Controlled Articular Rotations (CARs) for Joint Health

 If you workout at the gym, play sport or spend time gardening or even doing house work, CARS (Controlled Articular Rotations) can help to alleviate issues encountered performing repetitive movements in specific ranges of motion.

Why learn joint CARS in general?? 

'All exercises in fitness are made up'. Let that sink in. Why do we squat? Bench press? Stretch? Etc. Is it for looks? Performance? Health? Fun? Each exercise has benefits but these are specific, and the movements are made up.

Excluding running/walking, no exercise is really more 'functional' than the last other than for what it is made for e.g. moving a barbell. Nevertheless, the resultant gains in strength, control, bone density etc may be beneficial for your goals and health. And exercise is fun and everyone has different interests! Which is why we often devote hours to such pursuits every week doing specific made up exercises.

However....

A lack of balance in such training programs and poorly executed repetitive movements can lead to adaptive tissue changes, injury or pathology. Is your training technique or regime going to be conducive to longer term musculoskeletal health? In the majority of cases our interpretation of a balanced fitness regime does not consider our ongoing joint and connective tissue health.

What our joints, muscles and nervous system crave is VARIABILITY. Performing regular CARS exercises compensates for the LACK of variability in our movements or the highly specific ways in which we train, work, compete. Like brushing your teeth, CARS are the equivalent of brushing your joints.

So there you have it. CARS help to compensate for the lack of variability in our movement, with the aim of maintaining and improving our joint health now and into the future. Good preventative maintenance that fosters independence, not fads and shams.

Credit to Functional Anatomy Systems for knowledge and principles applied.

The Gap Physio