In injury prevention, injury rehabilitation and training we can utilize CARs or Controlled Articular Rotations to increase the joints capacity to handle load. CARS can be defined as active, rotational movements at the outer limits of articular motion. Our goal with CARs is not to necessarily increase our range of motion, but to KEEP the available range of motion we have and start training the end ranges of movements we already do, or maybe we don’t do. Joint capsules contain a high number of mechanoreceptors and are the first to perceive motion. We get high afferent feedback from our nervous system to the capsule which can increase our joints ability to handle load.
With CARs, the first thing we need to be able to do is actually control the movement. It is easy to make a circle with your arm forwards and backwards if you aren’t putting in any effort. But what if we changed that? If we are able to create irradiation throughout our whole body before even performing the movement, we can get a lot more out of it.
To create tension, or irradiation, exhale all of your breath and tense your core. Then, as you move whatever body part you are working on, move your arm like you cannot break that tension you created in your abs. Act like there is an invisible force pushing against you as you move through the rotation. As stated above, the goal with CARs is not to INCREASE range of motion, we are trying to use it so we don’t lose it. By doing these and focusing on the ranges where we typically would start to compensate using other body parts, we can actively create change in the joint.
To improve upon CARs and use load, we must have neurological control at every stage of our controlled rotation. That’s why it’s called a CONTROLLED rotation after all. By gaining control over all our ranges of motion, we have now prepped our nervous system to handle more complex task. By improving end ranges specifically, we can induce progressive tissue adaptations in capsular and ligamentous tissue, which creates joint protection. All of that to say, if we train in the very end ranges of movement, we can reduce injury risk by making the tissue prepared.
We would program CARs for everybody. However, we want to utilize them in conjunction with other exercises. For people who experience stiffness when they awake, going through a morning routine of CARs at every joint is desirable. There are 3 levels to CARs, each one getting more difficult as the effort that is required increases. If you have someone who is not used to controlling their body or does not work out, starting them on a basic CAR to establish control is the first step. When they have control, then we can apply load or change the position to make it easier/harder.
CARs are for everybody. If someone has an extreme mobility deficit, they can do CARs in the available range of motion that they have, because the goal is not to create NEW space. It’s to improve control with what we already have. We can adjust the CAR by breaking up the whole movement into different sections, we can adjust the position again (think quadruped, against a wall so we cannot compensate, etc). If someone is an elite athlete and has great control, we can focus on the end ranges that they don’t typically enter into, creating a more well rounded athlete. They may be able to skip level one and enter into a more challenging version with added load or stability, but at the core, they are still doing a controlled rotation of the joint.
For videos on how to perform level one CARs, please go to our video library.