Hello,

Four weeks ago I talked about three areas you should work on in order to lessen "wear and tear" injuries.  (If you missed that email, you can read it here.)

As promised, today I'm going to talk about the third area--biomechanics.   The word alone is probably enough to tune most people out.  But stay tuned--because biomechanics has a huge impact on helping athletes improve their performance and significantly reduce injury.

Not only that, there is a good chance that if you have a sports injury which is not responding to treatment--you have a biomechanical  issue somewhere else in the body.  This limits your ability to move without pain.  

Finding the biomechanical cause can be critical for your recovery--and ultimately getting you back to the activity you love.  Just as important, it can minimize the risk of a re-occurrence.

An easy way to understand the application of biomechanics is through the game of golf. 

What happens if you don't hit the ball straight on?

Just a one-degree angled tilt away from straight on contact between the golf ball and the club face will create an error in both the flight and destination of the ball by as much as 100 yards!  

Now I want you to imagine yourself performing the activity you love the most.

What if your biomechanics are "off"?

Just like the golf example above, if you have a problem--like say one leg is shorter than the other.  Your body will compensate to make up for that misalignment.  When you compensate--whatever your "one degree" is--has significant and often critical results on your performance.

Is there an exact "normal" biomechanics?  Does anyone own the template for the perfect arch or is there a mysterious man living in the hills of South America with a perfect low back, pristine posture and biomechanics? 

To quote dozens of orthotic labs around the world...they "create perfect alignment of the arch and foot while keeping the foot in a neutral position."  I often tell my professional football players, the only time they will be in a neutral position with perfect biomechanics on a football field is during the national anthem! 

My objective when evaluating biomechanics and when I'm working with an athlete to restore proper biomechanics is simple:  

 

      1.Ensure there is symmetry: one side of the body is moving exactly like the other side.

      2.Maximizing the motion of the major joints in the body around all three axis's of rotation.

It makes sense then that compensations are often responsible for causing less than optimal performance.  And as mentioned above--sometimes when you can't seem to recover from an injury, an evaluation in your biomechanics is the answer. 

This is a perfect example of why it is important to have a Health Care Team you can trust.  Utilizing their expertise to help you prevent injuries is often more important for your long-term health meter.

And because YOU are the biggest part of your Health Care Team, if you have a re-occurring injury you may want to ask your Health Care Team for a biomechanics evaluation.

Next time, I'll talk about one of my favorite tools--and one you can use too--to make yourself more self-sufficient in your quest for staying healthy and active.

In the meantime, be sure to submit your questions to me here.

 

With Healthy Regards,

 

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