A functional trainer enables us to safely and rapidly close the gap between the time when the injury is healed to the point when the normal sports-specific training can resume.
Once an sports-related injury is healed, meaning there is no more pain, the affected area is usually left quite weak from the lack of training and is still prone to re-injury if too much strain is placed on the recovered area.
Traditional physiotherapy rehabilitation at this stage will depend on weight-bearing exercises usually depending on the client’s own body-weight. However, for athletes, this weight resistance is not sufficient in order bridge the gap to their full training regime. So an external resistance equipment is required to push the athlete to their previous
level of readiness.
But why a functional trainer instead of say free-weights or a stacked-plate machine like in a gym?
Closed Kinetic Chain Exercises
Firstly, at Back2Sports we use a type of rehabilitative exercises known as Closed Kinetic Chain Exercises (Closed KCE). These are exercises where the hand or foot is fixed and cannot move. usually by means of constant contact with a fixed surface such as a wall or floor. Free-weight exercises are the opposite. They are Open Kinetic Chain Exercises (Open KCE).
There difference between Closed KCE and Open KCE are:
- Closed KCE make compressive forces but Open KCE make shearing forces which are particularly dangerous for weakened joints. For instances, ACL injuries are typically due to shearing forces on the knee joint.
- CLosed KCEs mimic the actual sports movement or function. Hence the term – functional trainer.
- Closed KCEs use multiple joints in activity but the open chain uses one single joint.
The Keiser Functional Trainer is a computer controlled resistance machine with zero-shock load (no initial jerk that poses a serious risk to joints and muscles recently healed) that allows to accurately control resistance while at the same time, performance exercises movement are fit naturally to the athletes own body dimensions. It is even possible to change the resistance through a range of motion. Thus making an excellent choice for sports-specific rehabilitation strengthening.
