What is Instability Testing?

What is Instability Testing?

Instability Testing informs an athlete on where they might be lacking in their sport, what’s causing pain, and how to get the most out of their training. An evaluation starts with a basic fitness evaluation which includes basic questions about general health, evaluating range of motion, balance, and proprioception. After the fitness evaluation anthropometric data is measured to show the athlete what their anatomy looks like and how different movements should look based on their anatomy.

Have you ever noticed that your squatting hurts or doesn’t feel right? The pain or discomfort is probably because your squat form is right for you anatomy. Apart of the instability testing is to help you find your perfect form based on your anatomy and range of motion. Once we have found your perfect form we will determine joint stability both statically and dynamically. We have different balance and proprioceptive tests to find out what joints are unstable so that we can correct the imbalance.

Once we find out your imbalances and proper forms we need to make sure your muscles are also working correctly. We will test muscle groups to make sure they are balanced with contralateral and antagonist muscles. For example, is one quad stronger than your other quad? Or are  your quads stronger than your hamstrings? As we perform our wear limbs are exponentially more likely to be injured.

Last, but still really important, instability testing will test your core strength and stability. The core is more than just your abs. It is all of your abdominals, pelvic floor, glutes, and hamstrings. We check all of these to ensure safety and stability while you are doing your sport.

Instability testing will change the way you see your body, how your train, and how you recover. It is individualistic and unique approach towards optimizing your performance and reducing your risk of injury.