📚The hamstring muscles (biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and semitendinosus) run along the posterior thigh and act to flex (bend) the knee and extend the hip.

🔎Because the hamstrings serve as antagonists to the quadriceps, they are vitally important in terms of knee stability and overall lower extremity control.

🏋🏼‍♂️However, most people have a tendency to pick exercises that target the quads (also very important) and neglect the hamstrings.

✅The app includes a hamstring injury rehab program that teaches you how to heal and strengthen the hamstrings after an injury. Click the link below to access the program.

https://membership.rehabscience.com/programs/hamstring-pain?category_id=258965

📚Osteoarthritis (OA) is degenerative condition of the cartilage present in our joints and most commonly affects the knee and hip.

🔎Symptoms usually include pain, swelling, joint stiffness, limited range of motion and difficulty with many functional tasks. Severe pain or functional loss associated with OA of the knee or hip often leads to joint replacement surgery.

🧠Many individuals with OA are told that exercise will harm their joint(s) and encouraged to avoid many activities. While it is important to respect one’s symptoms and progress gradually, it should be known that properly dosed exercise can actually improve the health of cartilage. Furthermore, strengthening the muscles that surround a given joint can actually help to reduce stress on cartilage and other sensitive structures.

✅A knee osteoarthritis program can be found here in the app. Here is a link for the program.

https://membership.rehabscience.com/programs/knee-osteoarthritis?category_id=258965

📚The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) runs obliquely from the anterior intercondylar area of the tibia up to the posteromedial aspect of the lateral femoral condyle, and plays a critical role in preventing anterior translation of the tibia relative to the femur.

🔎In this dissection, the femoral condyles roll posteriorly over the tibial plateau as the knee joint flexes, allowing the intercondylar notch to open and reveal the ACL.

🧠Visualizing the ACL during flexion highlights its functional orientation and importance in dynamic knee stability. As the femur moves on the tibia, the ACL becomes taut, particularly in mid-to-deep flexion, helping to resist excessive anterior glide and rotational forces.

✅If you need a rehab program for an injury of the ACL or another ligament in the knee, the knee ligament injury program here in the app will teach you some of the most important exercises. Here is a link for this program.

https://membership.rehabscience.com/programs/knee-ligament-injury?category_id=258965

🔎Here is a great dissection that shows how the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles blend into the Achilles tendon and how the tendon is influenced by ankle movement.

🧠During ankle dorsiflexion, we see how the Achilles tendon and calf muscles are put on tension. Then, when the ankle moves into plantarflexion, the tendon and muscles are put on slack.

✅If you are suffering from Achilles tendon issues or a calf strain, I would recommend following the calf and Achilles pain program here in the app. Here is a link for the program.

https://membership.rehabscience.com/programs/achilles-tendinopathy?category_id=261017

👉The gluteal region is much more than just the gluteus maximus. Beneath the surface lies a complex network of muscles and nerves that play an essential role in hip stability, movement, and lower extremity function.

📚The large superficial muscle shown here is the gluteus maximus, which primarily contributes to hip extension and external rotation. Beneath it sit the gluteus medius and minimus, which help stabilize the pelvis during walking, running, and single-leg activities.

🔎Deeper still are the six short external rotator muscles of the hip: the piriformis, superior gemellus, obturator internus, inferior gemellus, obturator externus, and quadratus femoris. These muscles act together to provide dynamic stability to the hip joint while assisting with rotation and controlling femoral movement during functional activities.

🧠One of the most important structures in this region is the sciatic nerve, the largest nerve in the body. It exits the pelvis and typically travels beneath the piriformis muscle before descending through the posterior hip and thigh. The sciatic nerve supplies motor and sensory function to much of the lower extremity, making it a clinically important structure in conditions involving buttock pain, posterior thigh pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness.

Tom, can you say in general whether you recommend stretch first or strength first in a daily practice or daily rehab? I see how your book is set up and I know you do mobility to start (for instance the foam roller) but then all stretch and then all strength? Or vice versa? Or back and forth between the two? Thanks!

👉Posterior to anterior or PA spinal mobilizations are one of my favorite techniques for treating patients with unilateral or one-sided back pain.

🔎When performing this technique, I start at the bottom of the lumbar spine (L5-S1) and work up one segment at a time until I reach the bottom of the thoracic spine (T12).

🧠This is done first as an assessment to determine if the patient’s symptoms can be reproduced with the mobilization pressure/movement. In many cases, familiar pain is reproduced at one or two spinal levels and then those levels are mobilized further.

✅When mobilizing (checkout the Thumb Saver tool to protect your thumbs) a painful level, small oscillations are delivered to the painful area at an intensity that is perceived to be therapeutic by the patient. I will usually perform the mobilization for 1-2 minutes and perform 3-5 sets of the technique.

Help - Hip Assymetry and Unflexible/Cramping when loaded.

I have a very noticeable difference in my hip flexibility tighter right vs left. I really realized this is a problem last month when doing 2-handed shield casts with a 10lb club while in the shin box position. I could do 13 shield casts in 30-seconds left to right vs just 3-5 right to left while struggling to avoid hitting my back on the back swing. Also, I do a Slam Ball program which is all about deep squatting and in the rock bottom position for 60 seconds that right hip tends to cramp after 40-50 seconds. Never the left side though.

Can you suggest any routines or

Particular exercises that would help with range and mobility in those hip areas?

I added 2 photos showing this particular exercise that exposes this severe assymtry and limitation. Photo 1 on left - is the left to right more mobile/no cramping and photo 2 - is right to left right side limited range, tight and cramps on prolonged deep weighted squats. Thank you for any ideas I am committed to overcoming this but regular stretching isnt working

🔎When the supraspinatus tendon sustains a large or “massive” tear, the issue isn’t just local tissue damage—it fundamentally alters how the shoulder moves and functions.

🧠The supraspinatus plays a key role in initiating shoulder abduction and, more importantly, in stabilizing the humeral head within the glenoid. When that stabilizing force is compromised, the biomechanics of the shoulder begin to shift.

👉Here’s what typically happens:

• Loss of humeral head controlWithout adequate supraspinatus function, the humeral head tends to migrate superiorly during arm elevation. This reduces the available subacromial space and increases mechanical compression of surrounding structures.

• Deltoid dominance without restraintThe deltoid continues to generate upward force, but without the counterbalance of the rotator cuff, that force becomes less efficient. Instead of producing smooth rotation, it drives excessive superior translation.

• Altered force couplingThe rotator cuff normally works as a coordinated unit. With a massive tear, this balance is disrupted, often leading to compensatory overactivity of the remaining cuff and scapular musculature.

• Functional limitationsPatients often report difficulty with overhead movements, weakness, and in more severe cases, an inability to actively elevate the arm (sometimes referred to as pseudoparalysis).

✅Over time, these changes can contribute to chronic dysfunction, pain, and even rotator cuff arthropathy if left unmanaged.