Posture
In yesterdays NY Times (Sept 22, 2005 page E10) there was an interesting article on a commercial concept termed “Body Mapping.” Facilities are licensed for $300.000 a month to use an analysis to assess static posture based on an over head squat movement. I wish it were so simple. Posture is not static so, there is fundamental flaw in the assumption that it is possible to assess muscle imbalance from a static position.
Dynamic postural alignment and subsequent dynamic muscle balance are the basis for all training. Posture is a dynamic quality; it is not static! It is not a posed still position standing in front of a posture grid. Posture is highly individual to each person’s body structure and highly adapted to the sport activity the athlete is engaged in. According to Logan and McKinney, “The mature athlete tends to have a posture which is related to his particular sport if he has trained for years to become expert at his specific position or event. The reason for this phenomenon is the fact that the body tends to adjust or adapt to the various stresses or demands imposed upon it as a result of prolonged muscular activity.” (Kinesiology by Logan and McKinney, page 149) A good example of this is six time Tour France winner, Lance Armstrong who evolved a position on the bike that is not considered perfect. Some experts were considering changing his position on the bike. The team chiropractors answer to them was: “It’s an imbalance, yes, but it’s also Lance Armstrong.” (Lance Armstrong’s war by Coyle p 50)
Posture is a dynamic controlling quality. It is helpful to think of athletic movement not as one posture, but as a series of postures. Optimal dynamic alignment of the segments of the kinetic chain throughout movement yield coordinated movement. If one segment or link in the kinetic chain is out of sync, this sets up the potential for performance error as well as a predisposition to injury if the movement is repeated enough.
posted by Vern Gambetta @ 9/23/2005 10:51:00 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I am always intrigued and challenged as a coach to find out what works best for each individual athlete.
As with Armstrong, some things are better left alone and others need refinement when it comes to positon and posture. On this subject I have just met a new student at our school that is a basketball player and wants to lift weights with team during preseason. The challenge for both of us is the fact that he had a stroke in his first trimester (in utero) and has very little use of his right side. His father taught him basketball at an early age and he has somehow adapted to playing quite well with only his left side. We are becoming very creative in the weight room trying to get some stregth on the right side and seeing if we can open up any unused pathways those muscles.
I am always amazed at the seemingly endless ability of the human body to adapt and am constantly reminded that so much of talent and ability is what happens above the neck and between the ears. No matter how perfectly trained a body might be it is only as good as the connection between the mind and the body.
Around 2000, the OTC at Colorado Springs put elite Olympic Lifters on Force plates. None of them pushed with both legs with the same amount of force. They were then placed on programs designed to correct the imbalance. It worked, but did not result in an improvement in performance.
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