Hi guys! In this video, I’m going to demonstrate how to use TheraBands properly for rehab. So,
things we're going to look at are: Band selection, how to attach it – I’ve got a clever way that you
can attach it anywhere and it won't come off – I’m going to look at things about the tension – how
to decide how much tension to put on it and make sure that you get the most benefit from
that – what part of the movement to really focus on, how to select what you use it for,
and then also how to make sure that you progress it, that you actually continue to grow stronger;
because remember, if you were using weights, you would be making the weights heavier; so, you can't
just train with the same band the whole time and expect to see progress from that. Okay, so,
for those of you who don't know me, my name is Maryke. I’m one of the physiotherapists from
sports-injury-physio.com, where you can get online physiotherapy assessment as well as treatment for
your injuries. Have a look at the description of this video if you want a link to our website.
Good! So, let's start with: If you go on the Internet, you'll find
long, stretchy bands like these. One of the brand names is TheraBand; they make quite good quality
ones, but you get all sorts of them these days. Then, you can get loopy ones, which ... this one
is just a stretchy one that I’ve made into a loop; but you get them … you can buy them as loops.
I prefer these guys, because they are more versatile, and it's easier to attach them to
stuff, and you can do more types of exercise. These guys are good for exercises where you
stretch, but as soon as you need to pull into your body, it becomes a bit of an issue of how do you
attach it to stuff, but I’ll show you a method that you can use. The other thing that you'll
notice when you go on the Internet is that they come in different colours. Now, for some brands,
like TheraBand, for instance, the colour is associated with a different strength. So,
for instance, this yellow band is extremely thin, and therefore it's really light. This one is a
green one, it's about the third most difficult one up, so, it's thicker, so, it's heavier. You also
get the black and you get the blue, which all are even thicker and gives you more resistance.
So, it's important … I tend to tell people to look for those packets on Amazon with about between
three and five colours, because usually you have to start with something that's quite easy
but then progress onto the other colours as you get stronger.
Of course you can also adjust the more resistance you put on it, so, if you stand further away from
it, you can also increase the resistance that way; but it's good to have a repertoire of bands.
Now, if you ... Especially if you want to train your legs, it can be difficult to find
something to attach it to that doesn't come with you as you’re exercising. So,
even a lot of the beds that I try to attach it to, it just comes with me. So then, one of my
patients showed me a really clever trick, and that is to use your door to attach it to. And
I’m not talking about the handle, we actually put it through the door. So, all you need to do is,
you need to tie something to the other side of the band. Now, I have literally in the past
just done it with tying a pen to it so that it can stick to the other side of the door,
but you can get some clever stuff out from Amazon, which … I like this one, because it saves
my band as well. But honestly, you can tie anything to the other side. So,
you attach it to that, and this is what you do. So, say for instance, I wanted to exercise my leg,
I would literally just find a nice sturdy door, open it up, put that through,
close the door, and guess what? It's not gonna come off. So, I can do my exercises with my legs,
or if I wanted to do arm exercises, pulling up, that will now hold. If I wanted it higher up,
all you do is move this guy. So, it's a bit tricky with this door, because it doesn't have
a handle on that side, but it will still work – there we go! Now, I can do all my arm exercises.
And the same thing is, if you want it up high, because let's face it, who's got something strong
enough up high to attach it to? Unless you've got some stairs in your house, there's really nothing.
And now, it's just stuck there. So, it makes it really versatile. Now, if you do not have a
stretchy band, you only have one of these guys – loopy band – you can also do it with that.
Oh, come on here! Okay, I pinched one of my other half’s socks; anything will work
that you can tie through the band. So, you put it through the band, make a knot in it,
and I actually ... I want to save my band, so, I don't want to get the band stuck in the door
with the sock. So, I would tie this properly. If you've got an old scarf or a piece of bandage or
something, that would be perfect. And I’m going to make a knot in this other side. Come on!
I think I may have had … would have been better if I’ve got a
longer sock. But now, we've got that little space. And then guess what?
If I stick that in the door … uh yeah … see, would've helped if it was a bit longer.
But yes, you get the idea. So, you need something better to attach to it. But if you can get a nice
thin thing, like a bandage or something will work, because then it's stuck there, okay,
and it won't come off. Good! So, that's enough about attaching it. And the reason I wanted to
show you how to attach it to stuff is, if you want to get the best workout from your bands,
you have to have it at the right height for whatever exercise you want to be doing.
So, how do you decide what exercises to start with? Well, that will obviously …
It will depend on your injury. So, if we think of legs or shoulders; let's take shoulders,
for instance, because it's easier to demonstrate. You would start with … You've got
a choice between … You can start with traditional strength training movements. So, we're thinking
of forwards, we're thinking of upwards, we're thinking of biceps, we're thinking of triceps.
It's really versatile, because you can just do all of that stuff depending on where you
attach the band or where you hold the band. But the key things with how you strength train are:
You have to start a band that's light enough, that doesn't cause you pain, and allows really good
control of movement. So, say for instance, I was exercising my triceps, and I ended up doing this
type of thing; that's really not useful, because can you see how I’m scrunching my shoulder up,
because the band is too tight, I can't get it down there? What you want to see is, can you
sustain good posture and get a nice, controlled movement without pain? It's hard enough, but
you can get quality of movement. So, that's why it's useful to get your different colours bands,
because you always want to work for quality first. And you want – when we think of injury
rehab – you want to go slow through the range of motion. Also, it's not just about the pulling bit;
it's actually more about, can you slowly and controlled release that? So, for instance, typical
rotator cuff; people often go out like this, but can you see, if I allow it to jump back like that,
it's the band pulling me back? So, I’m losing out on all of that lovely eccentric control.
And actually, what the research is showing when it gets to tendons as well as muscles,
retraining that eccentric control, especially at the beginning, is the best way to get your
muscle function and your tendon function back. So, don't just go about, “How fast can I pull it out?”
Can you control it back in slowly? That's quite important. What am I forgetting there?
Okay. So, we can use the traditional strength training positions, which is pulling and pushing
and up and down. You can use functional positions. So, for instance, if you've gone through your
rehab and you've trained the simple movements, you can do things like, for the shoulder, if you think
playing tennis, you can do that combined movement, that you're practicing a backhand, for instance,
or inwards movement, to think of other combined movements that you do there.
For running, it ... Again, you'll be going forwards, backwards, you can do sideways, you
can pull in, but you can combine that, that you do like a lunge type movement with it. But then
the other thing that you can do is, you can use it to just activate your stabilising muscles. So,
I’ll demonstrate that for the legs as well as the shoulders. So, if we think of, for the shoulders:
Sometimes, when you have a shoulder injury, it can be really sore,
and you can get a lot of clicking and stuff, trying to lift shoulders.
But if you can just get some … the rotator cuff to contract gently at the same time as you lift it,
a co-contraction of that, it can really stabilise the shoulder joint and make it pain-free.
So, an example of that would be that you take a light band, and you just do a bit of
external rotation. So, I’m just getting my muscles activated, and then you lift. And often ... This
band is too strong ... Often, your patient can then do it pain-free if you combine the two,
but you've got to make sure that the band is easy; so, if we're thinking at that level,
I would probably use a yellow or a red band. The classic one, which everybody pretty much knows for
legs, is this type of thing ... Let me just get this stupid sock off ...
That's why I don't like bands, it's too much
having to tie and untie. So, if you are going to train with bands, buy yourself a few backers, that
you don't have to unfasten things, that you could just keep them where they are; it saves you time.
So, for the legs, if we think of wanting to get glutes – and glute med specifically – engaged,
it's that classic one where you put the band around the knees, separate them out,
that they're lovely in line with the middle of the foot, and then you do your squats while the knees
stay like that. If you struggle when you don't have the band to keep your knees out, this is
brilliant, because just that pull of the band makes you automatically want to pull against it.
Same thing for bridges and stuff; if you put the band around that, you can activate
them a little bit more. So, it's a really useful tool to use. But now, if you've been
training and rehabbing with the same level band for the last four or five weeks,
you should really think about increasing the resistance there. Because
remember, the way that the body grows stronger is that you have to keep on giving it a little
bit of extra load, so, that's a little bit harder than what it's used to, otherwise it just goes,
“Yeah, I can do this. No need to grow stronger. Won't waste energy on that.”
So, you have to progress it. So, make sure that you, if you've already progressed to repetitions
to a good volume ... So, if we think of rehab terms; if we're looking for strength specifically,
you should be working with a band that makes you tired within at least 10 repetitions. If you're
getting up to 15, that's more beginning rehab stuff, that we're working for endurance more. So,
beginning of rehab, lighter bands, slightly more repetitions, but not whacking them out,
nice and controlled. And as you get stronger, as the injury recovers,
heavier bands, fewer repetitions; but not just stopping because you got to 10 repetitions,
stopping because you're actually tired by 10 repetitions. Excellent! Let me just check if
I have left anything out … no. So, I guess the key thing for me here is, the key mistake that
I see people do is that they release the bands too quickly. So, if you're pulling it out, make sure
you release it slowly enough. That's what I forgot to say as well! Remember, if you've got this band,
and you're doing this movement, for instance. If you're going to start there, can you see,
there's no tension on that band? Now, it's obvious when you look at me, but it's ... So often, I see
people demonstrate this to me, and I go, “Well, you're losing the first part of the movement,
because this band will now only start to give me tension there, and it's not a lot yet;
and then only there, I’m already at the end of my range, and now it's only tight.” So, I’m not
really getting much exercise from that. You want it to start with tension from the moment that the
movement starts. And that's why it's important not to use a band that's too strong, because when you
get to that range, because it's already stretched, it increases in resistance. And that's also,
for especially shoulder rehab, when you think of the upwards movements, I would often get people,
when they're really still sensitive and sore on the shoulder, to rather do it with free weights,
because then the weight stays … the resistance stays the same, whereas with the bands,
especially if you're standing on it, it becomes quite hard resistance towards the top there. It's
more appropriate towards the end stages of rehab to use the bands for that, if you wanted to. Very
well! Let me know if you've got any questions. And remember, if you need more help with an injury,
you're always welcome to consult one of us via video call – the link will be up here as well
as in the Description of this video, if you want more information about that. Take care!