This is great piece by Gregory Lehman and though a long one well worth reading it all. He looks at the pros and cons of maintaining a neutral spine and allowing spinal flexion to occur. Needless to say the case isn’t clear cut and it depends on your goals, tasks you require to do amongst other factors.
http://www.greglehman.ca/2016/01/31/revisiting-the-spinal-flexion-debate-prepare-for-doubt/
We should all be able to separate to a reasonable degree the movement of most joints of the body that is the movement of the wrist and elbow, the neck should be separate from shoulder girdle, lumbar spine from hip etc. Often annoying aches and pains and general poor movement can come from an inability to do this. Not always but often enough to warrant checking things out as over time it begins to limit our movement options.
Patellofemoral pain can be thought of where pain is present in and surrounding the tissues between the patella and the femur. The cause of the pain can be something of a mystery as it rarely develops quickly and isn’t the result of a traumatic incident the way a ligament tear is. The symptoms are often made worse by, though not exclusively, activities like squatting, lunging, kneeling, going down stairs or running downhill. In-other words relatively high load activities that put a lot of stress on or through the area. in addition to this sitting for long periods where the knee is flexed can also cause the symptoms to get worse.
When we think about posture we could really do ourselves a favour and stop thinking about what is good or bad posture in terms of black and white, what is right or wrong, what can or cannot be changed Continue reading “Posture; Is it really that big a deal?”
What are we talking about when we are discussing the windlass mechanism with regards to the foot? The windlass mechanism is an integral part of normal foot mechanics and gets the name from the similarity to that of the windlass in sailing where it describes the pulley system used to raise and lower sails. In the foot the action is created by the plantar fascia, the band of strong, thick connective tissue that spans the base of the foot from the calcaneus to the toes, as it stretches around the metatarsal heads when the foot comes into dorsi flexion during the propulsive phase of the gait cycle. Continue reading “The windlass mechanism of the foot; What is it and why is it important?”
I came across a great article by Greg Nuckols about using perfect form, The myth of perfect form. and what it might be. It’s a great piece on why the perfect form that is often talked about really doesn’t exist as it is generally described. He uses the back squat as an example and talks about how chasing the mythical dream of squatting like an elite weightlifter might not be either desirable or even attainable. So lets look at how it might apply to other activities. Continue reading “The myth of perfect form.”
