Functional Range Conditioning (FRC) – Controlled Articular Rotations (CARs)

Functional Range Conditioning (FRC) – Controlled Articular Rotations (CARs).

If you’re into fitness and rehabilitation you may have heard the terms FRC and CARs being thrown about. These are terms that define a system built by Dr. Andreo Spina to help build stronger and better mobility and articular strength. After attending the course in 2017, I will explain what CARS are and my own experiences of CARs. First lets quickly cover what a joint is.

What is a joint– a site at which two or more bones or bone and cartilage come together (articulate)

 

What is FRC and CARs?

CARs definition- Active, rotational movements at the outer limits of articular motion.

The main function of CARs is to help with maintaining the available ranges of movement that you already have in your joints and maintain the articular health and longevity of your joints (this can help delay/prevent osteoarthritis). It can also be used to screen and assess joint health (particularly the function of the deep joint capsule) where you may have any weaknesses.

Another key important fact to remember is that your cartilage has no blood supply and it receives oxygen and nutrition from the surrounding joint fluid by a process called diffusion. Hence movement of your joints are important because during movement pressure expresses fluid & waste products out of cartilage cells and then fluid diffuses back along with O2 & nutrients. Hence movement helps with articular health and longevity of your joints.

“By maximizing articular capacity, we can prevent any threat responses (such as cramp or stiffness) created by the brain and best prepare our joints to ward off injury.”

The concept of CARs is that the joint capsule relays multidirectional and rotatory information to the central nervous system (CNS). There are receptors in our joint capsules that provide the central nervous system (CNS) with afferent feedback. These receptors are called mechanoreceptors and there role is to carry signals to the CNS to tell the brain what is going on with our joint. More stimulus (through CARs)  to the mechanoreceptors allows for more AFFERENT feedback to the CNS, which causes more EFFERENT output back to the musculoskeletal system, helping create more CONTROL.

The ability of the muscles to create force tends to be highest in the mid-range of two joints. The outer end ranges tend to have a sharp drop of in force production capability. Thus basic premise of FRC is to obtain full ACTIVE range of motion and increased force in these end ranges.  By training muscular control in the long and short end positions, we make these end ranges useable and improve the efficiency of everything in between.

Clients who tend to just train in the mid ranges without sufficient recovery time to rebuild tissues, may predispose themselves to premature wearing of their joint surfaces if they never explore ranges of motion outside of the average. Furthermore, training in the end ranges of motion can help teach the nervous system to manage those positions and not to reflexively cramp when there.

Sherrington’s law of irradiation:

CARs utilises the principle of Sherrington’s law of irradiation.

The law states– “A muscle working hard recruits the neighbouring muscles, and if they are already part of the action, it amplifies their strength. The neural impulses emitted by the contracting muscle reach other muscles and ‘turn them on’ as an electric current starts a motor”

To simply what the above paragraph is describing is when muscles recruit nearby muscles. To explain it further, read the below description by Pavel Tsatsouline-

“Make a tight fist. Where do you feel the tension? Your forearm and biceps, right? Even tighter! White knuckles! Do you feel your shoulder and even chest flexing too? In reality, when the demand for force increases, other muscles jump in on the action. Like a stone dropped in the water sends ripples across the surface, tension spreads—irradiates—from the muscle directly responsible for the job at hand towards others. The bigger the stone, the taller are the waves and the further they spread! … It states that a muscle working hard recruits the neighbourhood muscles, and if they are already a part of the action, it amplifies their strength! Not by cheating, as some complement their barbell curls with a back swing, but by ‘cheering’. The neural impulses emitted by the contracting muscle reach other muscles and ‘turn them on’ as electric current starts a motor.”

The idea is to tense every one of your joints/muscles except the one you are moving is so that you are in full control of the joint; you are ensuring you get a single joint to do what you want it to do and then increase the tension ramp up the tension (this makes it difficult as you have to squeeze every single one of your muscles AND control the movement of a joint).

The CARs Process:

• Inhale, trap air in lower abdominal region while breathing shallow (Law of Irradiation)
• Stabilize all articulations in order to ensure strict rotation in the desired joint (Law of Irradiation)
• Begin articular rotation slowly ensuring that it is occurring in the outer limit of movement of your ability
• Attempt to “expand the circle” with each repetition. You can also increase the resistance by using the law of irradiation.

“Force is the language of cells, and movement is what we say“

A few Pros and Cons from the course are (personal opinions):

• Pros- The course looks much deeper into the histology and cellular biology of force application across a tissue, as well as how the morphology of those tissues alters when directional forces are applied- something I wasn’t aware of/had studied before.
• Cons- The CARs model is great and can be applied to many clients but there may be some populations for who it may be more difficult to apply such as the elderly.
• Cons- Concepts/information aren’t ground-breaking, it’s simply Dr Spina’s interpretation of the literature. Dr Spina himself says “nothing he’s presenting is new” but the information is presented and arranged in a much more logical and progressive way.

—If you’re interested in working with me and utilise the FRC principles to make you a high performer then drop me a message—

References

• Medlej, J. (2014). Human Anatomy Fundamentals: Flexibility and Joint Limitations. [online] Design & Illustration Envato Tuts+. Available at: https://design.tutsplus.com/articles/human-anatomy-fundamentals-flexibility-and-joint-limitations–vector-25401 [Accessed 23 Jan. 2020].
• info. (2020). Structures of Synovial Joint – Capsule – Ligaments – TeachMeAnatomy. [online] Available at: https://teachmeanatomy.info/the-basics/joints-basic/synovial-joint/ [Accessed 23 Jan. 2020].
• Tsatsouline, P. (2000). Power to the people: Russian Strength Training Secrets for Every American. Dragon Door Publications.
• https://functionalanatomyseminars.com/functional-range-conditioning/