There was recently an article in the New York Times Magazine about running phenom Mary Cain that talked about how talented and dedicated she is to running and breaking records and how her coach Alberto Salazar is trying to carefully guide her to her full potential without injuring her.
If you've seen the times Mary Cain has run, you quickly realize that she has the potential to set not only every middle to long distance American record but maybe even challenge the world records. Alberto Salazar says she has...
If you've seen the times Mary Cain has run, you quickly realize that she has the potential to set not only every middle to long distance American record but maybe even challenge the world records. Alberto Salazar says she has...
“As much talent as any young athlete I’ve ever seen in running in my life.”
But there is something about Mary that might hold her back from setting more records and could end her career prematurely...her posture.
 Notice Mary Cain's rounded upper back, forward shoulders, and forward tilted head.  Genzebe Dibaba has much better upper body posture: her head and shoulders are directly above her hips. |  Mary Cain's shoulders and head are rounded forward, but so is her competitors.  Bernard Lagat showing good thoracic extension and upright head posture. |
The Runner's World article, when talking about the girls lined up at the starting line of the 2001 high school national championships 4x800 meter relay, said this:
With their long ponytails and soft bodies, racing numbers pinned to their hips, none of the girls looked like much — but Cain, a freshman, looked like less. She wore hot pink shorts and a black sports bra, and her shoulders slumped with the impatient awkwardness of being 15.
"Slumped shoulders" is the key word, and while it might have started with the "impatient awkwardness" of being 15, Mary still has the same slumped shoulders today as a much more confident almost 19 year old. The article says when Alberto Salazar first started working with Mary he noticed her upper body:
An obsessive about form, Salazar said that Cain’s lower-body mechanics were excellent, good enough to make her the best in the world, but that her upper body needed work. In particular, if she wanted to reach her potential, she needed to keep her left elbow closer to her body, swing it straight, front to back, instead of out and across her torso. He referred to the elbow as her “chicken wing.”
 Mary Cain's "chicken wing" as her coach Alberto Salazar describes it. Also notice the excessive amount of torso rotation she creates to make up for poor arm swing mechanics. |  Bernard Lagat showing good upright spine and head posture and excellent arm swing meaning he has to use very little torso rotation compared to Mary Cain. |
That "chicken wing", which Mary Cain has on both sides with the left more pronounced, is a result of the thoracic flexion and forward shoulders which do not allow proper front to back arm swing because the shoulder joint is out of position. Her coach can drill her over and over about swinging her arms straight forward and back, but it just won't happen until her upper body posture is improved.
The posture of having thoracic flexion, rounded shoulders, and forward head is very common among runners of all ages and talents and again was clearly shown in a recent Runner's World article titled "The Runners Body". Notice the very rounded forward shoulders, winged scapula, thoracic flexion, and forward head. All very detrimental to both good upper body running mechanics and efficeint breathing.
This runner has very fast PRs of 4:34 mile, 15:39 5k, 1:11:27 half marathon, and 2:29:54 marathon, but also forward shoulders and head that are slowing him down.
People often think that this body posture is prevalent in distance runners because they do not do any upper body strength training. While many runners do not spend as much time working on their upper body as they do their legs, many do lift weights including Mary Cain and her Oregon Project teammates as the Runner's World article states:
The dominant philosophy now is that girls, like all other runners, should train to become very strong by lifting heavy weights.
The reason why lifting weights has not corrected the poor posture is because weight lifting will almost always strengthen a persons' imbalances. Lifting weights tends to strengthen the already strong muscles and the weak muscles get even weaker. This can be seen with athletes of all sports and "sports specific" training will always lead to more imbalances by further strengthening the primary muscles used for the particular sport.
Lebron James's normal posture is one with his feet turned out, knees rotated outward, shoulders and head rounded forward, and he has hip and shoulder imbalances.
Michael Phelps has one of the worst postures in swimming: posterior pelvis, excessively flexed thoracic spine, collapsed chest, and his shoulders and head are rounded forward.
Tiger Woods has had strong hip and shoulder imbalances for years leading to his injuries. He is usually seen standing on one leg or the other, rarely squarely on both feet and hips.
Peyton Manning's dropped left shoulder causes his head and neck to shift to the right. That along with his rounded shoulders and forward head have lead to his neck issues.
Lebron James's normal posture is one with his feet turned out, knees rotated outward, shoulders and head rounded forward, and he has hip and shoulder imbalances.
Michael Phelps has one of the worst postures in swimming: posterior pelvis, excessively flexed thoracic spine, collapsed chest, and his shoulders and head are rounded forward.
Tiger Woods has had strong hip and shoulder imbalances for years leading to his injuries. He is usually seen standing on one leg or the other, rarely squarely on both feet and hips.
Peyton Manning's dropped left shoulder causes his head and neck to shift to the right. That along with his rounded shoulders and forward head have lead to his neck issues.
Throughout all sports and athletes we see some very common posture imbalances: rounded kyphotic thoracic spines, rounded shoulders, forward heads, turned out feet, and hip and shoulder asymmetries. Our modern lifestyles involve a lot of forward flexion (sitting, computer use, texting, video games, driving, watching TV) and very little extension and this is a recipe for thoracic kyphosis, rounded shoulders, and forward head posture. Everyone tends to favor one side of their body and without enough balanced motion to restore function to both sides of our bodies, we tend to get a dominate hip and shoulder. This will show up in one hip and shoulder being lower or more forward than the other.
 Mary's postural imbalances: feet turned out - left more than right, right shoulder rotated forward, back of hands showing to the front. |  Mary's postural imbalances: head forward, shoulders and upper back rounded forward. |
Weight training and playing sports will only strengthen these tendencies and imbalances eventually leading to injury. The above athletes have had to deal with the following injuries:
All these athletes, including Mary Cain, can correct their postural imbalances with specific posture exercises that restore balance, function, and symmetry to their bodies. Improved posture will lead to more efficient movement, improved biomechanics, increased performance, and decreased chance of injury.
I do believe Mary Cain has the ability to break every American middle and long distance record and set a world record some day, but she has to stay injury free and rise to her potential, and that's all riding on her shoulders.
Related articles:
Why runner's don't get knee arthritis
Is training your "core" really helping you?
How to fix chronic knee pain
Why Lebron James cramped up
- Tiger Woods: knee, achilles tendon, lower back
- Michael Phelps: back
- Lebron James: lower back, knee, elbow
- Felix Hernandez: back, elbow
- Peyton Manning: knee, neck
All these athletes, including Mary Cain, can correct their postural imbalances with specific posture exercises that restore balance, function, and symmetry to their bodies. Improved posture will lead to more efficient movement, improved biomechanics, increased performance, and decreased chance of injury.
I do believe Mary Cain has the ability to break every American middle and long distance record and set a world record some day, but she has to stay injury free and rise to her potential, and that's all riding on her shoulders.
Related articles:
Why runner's don't get knee arthritis
Is training your "core" really helping you?
How to fix chronic knee pain
Why Lebron James cramped up
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