User Manual

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3.
Power Thrust
6.
Ab/Adduction
5.
Rear Rotation
4.
Forward Rotation
In a general patient population, the Pro Fitter can easily be used
with or without balance aids to evaluate and improve progress.
With your Pro Fitter, try the following steps with your patients and
see what conclusions you havet:
1. To begin, observe the patient while he/she is using the pro
Fitter for the first time. Encourage proper foot placement and
upright stance (figure 1). Watch for any postural reactions that
may indicate muscular imbalance (figure 2).
2. It is common to see any or all of the following:
• Looking down
• Tilted/rotated head and shoulder position
• Rotation and over-compensation of upper body movement
• Aggressive use of balance aids when shifting to the involved side
• Rotated and tilted trunk and pelvic girdle to the involved side
• Instability in the ankle and/or knee on the involved side
3. On a light tension setting, have the patient perform 8-15 power
thrust exercises on each side while observing for the previous
indications (figure 3). Muscle fatigue may become apparent
with this exercise, resulting in the patient adjusting his/her pelvic
position even further to the rear on the involved side. At this
point, you will have gathered enough information on the patient’s
movement patterns to determine which involved muscles
require strengthening and which are currently being overused.
Other concerns that require further investigation may also be
identified. Now you can assign the patient exercises such as
power thrust variations (figures 3-6). Position the trunk in such
a way that the correct muscle groups can be strengthened while
minimizing the involvement of the overused muscle groups.
I hope that this process will give you an additional method to help
evaluate muscular strength in the pelvic region. These exercises
will help improve the patient’s natural muscular movement
patterns while giving you some useful new ideas for ways to use
your Pro Fitter. You may even notice a decrease in the frequency
of regional pain syndrome.
Read more on our blog at
www.fitter1.com
Or check out S.A.M. on our Youtube channel to
learn more about balance, training and aging
gracefully with gravity!
Fitterfirst - The Return of S.A.M.