Pain in one area of the body is often the result of a lack of motor control in another area.
Take Terra. She has been training consistently here at Steelworks for the last couple of months. Recently she completed a Ragnar Relay race and oddly enough started complaining of pain in both of her knees.
We could have prescribed some mobility drills and stretches, but the issue wasn’t in her knees, it was in her brain; the messages from her motor control center were not getting to her muscles fire correctly.
After doing some assessment using some Neurokinetic Therapy protocols, we found that a number of important core muscles (transverse abdominus, rectus abdominus, and psoas) were turned completely off. The knee pain made total sense: a weak or inactive core cannot properly stabilize the legs as they proceed through their range of motion. The knee pain was a manifestation of this core weakness.
We did some quick therapy localizations on her psoas, quadratus lumborum, tensor fascia latae, and even her pectoralis minor (yes, in some cases this muscle is huge compensator for weak core muscles.) and magically her core turned right back on! I asked her to squat a couple of times. No pain.
So now before every class, she must make it a priority to activate her core. The deadbug is a great exercise for this.