P&P #21. The Use of Isometric Exercises during the Early Stages of Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation May Be Misunderstood or Inappropriate.
Physical therapists invariably stress the importance of progressively graded isometric exercise for rehabilitation of an injured muscle, yet they learn from their education with PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation) that MOBILITY PRECEDES STABILITY. They learn that stability is a more complex, higher order motor activity than mobility. In other words, they are prescribing exactly the opposite of what they learn during their training.
However, the isometric actions they prescribe usually are initiated by having patients move a limb from a relaxed flexed initial state to a final extended isometric state. Maybe this activity could be classified as slow isometrics or even quasi-isometrics. Thus, this therapy may be successful because the exercises recommended are not simply traditional isometrics, but controlled graded dynamic activity. Comment.
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