Metcon Magazine Preview - 5 Joint Restrictions Jun. 2016 | Page 7

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 7