Some Reading to Explore on Joint Mobility and Z-Health

Here are some blog entries and articles that I have found interesting as I attempt to learn more about joint mobility. Unfortunately I haven't found much on Z-Health from the running community. The Z-Health website does say this :

"As for endurance athletes, we recently helped a world-class middle distance runner shave nearly a full minute off her 5k time in two weeks of training. (We had her doing only 1 exercise 3x’s a day so it qualifies for the 3 minute rule!) She subsequently made the US World Cross-Country team and placed very highly in international competition."

I do wish a name was mentioned and that there was follow-up.

My information about Z-Health first came from reading about kettlebells. So it is another group of athletes that may be leading the way and maybe runners will pick up on this soon. Scott Sonnon's "Circular Strength Training" comes from the martial arts.

Here is an interesting post by Sara Cheatham on taking responsibility for your your own pain and healing. One of the strangest moments in my life was the time we were in the hospital awaiting the birth (well, I was doing the waiting) of one of our children. I had a bunch or medical type books with me as I was researching some Physical Therapy techniques or something and the nurse saw what I was reading and asked, " Oh are you a doctor?" My wife still laughs at that one! I have always been looking for ways to figure things out myself. Never do I want to take the "instant gratification" of surgery to try to fix something when other alternatives can be explored.
Here she writes about Kettlebells and Z-Health. Exploring kettlebells this past fall is what led me to looking into Z-Health.

Mike T. Nelson has a blog that I have been reading a bit. I was particularly intrigued by this article about foam rollers and why they may not be the best therapy. He has had another post on "jammed joints " and how Z-Health can help remove the "neurological brakes" that inhibit mobility and performance.

Here is another introductory article from "Kinetic Edge" which explains joint mobility and in particular how Z-Health works with the central nervous system. There are three pages but that may be difficult to notice at first (and music so be ready to turn down your speakers if you need to).

Matt Fitzgerald demonstrates these dynamic flexibility drills from his book "Brain Training for Runners". I have been using them before some runs and highly recommend checking out his book.

Here are some dynamic flexibility exercises (different from joint mobility) from James Madison University.