Why are my activation exercises not working?

You’ve been to physio or a traditional chiropractor. You’ve been doing the exercises they have given you – or that you got from some kind soul like me on the internet but they don’t seem to be working – or the benefits are temporary and fleeting.

You are doing exercises to “activate” a particular muscle or body part but it feels like it doesn’t seem to “turn on” or get “stronger” no matter what.

You are not alone.

This is a complaint we hear in our Case Reviews at least once per week.

This post is not a review of the literature but simply what I observe and what we have seen in hundreds of cases we have helped.

Let’s take a recent case I took on with a cyclist who we will call Lance A.

Why Lance’s Hip & Back Wouldn’t Stop Hurting Him

Lance A has had chronic lower back pain that stems from riding his bide: it is holding him back from pushing himself, from getting back to triathlon and from enjoying something that brings him joy ( 🚴🏻‍♂️ ).

Specifically, he felt like his right hip was “messed up”, rotated, tight and weak.

Lance had been seeing an osteopath and doing exercises he got from an internet-famous cycling physio from the states who drives me insane.

Lance is young, otherwise healthy, fit, muscular and strong on and off the bike.

However, when we examined him we found that despite doing all these “activation exercises”, I could easily demonstrate generalized right-sided hip and lower limb weakness.

If you are wondering if one side of his body looks different than the other or maybe he has a dominant leg – he doesn’t. What he did have was an unhealthy spine and hip.

Multiple lower back and thoracic spine dysfunctional and irritated joints and multiple nerves  (Gluteal, sciatic, peroneal) that were tender to the touch and felt like hard fettuccine noodles under palpation – nerves should feel like soft cooked noodles.

Lance’s problem is that he has a V8 engine but only the cylinders on the right are working. Because of the dysfunction/irritation within his spine and lower limb nerves, his nervous system simply will not activate/turn on the muscles he wants.

The solution: fix Lance’s spine and get his nerves actually activating his muscles.

How to make activation exercises very effective.

How?  manipulate his spine to make it work properly again and use electroacupuncture to maximize the function of his nerves.

The proof. Lance comes in. He can’t resist me on manual muscle testing on visit one.

I manipulate his spine and sacroiliac joint.

His strength and ability to resist me improve but I can still over-power him when testing all three gluteal muscles.

He comes back later that week and his strength isn’t as good as when he was previously tested but it is better than his initial visit.

I manipulate his spine again because it still isn’t moving properly.

His gluteal muscles feel less like a mass of ropey-spasmed-mess but they are still not normal and testing weak.

I put a 7.5cm long needle beside his superior and inferior gluteal nerves and use some electricity to restore the normal function of these nerves. Technically I could say, “to neuromodulate their activity” but in this blog, we are keeping it non-sciency.

Initially, these muscles jump irregularly and poorly in response to the electrical stimulation but within thirty seconds, the electricity is yielding a strong, solid and sustained contraction.

We repeat the previous weak strength testing … solid as a rock. Lance A smiles with the look of “what the f*^k just happened”

…… magic 😉

Before and After

Lance has continued to improve to the point where he is due to be re-examined and I can barely find any less than optimal with his mobility, strength, spine health, etc from head to toe.

His symptoms have almost totally abated on the bike.

Moral of the story? Activation exercises are only maximally effective if the underlying activating system (YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM!) is sending and receiving the right signals.

Once this normal Brain-Body connection is restored, those same exercises are going to be very effective in helping Lance maintain optimal function – now all the cylinders are working.

So, how is your engine firing?

Feel free to leave a comment or send me an e-mail if you have questions or want to know more. If you feel like you have this problem and want me to review your case with you then fill out the form below!

POST-SCRIPT.

In my opinion, surface electricity like an IFC does NOT work for these issues with the gluteal nerves. The current from an IFC pad simply does not penetrate deep enough to reach the deepest parts of the gluteal muscles and their nerves. You need a 75-100mm long need to do that. If you have a really small butt and there is not enough a lot of fat, skin, and muscle separating pad from nerve then MAYBE it will work.