High school sports are entering the playoff season, the World Series is in full tilt, the Portland Timbers are heading into the playoffs with the #1 seed in the Western Conference, the Oregon Ducks Football team ranked #2, and the NBA season starting. Sports and sports injuries are at the top of many peoples minds. Are sports inherently dangerous and are injuries inevitable? If so, the sports we play are to blame for the injuries and pain.
I think, if we take concussions in football out of the picture, most sports are not inherently dangerous, injuries should not be the expected norm, and sports are not to blame for injuries. I think the human body is designed perfectly for running, kicking, swinging, throwing, twisting, turning, cutting, jumping and falling. I believe the human body is designed to withstand the demands of sports and most injuries are avoidable.
Injuries happen when the athletes body is not working the way it was designed to work. When an athletes body is posturally aligned injuries are rare, but when an athlete has lost postural balance, injuries are inevitable. It's like using a knife to drive in a screw. The knife will quickly break because it's not designed to do the job of a screwdriver. We don't blame the knife. We don't blame the screw. We blame the user who isn't using the knife as it was intended. When a knee joint is out of alignment the muscles that are designed to support it cannot do their job, the ligaments are strained and twisted, and this means the knee is very unstable and an ACL injury is waiting to happen. We don't blame soccer or football for the ACL injury, we blame the misaligned posture. When a shoulder is rounded forward and down limiting scapular rotation, and then asked to make hundreds of throws, the rotator cuff tendons, cartilage, and shoulder ligaments are put under much more stress than they are designed to handle and injury is common. Baseball or football is not to blame, the faulty shoulder position and poor posture are to blame.
I think, if we take concussions in football out of the picture, most sports are not inherently dangerous, injuries should not be the expected norm, and sports are not to blame for injuries. I think the human body is designed perfectly for running, kicking, swinging, throwing, twisting, turning, cutting, jumping and falling. I believe the human body is designed to withstand the demands of sports and most injuries are avoidable.
Injuries happen when the athletes body is not working the way it was designed to work. When an athletes body is posturally aligned injuries are rare, but when an athlete has lost postural balance, injuries are inevitable. It's like using a knife to drive in a screw. The knife will quickly break because it's not designed to do the job of a screwdriver. We don't blame the knife. We don't blame the screw. We blame the user who isn't using the knife as it was intended. When a knee joint is out of alignment the muscles that are designed to support it cannot do their job, the ligaments are strained and twisted, and this means the knee is very unstable and an ACL injury is waiting to happen. We don't blame soccer or football for the ACL injury, we blame the misaligned posture. When a shoulder is rounded forward and down limiting scapular rotation, and then asked to make hundreds of throws, the rotator cuff tendons, cartilage, and shoulder ligaments are put under much more stress than they are designed to handle and injury is common. Baseball or football is not to blame, the faulty shoulder position and poor posture are to blame.
Your body is designed to line up posturally as shown in the correct functional alignment on the left. All eight major load joints (ankles, knees, hips, shoulders) are vertically and horizontally aligned and balanced. When your bones are in this alignment your joints are able to move through their full range of motion unimpeded and muscles, tendons, and ligaments can move and stabilize your joints through every movement needed in sports.
But if you have dysfunctional alignment as shown in the righthand picture, where your joints are not aligned vertically or horizontally as designed, your joints cannot move through their full range of motion without creating strain, stress, and wear-and-tear on cartilage, ligaments, tendons and muscles. Taking this misaligned posture to soccer, football, baseball, basketball or any other sport will result in pain and injury along with decreased performance because of the inefficiency of misaligned posture.
Correcting posture, restoring joint position, and strengthening muscle imbalances will allow current injuries to heal faster and help prevent future injuries. Maintaining a balanced posture will allow you to stay in the game and continue to enjoy what you love for years to come.
But if you have dysfunctional alignment as shown in the righthand picture, where your joints are not aligned vertically or horizontally as designed, your joints cannot move through their full range of motion without creating strain, stress, and wear-and-tear on cartilage, ligaments, tendons and muscles. Taking this misaligned posture to soccer, football, baseball, basketball or any other sport will result in pain and injury along with decreased performance because of the inefficiency of misaligned posture.
Correcting posture, restoring joint position, and strengthening muscle imbalances will allow current injuries to heal faster and help prevent future injuries. Maintaining a balanced posture will allow you to stay in the game and continue to enjoy what you love for years to come.
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