Warning – Athletic Training Can Cause Bad Posture
By Alan Hayhoe
We’ve all seen images of body builders with spectacular muscle development. Perhaps you are one. Through endless hours of labor with the kind of equipment that we have today, and careful regulation of intake, you seem to make every muscle display itself like models on a runway. While most of us have no hope nor desire to take it to that level of commitment, we would like at least some of what you’ve got and we use you as reference points. “I’d like those “pecs”" or “I’d like those “abs”", but just in moderation. You don’t want to have special clothes made.
Perhaps the most important piece of equipment in the gyms, where you work out, is the mirror. From it you get feedback about how well you are doing. When you see changes happening, you are motivated to do more, and pretty soon you are addicted. Add a few comments from others like “Wow, do you ever look good. Have you been working out?” and you’ve got an internal reinforcement to keep working. It’s not hard to imagine that the muscles we can see (in the mirror), are likely to get most of the attention.
At the gyms I go to, I see a lot of fit people of all ages with admirable physiques. What disturbs me is their alignment. They are fit, but bent out of shape. What’s up with that? Shouldn’t working out straighten you out? Not necessarily.
Around the joints in the body there are muscle groups that oppose one another. Bending one way or another requires cooperation from those groups; one group activates, the other group relaxes. They are called opposing muscle groups and if they both relax, the joint is loose and limp. If they both tighten, the joint is tight but immobile.
When we exercise in front of a mirror, the front muscles (the ones we can see) get the attention. We like nice “pecs”, “abs”, “quads”, biceps, etc. They look great but they need balance. If they are stronger than the ones we don’t see in the mirror (their antagonists) then they win. The moveable parts are pulled forward.
In the trunk the imbalance pulls the shoulders forward, pulls the ribs and shoulders down and compresses the torso. Initially this looks good! Notice the prize body builders in the flex position – bearing down so every muscle pops out at you. But this changes the angle of the scapula and shoulder, and reduces shoulder range of motion. It also compresses the chest cavity and thus the lungs, inhibiting air exchange, restricting the diaphragm and the breathing mechanism. Compressing the chest also compresses the abdomen so the digestive organs have less room to work.
Pulling the shoulders forward with this massive chest, changes the center of gravity. To keep from falling over, the lower back has to bend more. To reinforce this excess curvature, lifting weights adds compression and more curvature. Squats and presses and quad exercises on a sled add to the load. Pulling the shoulders forward also forces the neck back and the head to extend. This kind of curvature is unhealthy and doesn’t make for efficiency in carrying the “bulk up”.
To accommodate the excess curvature, muscles on the inside of the curve must remain tight and lose their flexibility through the normal range. The muscles on the outside of the curve must relax and lose their strength. Uneven pressure is put on the disks between the vertebrae so they are prone to rupture or herniate. Nerves are under pressure and chronic pain is a way of life.
The result is good looking muscular development on a shorter person with poor posture; chronic back, neck and shoulder pain with less mobility in their joints. The long term result is a person who loses their muscle development but keeps the pain – on a long term basis. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose? You work out to look good and yet you get bent over and shorter.
This isn’t just a problem for deliberate body builders. Many sports and art forms promote these unbalanced developments. As a former swim coach, I notice the development of rounded shoulders posture in swimmers. Unless they are dedicated to the backstroke, the anterior development and focus pulls them into the forward shoulders posture. Swimmers, baseball players, golfers, tennis players, and many others all require maximum rotation from the shoulders to be effective. As the shoulders round, the angle of the scapula changes and the rotation is reduced. This reduces function and increases risk of injury.
This doesn’t have to be. Paying attention to balanced development in the muscles that are visible in front and the not so visible ones in the back is the first step. Making a great effort to stretch shortened muscles and mobilize stiff joints so they retain their original mobility and strength will help keep the joints in balance and centered. Having an even pressure across the face of the joints means that they don’t wear out as fast and can take a greater load.
A product that is designed to achieve this is called the PostureJac. Developed by Dr. Howard Makofsky, Professor of Physical Therapy, with almost 30 years of clinical experience, it works to stretch the tight muscles in the neck and upper shoulders. It activates and strengthens the hard to see and hard to activate muscles in the neck, shoulders and back. It mobilizes the muscles and joints so they stay healthy and active. It restores the spine back to its proper position and stabilizes it. This protects it and allows stretching against it. It allows the shoulders to rotate in the normal range and prevents injury. It puts the pelvis in a neutral position so that the hip angle and joint is at its best position to avoid wear and tear. It restores a person to their maximum height.
This isn’t a costly device or a costly process. A few minutes with it each day, and the effect remains. It’s called “kinaesthetic awareness”. Your body is being adjusted and trained to recognize this as a proper position and it treats it like the new home base. There are many devices that can be purchased that pull the shoulders back into proper position. They work like a cast to restrain your movement and substitute for muscle support. When you remove a cast the muscles have deteriorated and weakened. Muscles need to be involved to take the primary responsibility. They also remember. Once taught, you know the feeling and want to retain it. That’s why we use the slogan “Retrain not Restrain.”
Go to [http://www.posturejac.com]www.posturejac.com for more details and find out how it can benefit you. Browse through the video site and see the dynamic exercises that are designed to restore, condition and mobilize the back structures from the top down. Download the informative lecture on posture by Dr. Makofsky. Find out how the MyoPressers effectively address the problem of myofascial pain around the shoulders by putting a massaging pressure on myofascial trigger points. See the How it Works page to learn how Dr. Makofksy’s Spinal Corkscrew Principle works to stabilize and give the feeling of lift. As the arms go down, the spine goes up.
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