Since I'm such a proponent of corrective exercise, people sometimes ask me if I think corrective exercise is the solution to everything.
Once and for all, the answer is...
no! Specifically, 2 things come to mind that corrective cannot repair or correct; ligament tears and overuse injuries.
That being said, corrective exercise can reduce the risk of these problems for a few different reasons.
1) Corrective exercise can correct muscle imbalances that can lead to muscle and ligament tears if they are not addressed.
One specific example that comes to mind is the relationship between knee valgus (knees tending to cave in towards the center of the body) and all too common, ACL tears.
Many people have knees that bend slightly inward when they squat down.
This gets even worse when you're standing on 1 leg, and even worse when you're landing on one leg.
If this muscle imbalance is not corrected (by corrective exercises) it puts the person at a much greater risk of becoming another victim of the dreaded ACL tear.
2) It is a great "next step" after physical therapy.
Many people who suffer from injuries go to their physical therapy appointment religiously, but don't know how to build back to full strength once their PT appointments have come to an end.
They jump from first gear (physical therapy) to 4th gear (competitive sports, kettle bell workouts, etc) without properly building their bodies back to where they need to be.
It's no surprise that these people so often end up re-injuring themselves.
3) It can minimize the effects of overuse injuries.
Three areas come to my mind immediately; you knees, back, and shoulders.
Most people have trouble with one of these 3 areas because they put way to much stress on it on a daily basis.
Simple, corrective exercises can be done during the first 5 minutes of any workout to greatly reduce the strain put on these 3 commonly injured body parts.
So there you have it.
Corrective exercise is not the answer to every physical problem you can have, but it sure can help!