What Does a Corrective Exercise Specialist Do?

If you’re looking to add a specialization to your personal training offerings, consider corrective exercise. With this specialty, you will be qualified to identify abnormal movement patterns in clients and prescribe exercises to correct them. 

Corrective exercise digs deeper into the principles of personal training and exercise to get to the root of issues that cause pain and injury. It can be really rewarding to help clients feel better and work out more efficiently. Find out more about what corrective exercise specialists do and how to get certified.

What Is Corrective Exercise? 

Corrective exercise is a training strategy that addresses and corrects abnormal movements, muscle imbalances, and compensations. Practitioners identify these abnormalities in movement and prescribe exercises to correct them. The goals are to reduce pain, prevent injury, and speed recovery from injury. 

Who Benefits From Corrective Exercise? 

Corrective exercises are not just for athletes and people who work out a lot. Anyone with inefficient human movement, a muscle imbalance, or just plain incorrect movements can benefit from a corrective exercise strategy. 

The practice can be applied to athletic movements, strength training, and cardio workouts. It can also be applied to functional movements, everyday movements like sitting, standing, and lifting. 

From young athletes to older, more sedentary people, anyone can potentially move in damaging ways that lead to pain and injury and benefit from professional interventions. 

Corrective Exercise vs. Physical Therapy

As you begin to learn more about corrective exercise, you’ll notice that it sounds a lot like what happens in physical therapy. There is some overlap, but the scope of practice is different.  

A physical therapist treats a medical diagnosis, such as tendonitis. They also help rehabilitate patients after surgery. They treat patients using corrective exercises but also manual therapies like massage, electrical muscle stimulation, and dry needling. 

Personal trainers with the appropriate certification can identify movement issues in clients and prescribe corrective exercises. They cannot diagnose or treat a medical condition or use any type of manual therapy. 

The International Sports Science Association (ISSA) Corrective Exercise Specialist certification gives you the tools you need to use in the prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of various ailments including postural dysfunction.

What Does a Corrective Exercise Specialist Do When Working With Clients? 

The basics of corrective exercise are recognizing and fixing movement issues. In more detail, these are the typical duties of a corrective exercise specialist: 

Take a Personal Exercise History

An important first step in working with a client is to talk to them about their history with exercise, movement, and pain or injuries. This helps the specialist identify any past issues that could continue to affect their client and put them at risk for injury. 

Evaluate and Assess a Client’s Movement Patterns

With some background information on the client, the corrective exercise trainer can then watch them move. They perform specific fitness and movement assessments learned in a certification program and evaluate how their clients move. 

They’re looking for patterns of movement that are problematic and that could impede performance, cause pain, or eventually cause an injury. 

Corrective exercise specialists also look at how their clients don’t move. Stationary posture and form are also vital to good muscle balance and proper movement during exercises. 

Identify Dysfunctions in Movement

While observing their clients during movement and postural assessments, the specialist identifies any abnormalities, imbalances, and general dysfunction that could be problematic. Finding these issues helps the specialist target areas for improvement. 

For example, they might see that their client’s knees tend to collapse inward when they do squats and lunges. This indicates a specific weakness or lack of activation in the glutes as well as other issues. It’s problematic because, over time, this kind of movement can put stress on the knee joints causing pain or even an eventual injury. 

Use Corrective Exercises to Restore Function

This is the point at which the specialist turns things around for their clients. They’ve done all the homework of getting to know their clients, observing how they move, and identifying problems. Now, they prescribe specific exercises and correct existing exercises to restore proper movement. 

For the client whose knees collapse in on squats, the specialist might guide them through several corrective exercises designed to eliminate the problem: 

• Clamshells and lateral band walks to activate and strengthen the gluteus medius muscles

• Ankle mobility exercises to reduce any rigidity in the ankles preventing the knees from pointing straight ahead

• Careful corrections on squats to direct conscious attention to knee placement during the movement

This is just one basic example of how a corrective exercise specialist might approach an issue they see in how their client moves. They create training plans that are progressive and build on the client’s achievements to continually improve their movements and form. 

Here are some useful corrective exercise strategies for designing an effective program.

Continually Evaluate and Assess Clients

An initial evaluation and the creation of a training plan is only the beginning for the work a corrective exercise specialist does with a client. They must continuously observe their client’s movements and workouts to be sure they make improvements. 

When a fitness professional sees that a client is struggling or failing to progress, they have to come up with solutions. They need to be flexible and open to changing training plans as circumstances change. They watch their clients as they work out, correcting form as they go. 

Apply Expert Knowledge to Individuals

One of the most important aspects of a corrective exercise specialist’s work is personalization. Because it’s a trending fitness subject, you’ll see articles and videos online claiming to have the best corrective exercises for everyone. This is misleading. 

A key principle of corrective exercise is that it conforms and adapts to the specific needs of any one individual. To do use corrective exercise effectively, you must be knowledgeable about the topic and able to work one-on-one with a client to apply that knowledge to their unique movements. 

This is an important skill you can’t learn from watching online videos. You need deep background knowledge of biomechanics, muscle movements, and exercise that you can apply to specific situations. Taking a general approach can cause more harm than good. 

How to Choose a Corrective Exercise Specialist Program

The best way to become an effective and safe corrective exercise specialist is with a certification program. There are plenty of reputable and recognized certification courses available online and some through community colleges and exercise science programs. 

Online programs are best for most busy people. You can learn at your own pace. Finish in as little as a few months or take your time if you have a full time job or family responsibilities. Make sure the program you choose is accredited and recognized in the industry. It should offer a certification exam and support throughout the course. The developers of the course should be experts in their field. 

Corrective exercise is finally being fully recognized for how useful and important it is. When led by a trained professional, it can help people reduce pain, move more efficiently, reduce injury risk, and improve strength, endurance, flexibility, and posture. Be a part of the growing trend with the right certification. 

The ISSA’s Certified Personal Trainer – Self-Guided Study Program is a great way launch your fitness career. From this foundational certification, you can earn specializations, like the Corrective Exercise Certification, and become a true expert in the industry.