Dr. Collier showing a functional exercise to a patient.

What is functional exercise?

Throwing the word "functional" in front of exercise does not mean doing pistol squats on Bosu balls.  It simply refers to building of movement quality and strength in activities or patterns that we do throughout the day.  For example, improving the hinge pattern for individuals that bend over frequently throughout the day (i.e. carpenters) will help them to avoid repetitive movement through the lower back.  We use functional movement testing to give us the road map on where to focus.

Global Influence Creates Local Change

Functional exercise and rehab also involves looking at the kinetic change as a whole rather than individual moving parts.  Many times, the issue is driven by a dysfunction elsewhere.  Learning to tackle individual barriers through broader, whole body stabilization can create a scenario where the tide lifts all boats.

Image highlighting the alternating pattern of mobile and stable joints.

Great exercise to improve the hip hinge and build glute strength.


DNS Practitioner in Chesterfield

DNS is an innovative approach that takes the concepts of the neurological development we go through as a baby and applies it to the adult population.  Using these concepts, DNS focuses on the proper movement of our arms and legs while simultaneously stabilizing our core and diaphragm.  Influenced by Pavel Kolar of the Prague School of Rehabilitation, DNS has been growing world wide and is used by many professional athletes including the St. Louis Cardinals.  DNS concepts can be applied to any activity and adds a great element of difficulty with even the simplest of tasks.

Learn more about DNS

DNS Logo
Dr. teaching patient how to strengthen the shoulder.
Dr. working with a patient using a crawling exercise.


Chesterfield Injury Prevention

Our goal is to give our patients a positive experience with movement.  We find  that our long term results skyrocket when we increase our patient's activity through DNS, movement training, and strength/load based exercises.  We incorporate exercise at all levels of the treatment plan.

We strongly believe that there is a significant gap in the transition from rehab based care to fitness and sport based activities. Many people get pain relief and return to their sport or activity just to have another injury happen all over again creating a nasty cycle of chronic injury.  By transitioning people out of functional rehab based care and into performance based treatment, we can drastically reduce the chance of re-injury and optimize the function of the human body.