shift a lot when they run. Again,
energy is wasted and performance suffers.
An athlete who has an anterior
pelvic tilt will often complain of
pain in the sacroiliac (SI) joints,
quadratus lumborum (QL) muscle, and knees.
Thoracic Spine
Excessive
thoracic
kyphosis
(rounding of the shoulders) may
have the biggest observable
negative impact on global extension. Our scapula is attached to
our rib cage. A rounded thoracic spine pushes the scapula up
and forward. This closes down
on the humerus and makes it
impossible to get the arms overhead without manipulating the
position of the spine. Excessive
rounding also changes the position of the rib cage, because it
is normally accompanied by an
excessive arch in the lower back.
In doing so, the ability to properly recruit the trunk muscles is
inhibited.
Many functional exercises are
performed in the sagittal plane
(a vertical plane that passes
from anterior to posterior, dividing the body into right and left
halves). From the shoulder, there
are many exercises that involve
flexion and extension of the
shoulder. The shoulder is pretty
dynamic and can move in and
out of multiple planes, but it really depends on the positioning
of the scapula to do it efficiently.
When the scapula is too high,
you will need to compensate by
arching at your lower back to
get you arms over your head.
Again, this is an example of an
energy leak, in which the goal
is to get weight overhead; but to
do so, the entire spine must be
deviated. The more kyphotic a
person is, the more lordotic (the
bigger the arch in the low back)
the lumbar spine usually will be.
In addition, when a person has
an excessive curve in their thoracic vertebrae, they will also
lose rotational mobility. ConsidJune 2016 | METCON
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