McEntee Physio & Performance Centre

19/12/2025

🔥Slant Board Terminal Knee Extension

✅The slant board terminal knee extension exercise is a nice entry level exercise to help restore terminal knee extension in a standing position in the early stages post knee operation (post ACLR / TKR).

🎯This exercise helps to restore terminal knee extension, with the slant board allowing for length through the calf complex. By pulsing between the left and right legs, this exercise replicates the demands of the late stance phase of walking as the knee travels forward over the toes.

➕To progress this exercise you can add band resistance.

19/12/2025

Our Christmas Opening Hours 🎅🌲

17/12/2025

🎯Hip Control:

👉From managing my own hip injury from a recent bout of running, I'm more aware of the importance of hip control for running based athletes.

✅This exercise works the deep rotators of the hip joint. It's role is in providing further stability and control to how the femur sits within the acetabulum (hip socket) - especially during repetitive loading like running. Deficits here can accelerate an irritation at this joint.

It's important to add this deeper level of control outside of the bigger glute muscles.

Cues:
📍Slow and controlled through full range
📍Keep foot in contact with the ground

15/12/2025

🎯Deep Hip Rotators

👉The deep hip rotators are a group of muscles that work to externally rotate and stabilise the hip.

📍In athletes with hip and groin pain these muscles can become inhibited / weak, something we aim to address in the early stage of rehab.

🔥This exercise (an .king favourite) is a nice way to strengthen the deep hip rotators. You should feel all the work happening in the lateral and posterolateral hip.

12/12/2025

💪The single arm seated medicine ball shot put

❓This can be used in shoulder rehab as an exercise or as part of return to play test battery for shoulder injuries

🎯As an exercise, the seated medicine ball shot put is a power-based upper-body plyometric that isolates the shoulder and trunk by removing lower-body contribution.

🔥It can be useful to help develop upper body explosive power in a controlled environment, improve rate of force development in pushing patterns and can be a nice mid-stage exercise to prepare an athlete for full kinetic chain throws in the later stages of rehab

✅As part of a test battery, it can be used to quantify unilateral upper body power, offer limb symmetry index for distance/velocity () and to assess an athlete’s readiness to return to sport

10/12/2025

Hip Joint Mobility:

👉Reduced hip joint rotation can be the stem of many issues we see presenting to us in clinic.

✅This joint provides the attachment point for many muscles around the hip & pelvis. During activities the hip will be required to rotate in order to direct, absorb and produce force.

📍Reduced mobility contributes to an increased risk for other injuries around the global hip/pelvis.

🎯Focus on keeping the lower back relaxed on the box whilst bringing the knee high up and around, keeping the foot towards the sky aims to encourage an element of internal rotation throughout.

08/12/2025

Half-Kneeling Hip Flexor Hover

✅This exercise targets both inner range hip flexion strength as well as lumbopelvic control. Reduced inner range hip flexion strength and lumbopelvic control are both common deficits found in those with hip and groin pain.

🎯The aim here is to maintain a neutral position of the pelvis while slowly lifting the foot and hovering it above the ground.

👉In patients with reduced lumbopelvic control and strength around the hip we will often see compensatory strategies such as shifting the weight to one side or arching the low back, to name but a few.

Give this a try, its a lot more challenging than it looks 🔥

05/12/2025

✅Single Leg Extension Isometric Hold

👉Patellar tendinopathy is a common presentation to us in clinic, not only in high level jumping athletes or among those involved in multidirectional sports, but also in the general population. It can be a regular challenge for clients who have undergone an ACLR with a bone patellar tendon bone graft.

❎In these cases, stress shielding can occur, meaning that the healthy collagen within the tendon protects/shields the injured area. As a result, unloading occurs and therefore there is a reduction of collagen content within the injured area.

🕘Long duration isometric holds as demonstrated can help overcome this by the process of stress-relaxation. Collagen fibers relax over time which decreases the stress shielding within the tendon, and allows loading within the injured area of the tendon.

💪Try 3-5 sets x 45-75s holds with a 2 min recovery in between sets, and see what it does for your knee pain. This is one piece of the jigsaw in overcoming patellar tendon pain.

04/12/2025

🎯This is a variation of the SL RDL which can be useful when it comes to applying additional stress on the foot/ankle, say in the case of an inversion injury.

📍We want to challenge the ankle to be able to withstand certain movements associated with the mechanism of injury and improve function to be able to facilitate this.

🔥By placing a slanted plate under the foot, we bring the ankle further into inversion, or at least its more inclined to move into an inverted position. The challenge is on resisting this.

📊(this can be similarly adjusted to challenge eversion / pronation control depending on the needs of the individual / stage of rehab)

04/12/2025

04/12/2025

Next Wednesday night in Kingscourt Stars GAA we host a Bone Health Seminar with proceeds on the night going to charity.

Pre-booking your free seat is required

Booking Link : https://mcentee-performance-physio.eu1.cliniko.com/bookings?business_id=1416714321370550011&practitioner_id=946481756322662193&appointment_type_id=1539014746018156245

02/12/2025

🎯Ankle Sprain Rehabilitation

👉The common mechanism of injury of a lateral ankle sprain is a combination of plantarflexion (toes pointed towards the ground) and inversion (when the ankle rolls outward).

✅When rehabbing ankle injuries, especially those that have become recurrent it is important to expose the ankle to the mechanism of injury and build strength and control in this position.

📍Raising the heel using a wedge puts the ankle into a position of plantarflexion, while the band is forcing us to resist falling to the side and rolling into ankle inversion. After a few reps you'll start to feel the work happening especially on the outside of the ankle.