fibers and joints out so that the body can register that a change has occurred and adapt accordingly. You see muscles have what is known as a resting length and tension. This means that at rest, a muscle has an ideal length and tension that allow it to function at full capacity in terms of the force it can generate and the velocity at which it can move the joint it supports. Changes to that resting length and tension, whether it’s loss of mobility or increased tension in the form of knots, spasms, etc, will limit the muscles performance. The bigger the change, the more significant the loss of function. Stretching is a great way to help the muscle reset and restore how the brain and nervous system utilize that muscle.

How:

The key to success with stretching is frequency, frequency, frequency. In sports, we literally perform the same actions millions of times whether its steps, pedal rpms, or swim strokes. It’s going to take more than a few massage sessions to get things back to normal on the mobility front.

What you need to get started:

In most cases, nothing at all. Nice to haves include a long strap or belt that you can hold onto.

stretching