Ball Sports require symmetrical and asymmetrical movement. Many sports one starts off playing with the prefered left/ right hand/ leg, however, the skilled player becomes ambidextrous and is able to use all limbs equally to dodge opponents and shoot goals. Alignment and Stability are therefore hugely important in these players in order to have a strong foundation to build on for power and strength, and all the while training to remain agile and light on the feet. Racket sports such as tennis and golf require the body to remain one-sided, and often one sees a huge build-up of muscle and strength down the favoured side which can cause an imbalance of bulk which will cause an imbalance in load on the spine hips and limbs. It is important to be mindful that one looks after the underlying structure which at the end of the day is not designed to be onesided, to avoid excessive wear and tear or load which might lead to degeneration.
All these sports require dynamic ability, agility, fluidity, balance, speed, and power. All of these qualities will be enhanced with a stable strong platform in the trunk.
The athlete will be capped on the level he or she can reach if their platform is not strong. Strength will come from the skeleton being posturally correct and in alignment in order for the muscles to be functioning at their correct length.
So this is exactly what Biomechanics Coaching is designed to assist – not only the injured or those plagued with niggles, but the athlete who appears to have no injury and is keen to move ahead, but has due to lifestyle from perhaps the use of mobile phones, or sitting in cars, or leaning over computers etc, adopted limitations of “forward head” posture and a rounded upper back, which may lead to a backward tilting pelvis and a slump in the lumbar spine – which eventually will lead to discomfort in the neck, degeneration in the lumbar spine but for sure suboptimal performance when running or dodging players or rotating in tennis and golf.
Having an assessment can mean that you can see the areas of potential future issue and then you can make a really definitive plan to mobilise, realign, stabilise and strengthen, to be able to apply sports specific training to improve technique.
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