What’s the Best Corrective Exercise Certification?

There are many specialized personal trainer certification options. Each one expands your knowledge in a certain area of fitness. You could become certified as a group fitness instructor, for example. Or you might earn your certification as a nutrition coach. Another option to consider is becoming certified as a corrective exercise specialist.

What Is Corrective Exercise?

Corrective exercise is designed to promote optimal human movement. In some cases, it works by resolving musculoskeletal imbalances. Other times, it might help correct muscle dysfunction. 

Benefits of corrective exercise include:

• increased range of motion

• improved performance

• pain prevention and relief

• reduced injury risk

Corrective exercise can also help clients reach their fitness goals. Imagine that you have a client who plays basketball. If they have dynamic knee valgus—which is when the knees tilt in during movement—they are at greater risk of injuring their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). It can take up to nine months to recover from a torn ACL. (1) That’s a long time to be off the court. This can also impact the player’s ability to hit their performance goals. Research indicates that corrective exercise can help. 

One study involved 32 basketball players, all with dynamic knee valgus. Half of the players engaged in corrective exercise. The other half served as the control. The corrective exercise group had a significant reduction in dynamic knee valgus when doing a drop-jump. They also had better knee strength, range of motion, and balance. Together, this helps reduce ACL injury risk. (2)

To be clear, corrective exercise is not physical therapy. How are they different? A physical therapist can diagnose and treat injuries and certain conditions. A corrective exercise specialist cannot. This professional is tasked with developing exercise programs to “fix” common movement issues. It also takes six to seven years to become a physical therapist. Similarly, a career as a medical exercise specialist (managing medical conditions through exercise) or sports medicine physician (treating the musculoskeletal system with medical care) requires additional training. Conversely, you can earn a corrective exercise specialization in just a few months.

Benefits of Becoming a Certified Corrective Exercise Specialist

Some personal trainers are happy where they are. They don’t want to specialize in other areas of fitness or certain types of exercise. If that’s you, great! However, getting certified as a corrective exercise specialist has many benefits. And these benefits exist even if you don’t plan to pursue a career in corrective exercise.

For example, a certified personal trainer might become a corrective exercise specialist to better help their clients. A client may have pain in their shoulder due to some type of movement dysfunction. Corrective exercise strategies can help resolve the dysfunction. Resolve the dysfunction and you also ease the pain.

In this way, corrective exercise expands the personal trainer’s ability to help their clients. They’re able to do more than prescribe a fitness program. They also help the client develop healthier functional movement patterns.

Specific programming strategies can help clients reach other goals as well. Maybe they want to improve their sports performance. If they’re currently limited by a muscle imbalance, corrective strategies can help. Or they might not be able to execute their full range of motion. Corrective strategies can assist with this as well.

Becoming certified in corrective exercise also validates that you know what you’re doing. It tells potential clients that you know how to design an effective corrective exercise program.

What’s the Best Corrective Exercise Certification?

If you’ve been researching corrective exercise certifications, you may be wondering which one is the best. Unfortunately, this isn’t an easy question to answer. That’s because not everyone considers the same factors when deciding which health and fitness certification is best for them.

Some people may be more concerned with price while others place more emphasis on curriculum. Other factors often considered include course length (how long does it take to complete a corrective exercise certification program), type of study materials (are there video lectures, flashcard options, or a textbook), and whether payments are an option (will you get a discount if you pay in full or can you break up the payments).

For this reason, it’s important to think about which factors are most important to you. Look for a certification course that will help you meet your personal training goals in a way that suits your wants and needs.

Tips for Passing the Corrective Exercise Certification Exam

No matter what corrective exercise certification you choose, you’ll have to pass an exam. Like the personal training certification exam, this test is designed to assess your proficiency in corrective exercise. It confirms your knowledge of human movement. It also validates that you understand how to correct human movement dysfunctions.

One of the best things you can do to prepare for this exam is to become thoroughly familiar with your corrective exercise program. Go through all available study materials. If the materials are in writing, read them. If they’re in video form, watch them. Take advantage of all the study materials the course offers. This gives you a more complete education. It can also help during the exam as you may remember information presented in one set of materials more clearly.

It can also help to create flashcards. Create a set of exercise flashcards. Write on them what the exercise does and the issues and movement limitations it helps correct. You can also create flashcards for the most common musculoskeletal imbalances. What causes them? How are they assessed? What exercises work best for correcting them? 

Go through your exercise flashcards on Mondays and Thursdays. Look at your flashcards for musculoskeletal imbalances on Tuesdays and Fridays. This can help better prepare you for the certification exam.

Also, look over your past course quizzes and practice test. Some of these questions may be repeated on the exam. Even if they aren’t word for word, they may involve the same ideas or concepts. 

How to Pick the Best Corrective Exercise Specialist Program for You

Ready to get started? Your next step is to find a corrective exercise program. But how do you know if a corrective exercise certification will be beneficial? What are the key components of a good corrective exercise certification program? Here are some things to check out:

• Make sure the training program provides all the information you need. At a minimum, it should discuss human movement and exercise science. It should also teach you how to conduct a mobility assessment, and then decide which corrective strategies to apply based on your findings. If the corrective exercise training program doesn’t cover the basics, look for one that does.

• See whether the program offers a complete corrective exercise library. Some courses refer to this as an exercise lab. There are hundreds of corrective exercise options. This makes it hard to remember them all. You don’t have to when you have access to online videos. This enables you to look up each move to help you remember the proper technique and form.

• Choose a course that comes with corrective exercise certification. Some courses provide training only. This means that you must go somewhere else to earn your certification. Selecting a course that offers both creates a more streamlined process. It can also improve your level of comfortability when taking your exam. You’re already familiar with how the course operates, so you have a better idea of what to expect on the final test. 

• Find out whether the institution offers continuing education course options. Continuing education classes are required to keep your certification. These classes help ensure that you stay current with the latest research. They also help you stay relevant in the fitness industry. They can help you specialize within the field of corrective exercise. Some continuing education classes can even help you grow your business. If the institution offers them, it makes it easier to get credit.

Explore ISSA's Corrective Exercise Specialist Certification Course

International Sports Sciences Association offers Corrective Exercise Specialist Certification. This online course includes an exercise lab, an exam study guide, and unlimited educational support. You also receive a free professional website to grow your business as a fitness professional.

References

1. ACL Tear & Injury: Symptoms & recovery. Cleveland Clinic. (n.d.). https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16576-acl-tear 

2. Hemn Mohammadi, Hassan Daneshmandi, Mohammadhosein Alizadeh. Effect of Corrective Exercises Program on Strength, ROM, and Performance in Basketball Players with Dynamic Knee Valgus. J Rehab Med. 2019; 8(3): 29-41.