After having performed thousands of sports physicals over the years, I have seen an ever increasing trend in poor posture. Often, the posture is compromised before a sport is undertaken, and frequently the posture is affected by repetitive motions of a particular sport.
You can simply perform an assessment of your own posture by having another person observe you from behind you (six feet directly behind you). Does one shoulder look higher than the other? Does one hip look higher? Check to see if your feet are straight, is one flaring out more than the other? The knees should be in alignment as well, facing the same direction. Your head should be equally balanced, not leaning to one side. If some differences are noticed, you may have a biomechanical problem that is inhibiting your sports performance.
I like to use the analogy of your car being out of alignment. If your automobile is misaligned, your tires will wear out unevenly, you will not get proper fuel efficiency and your car will not run like it should. The same principle applies to your body. Do you think that your body would be more or less prone to injury if you were a runner and you had one hip higher than the other, which caused one leg to be an inch shorter? Running day-after-day, mile-after-mile?
The body will respond to the misalignment with its innate ability to compensate for its differences and will adapt to the change. However, there is an insidious process, disease starts, and so the person will not have symptoms for many years before they experience other health issues. One of the most common conditions that occur is degenerate joint disease of the spine and pelvis. The fact of the matter is, if your biomechanics were in proper working order, you would be a better, more efficient runner.
One of the most common comments I hear when a new patient visits the office is "I can golf fine if I take two anti inflammatories or pain pills before I golf, but after I'm done I have a lot of pain". Do you see the point that I am trying to make? If our bodies are giving us pain or it has restricted our range of motion in some way, it is trying to tell us that something is wrong. Like your car oil light coming on to warn you that the oil is low, do you turn the light off?
We often treat our cars better than our bodies. We can thank the pharmaceutical companies and medical establishment for constant bombardment in radio, print, and television advertisements. Billions of dollars are spent yearly to convince you to take that little miracle pill or potion for instant relief. They advise us to get rid of that symptom quick, ignore what the cause is. We need to take responsibility for our own health. Listen to your body; no one knows it better than yourself.
A pre-exercise warm up is imperative, but often disregarded. Most people want to "get right into their workout" and therefore begin their exercise regime before their muscles and ligaments have warmed up sufficiently. Without this precaution, one pre-exposes themselves to abnormal strain on their ligaments and muscular system.
It is even more urgent that we take a serious look at this with the proposed changes in our Healthcare System. The quality will not be as good. We should open our eyes, and look to the future. Say to yourself, what if 10, 20 or 30 years from now I have (fill in the blank). What could I have done to prevent that, should I have done this or that? The time for action is now!
Discover the secrets to a pain free golf game - play without discomfort. Go to http://www.healsportsinjury.southwestfloridachiropractor.com right now! - 31983
You can simply perform an assessment of your own posture by having another person observe you from behind you (six feet directly behind you). Does one shoulder look higher than the other? Does one hip look higher? Check to see if your feet are straight, is one flaring out more than the other? The knees should be in alignment as well, facing the same direction. Your head should be equally balanced, not leaning to one side. If some differences are noticed, you may have a biomechanical problem that is inhibiting your sports performance.
I like to use the analogy of your car being out of alignment. If your automobile is misaligned, your tires will wear out unevenly, you will not get proper fuel efficiency and your car will not run like it should. The same principle applies to your body. Do you think that your body would be more or less prone to injury if you were a runner and you had one hip higher than the other, which caused one leg to be an inch shorter? Running day-after-day, mile-after-mile?
The body will respond to the misalignment with its innate ability to compensate for its differences and will adapt to the change. However, there is an insidious process, disease starts, and so the person will not have symptoms for many years before they experience other health issues. One of the most common conditions that occur is degenerate joint disease of the spine and pelvis. The fact of the matter is, if your biomechanics were in proper working order, you would be a better, more efficient runner.
One of the most common comments I hear when a new patient visits the office is "I can golf fine if I take two anti inflammatories or pain pills before I golf, but after I'm done I have a lot of pain". Do you see the point that I am trying to make? If our bodies are giving us pain or it has restricted our range of motion in some way, it is trying to tell us that something is wrong. Like your car oil light coming on to warn you that the oil is low, do you turn the light off?
We often treat our cars better than our bodies. We can thank the pharmaceutical companies and medical establishment for constant bombardment in radio, print, and television advertisements. Billions of dollars are spent yearly to convince you to take that little miracle pill or potion for instant relief. They advise us to get rid of that symptom quick, ignore what the cause is. We need to take responsibility for our own health. Listen to your body; no one knows it better than yourself.
A pre-exercise warm up is imperative, but often disregarded. Most people want to "get right into their workout" and therefore begin their exercise regime before their muscles and ligaments have warmed up sufficiently. Without this precaution, one pre-exposes themselves to abnormal strain on their ligaments and muscular system.
It is even more urgent that we take a serious look at this with the proposed changes in our Healthcare System. The quality will not be as good. We should open our eyes, and look to the future. Say to yourself, what if 10, 20 or 30 years from now I have (fill in the blank). What could I have done to prevent that, should I have done this or that? The time for action is now!
Discover the secrets to a pain free golf game - play without discomfort. Go to http://www.healsportsinjury.southwestfloridachiropractor.com right now! - 31983
About the Author:
Before you head to the golf course, the smartest way to avoid golf injuries is to visit Dr. Gendron's blog at healsportsinjury.southwestfloridachiropractor.com today!
