Question

MrT is a 30year old carpenter who has recently recovered from a right shoulder injury. As part of his job, he has to lift heavy building materials overhead and work with his arm held at shoulder height for prolonged periods of time. He now reports difficulty with both of those tasks. He is otherwise healthy and has no other injuries that limit participation in an exercise program. He has come to see you for an exercise program that will permit him to get back to his previous level of function.

1)What parameters of physical capacity do you think need to be improved as part of his program? Name them and justify your response.(3marks)

2)You would like to get an initial outcome measure forMr T’s upper limb muscle endurance. Describe (1) test you would perform and briefly justify your selection.

3)Based on a possible result of your assessment from Question 2, list one (1) short term goal that you could set with Mr T. (1 mark)

4)You decide to give Mr T two (2) exercises that aim to improve his ability to lift heavy building materials overhead. Briefly describe the exercises that you have chosen, list all exercise variables(sets, repetitions, frequency, and amount of resistance) and justify your selections.

Answer 1

1. ice could be applied or anti-inflammatory medicines could be helpful. However, they have to be be taken only on recommendation by a practicing physician. Exercises like bending over and rotating shoulder in large circles could help. Using a rubber tubing loop and pulling it after bending is also a common exercise for shoulder problems. Lifting of light dumbbells has also proved to be helpful. His muscle strength and resistance capacity needs to be measured.

2. Muscle endurance or ability of the muscle against resistances could be measured by lateral musculature test or right lateral musculature test. In this test if one arm could support the whole body in a sidewise position, the person is successful.

3. A short term goal could be that Mr.T will remain in the correct posture throughout this test and his hips will not return to the ground in the scheduled time of this test.

4. Light dumbell excercise could be helpful. He has to stand with legs little more stretched than his shoulder width, then he has to twist his trunk both towards left by keeeping the right foot fixed and similarly towards right by keeping the left leg fixed. Arm swinging excercises are also helpful in improving muscle strength.