Posture in Sport

Up to 70% of amateur athletes have poor posture. Poor posture indicates muscles under stress. When muscles have to work too hard they are not as efficient or effective as they could be.

Some Ways Poor Posture Develops:

• As a result of overuse in the performance of a particular sport. Consider the hockey player who is constantly shooting one way, or a golfer who is recreating the same swing repetitively.
• As repetitive stress injuries resulting from hours spent playing video games.
• From weak back muscles, especially rear deltoids and rhomboids.
• Or tight anterior muscles (chest, neck and shoulders).
• In a left to right muscle imbalance. A right-handed person often has a much stronger right side resulting in muscle imbalance, and vice versa for lefties.
• Weak low fiber traps and highly developed upper traps.
• Weak abdominals, especially transverse abdominals.
• As a result of stooping, commonly seen in youths who have grown taller than their peers.

It is a known fact that a person who is relatively confident will be less likely to abuse their body. It’s no surprise then that those who eat well and exercise regularly generally live a healthier more satisfying life.

The focus of this article is to point out that no matter what sport you are playing, good posture is paramount. Whether it be sprinting, swinging a golf club, or skating, good posture will make you more effective, efficient, and injury free.

What is Good Posture?
1.Head up
2.Chest up
3.Shoulders back
4.Neck and back aligned
5.Shoulder blades down (upper traps relaxed)
6. Stomach tight (belly button tucked towards spine)
7.Hips back
8.Knees slightly bent
9.Feet even, not staggered

Posture Test
Stand facing a mirror; look at your hands. A person with good posture will have their hands on the side of their legs and will see just the thumb and index finger. A person with poor posture will see her/ his hands on the front of their legs and will be able to see more of their fingers. Have a look at your shoulder level, hip level, knee level and feet to identify imbalances.

Static Posture and Dynamic Posture
Static Posture is the ability to remain in one position for a period of time without losing structural alignment. For example, try standing in the position mentioned above and see how long you can stay in that position before you have to drop a knee or slouch your shoulders. Think about this while sitting at a desk working on a computer. Most people cannot maintain a static posture for more than a minute.
Dynamic Posture is the ability to keep all working joints in optimal alignment during any given movement. For example, during the golf swing it is imperative to keep your head, as well as your trunk, still during the back swing. It is the ability to stabilize muscles during movement.

Cross your arms on your chest. Round your shoulders forward and hunch over. Now try to rotate your trunk. The movement will feel restricted. Now rotate your trunk, but with your shoulders back, standing tall. Rotate your trunk and notice the difference in the range of motion. You may be thinking that this only applies to golf, but almost every sport requires rotation in the transverse plane (side to side). Consider: Baseball, throwing and batting; Soccer, kicking; Hockey, shooting. You can fill in the rest of the list.

Tips

• An athlete with poor posture will have muscle imbalances. This leads to inhibited performance and creates the potential for injury.
• See a Certified Specialist to get checked for any imbalances you may have. If any imbalances are detected, this should be the first thing you correct before you start into an athletic training program.
• Practice sucking your belly button in towards your spine while breathing normally. This will work on the transverse abdominus muscle.
• Train your lower-fiber traps. Research indicates that body builders are far stronger in every test with the exception of the lower-fiber traps test where body builders are often found to be as weak as the general population.
• Use a stability ball for abdominal work; even use it as a bench. Exercises using the stability ball help strengthen core muscles.
• Set your alarm clock to ring every half hour or hour. When it goes off, check the way you are sitting or standing and adjust yourself into good posture.
• Lay off doing too many chest exercises. Train your chest muscles once a week. Keep in mind that almost every upper body activity we do requires shoulder flexion, shoulder adduction or shoulder internal rotation. This is the exact function of the chest muscles.
• However, perform back exercises 2-3 times a week. Instead of just working the big muscles of the back, pay attention to isolating the rhomboids, lower traps and posterior deltoids.
• An exercise I often do with my athletes is known as the shoulder circuit or Y,T,W,L. It consists of 4 different movements in the prone position (face down) that work on the smaller scapula muscles and rotator cuff muscles. These muscles are all important for helping to improve and maintain good posture.
• Perform unilateral exercises, one side at a time, for both upper body and lower body to prevent or overcome dominance.
• Be sure to do the same number of reps and weight for each exercise on each side. Do not do more reps on your stronger side. If anything, do an extra set on your weaker side.
• Work on keeping all muscles flexible, especially hip flexors, hip rotators and hamstrings. If these muscles are tight they will put stress on the lumbar vertebrae causing lower back pain, which can lead to poor posture and a lifetime of pain. Stretch all upper body anterior muscles.
• Keep opposing muscles symmetrical, because if they are not, one muscle may be tight while the opposite muscle is lengthened creating excess stress.
• If you are going to train chest and back in the same day, superset exercises in the same plane. e.g. Incline Bench Press followed by Bent over Row.
• During the season, train more of the muscles that are not used in your sport.

You may get away with poor posture in your younger years, however, as you get older you will probably perform at a lower level than if you were balanced and fit. Poor posture could take years off your career. You may not know it, but, many athletes have been forced to retire early due to back pain. If the pain was not from a direct injury, chances are poor posture is involved.

This point is not obscure. It simply states that proper posture is of great importance and of benefit to all individuals without regard to age, athletic ability or talent. This holds true for both males and females. Good posture and balance allows for a more productive, powerful, injury-free athlete. Remember that posture correction is something that you have to make an effort to achieve.

To recap, here are some ways to improve yourself: Do the mirror test. Do more small back muscle exercises. Keep your chest muscles and hip muscles flexible through a stretching regime. Stay symmetrical, left side-right side and front-back Keep in mind that proper technique and good posture are always more important than lifting astronomical amounts of weight when poor posture and momentum are in play.

You will soon notice that, after a while making a conscious effort to correct your posture, it will eventually become a subconscious constant activity for you.

If you include these tips and points while applying them to your current Activities of Daily Living (ADL's), I defy you not to notice a considerable beneficial difference in the performance of your sport.

Bradley A. Mizener, NSCA – Certified Personal Trainer

Larry Jusdanis, SST Director