The historical meaning of Caduceus refers to the Greek myths of a staff carried by Hermes (messenger of the gods) as well as the staff of Asclepius, the Greco-Roman god of medicine.
It is also the name of the CST shoulder mobility protocol included in TACGym.
Double Lift Up Front
- The longer the staff the better.
- Overhand grip, thumb underneath
- Shoulders packed, elbows locked, no thoracic bend
- exhale overhead
- 5-10 reps or 30 sec
Double Rear Lift Up
- 3:30
- Overhand grip (thumbs outside) and thumbs underneath
- Don’t lift scapulas; activate lats
- Stand straight; don’t bend forward
- Max range is forehead; any lower is just auxiliary
Double Side Lift Up
- 6:15
- Hold staff with ends pointing forward and backward (perpendicular to hips)
- 8:25 – Yoga is more challenging to the tissues (fascia) because it is closed chain because of contact with the ground; movements are very predictable. Compare with tai chi which is open chain; movement is unpredictable.
Double Row
- 9:15 Start
- Alternates the two side lift ups
- 9:45 – First three exercises are joint mobility. Now add local circulation. Effort within the restored range.
- 10:30 – Exhale down into the swing. In joint mobility, exhale into discomfort/range. In dynamic flexibility, exhale into effort.
Double Guard Cast
- 11:00 Start
- Begin as side lift up. Front hand lifts over head like opening a helmet visor. Staff ends parallel to ground with front and rear hands in reversed positions
- 13:04 – The greater your mobility, the greater your ability to express power.
Monkey Swing
- 13:30 Start
- Staff stays behind head throughout. Start and end with staff vertical at either side.
Alternating Shield Cast
- 16:00 Start
- Guard Cast to Monkey Swing to opposite side Guard Cast
- Begins slowly as a mobility exercise and as speed increases it becomes a dynamic flexibility exercise.
Single Perry Cast
- 18:40 Start
- Goal is to move the elbow to body center line
- Try to keep all fingers gripped on the staff
- Resolves tendonitis in the elbow
Double Perry Cast
- 21:45 Start
Alternating Perry Cast
- 24:15 Start
- With external rotation, we don’t want to just push on the accelerator but also remove the emergency brake.
- Goal of the Double Perry Cast is to remove the brakes on external rotation so that we can pull effectively. If we have range of motion on external rotation, that is what allows us to have expressible power to drive forward.
- Use the staff in the middle of the tricep as a fulcrum.
Single Elbow Screw
- 26:25 Start
- The farther behind and across the back, the greater the benefit you’ll get.
- We use the staff to restore natural range of motion. Don’t want to stretch the ligaments. Unnatural ranges of motion distort the shape of the ligament.
Double Elbow Screw
- 29:10 Start
- Pool que motion starting with underhand grip.
- Feeling burning, pins and needles, shooting pain is referred nerve pain. We can challenge the tissues but not the nerves.
Alternating Elbow Screw
- 31:10 Start
- This is the most difficult and challenging exercise in the program. Do it last, after all other exercises.
- Shoulder screw is an open chain exercise and thus doesn’t go as deeply as we can with a closed chain exercise.