Course Outlines

Best practices from the fields of rehabilitation, pain management, athletic development, & behavioral modification.

First Principles of Movement

A 12 Day Program linking the Prague School of Dr Lewit & Pr Janda to modern Athletic Development.

Goal: Learn an agile, upstream approach to promoting

  • Return to participation/activity
  • Resilent sustainable athleticism & 
  • Optimization of human performance

Taught in three 2.5-3 Day Workshops each followed by a series of 1 day Bridge the Gap sessions taught by FPM Faculty.

Read about the course offerings below, then check out Dr. Liebenson’s course schedule to find the course(s) nearest you.

These are interactive, problem-solving workshops. You can start at any point in the program (since they are divided up  topically).

Dr Liebenson discusses the Clinical Audit Process/Assess-Correct-Reassess Video from Stanford, 2014

 

WHY Should One Choose to Participate in the FPM series?

  • Learn how to INTEGRATE the art, craft & science of best practices in the rehab to athletic development continuum
  • Learn EFFICIENT strategies to thin-slice implementation of the functional approach in your environment
  • Learn the four guiding PRINCIPLES of management that underpin the many methods

WHAT Can You Expect to Learn?

The  FPM “Best Practices”  series is an ideal prep for changing one’s paradigm from –

  1. Symptom-based to a focus on the source of pain in the kinetic chain

  2. Passive to Active (self-care oriented)

  3. Output-based to outcome-based – “its not about winning the exercise, its about winning the adaptation”

  4. Hardware (structural) to software (functional)

  5. Silo-based to patient/athletic-centered approach

  6. Bridge the gap between rehab & athletic development

 
Learning Objective: To efficiently integrate the “best practices” from the fields of rehabilitation, pain management, athletic development, & behavioral modification for preventing disability & transitioning the chronic rehabber to resilent, sustainable activity tolerance & peak performance.
 
It takes passion, study & experience to learn how to be STRONG in this model. As Pavel Tsatsouline says “You are strong when you can make the hard easy”. Thus, EFFICIENCY is one of our hallmarks. The other is INTEGRATION since its better to “be a learn it all, not a know it all”. The goal of this program is to teach the mastery mindset, namely learning the nuances that come from gritty determination.
 

Our Philosophy: The key to a return to participation, a sustainable approach to activity, & enhancing human performance is baking positive lifestyle choices/optionality into our environment. This epitomizes an agile, upstream mindset with minimal downside risk.
Part A - PREPARE

“From rehab to athletic development: best practices” 

Topics covered include: 
– Develop an Agile Mindset for Sustainable Human Performance
– The 4 Principles of FPM
– Gamification
– Steps of Training/Care
– Movement Prep
– Assessment and Training of the Torso
– Functional Training of the Posterior Chain
– Resiliency: Becoming Anti-Fragile 
– Managing Load Tolerance 
– Find the “Silent Killer”: The LASS profile
– Spine Sparing Strategies
– Developmental & Archetypal (Primal) Re-sets
Part B - TRAIN

“Building capacity and the trainable menu”

Topics covered include:
– The Trainable Menu Concept
– The 4 Principles of FPM
– Foot/Ankle stability: what is the role of the dead foot?
– Squats/deadlifts/lunges
– Single leg/Frontal leg stability
– Push/Pull/Carry
– Dynamic warm up, Quick Feet and Plyometrics
– The Hamstring, Groin and Hip Dilemma
– The Upper Quarter Kinetic Chain Dysfunction and Scapular Dyskinesis
– Tendonopathy Management According to Jill Cook PT PhD
Part C – RECOVER

“The key role of the afferents in recovery, active rest and re-sets”

Topics covered include:
– The Role of the Feet and Sensory Afferents
– The 4 Principles of FPM
– Active Rest – Tuning the body
– Joint by Joint Approach Starting from the Ground Up: (From MTPs to TMJ)
– The T4 “Dead Zone”
– Post-Isometric Relaxation methods for inhibition of tight muscles and Joint Mobilization
– The Clinical Audit Process
Bridge the Gap (BTG) Courses – 1-2 Day updates linking each course
  • Review the concepts & implementation of the A,B & C programs
  • While the 3 day workshops  cover the Science & Rationale or WHY of the series along with the craft, skill, methods or WHAT. The BTG programs emphasize HOW to integrate the course work in different environments.
  • Case-based
  • 1. The 4 Principles of Management2. The Individualized Profile3. The Scientific Method & Assess-Correct-Reassess4. Movement Screen Practical5. Case Management Problem-Solving