Effects of a Total Motion Release (TMR®) Protocol for the Single Leg Squat on Asymmetrical Movement Patterns.
Nickolai Jp Martonick, Craig P McGowan, Russell T Baker and 3 others
PMID 38179584WHAT IT FOUND
Participants who rated one leg worse on the TMR single leg squat also showed knee and ankle movement differences.
Squats on the better leg lowered the worse leg's symptoms and increased knee loading in some, but did not make movement symmetrical.
Key findings
01A self-reported difference of 10 or more points between legs on the TMR single leg squat screen was accompanied by bilateral differences in knee flexion, ankle flexion, and knee flexion moments.
02Performing single leg squats only on the preferred leg reduced the non-preferred leg's TMR score, but the legs still differed immediately after treatment; the reported difference was no longer present after 10 minutes.
03Increased knee flexion moments after treatment were found at group level and in 40% of participants, while bilateral movement differences remained.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Only 20 qualified participants were analysed, from 27 screened, so individual responses may not generalise. Participants had a mix of symptoms and body regions, and no specific injury was clinically diagnosed or confirmed. Only the single leg squat was tested, not the full TMR set of six motions, so a connected dysfunction elsewhere may have been missed. The treatment dosage differed from the usual TMR protocol, and the study did not change intensity when improvement was not seen. Scores were self-reported, so participants may have downplayed asymmetry, though the study tried to limit this by not telling them the symmetry criterion. The decrease in TMR scores was smaller than the reported minimal detectable change of 26.1 points, although that reference may not fit a treatment study. The hip flexion change averaged 0.2 degrees and moved in different directions in some participants, so it may not be clinically meaningful.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that TMR single leg squat treatment restores movement symmetry. In this study, symptom scores on the non-preferred leg fell, but knee and ankle movement differences remained after treatment, and only 40% of participants showed increased knee flexion moments.