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Why LeBron James Cramped Up

6/23/2014

4 Comments

 
I think we can all agree that LeBron James' cramps in game one of the NBA finals did not cost the Heat the championship trophy as the Spurs were just too good. But there still are several important questions about LeBron James' cramps:

  1. Why did LeBron James cramp up so bad when no one else did? 
  2. Why did LeBron James cramp up mainly on his left side?
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We have heard about the extreme temperature in the arena that night - upwards of 90 degrees, and we have heard how LeBron might have been dehydrated, but that still doesn't answer our above questions. First, every player on both teams had to deal with the same temperatures and LeBron was the only one that had to leave the game for good with cramps. It couldn't be the temperature alone because then many players would have been cramping like LeBron. Second, if it was the heat and dehydration, LeBron would have been cramping up on both sides of his body, but he was not. In his own words: 

"It was the whole left leg. Damn near the whole left side."

The Miami Heat also tweeted: 

"LeBron James (left thigh cramp) left tonight’s game in the 4th quarter and did not return - he is currently receiving an IV."

Muscular fatigue is the other thing blamed for his cramping, but again why would only one side of his body cramp up?

I've talked before about how LeBron James doesn't have the best posture and how that contributed to his back spasms earlier in the season (read here) and I believe his postural imbalances may have also contributed to his cramping during game 1 of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs. 

LeBron James has two major imbalance patterns in his body that I believe have contributed to his past injuries (back spasms, elbow pain, hamstring injury, ankles sprains, knee tendonitis) and may have contributed to his recent left sided thigh cramps that forced him out of game 1 of the NBA finals with several minutes left. 

The first imbalance problem is what we call Condition 1 posture. It looks like this:
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As described above, people with this posture have feet and knees that turn outward, hips and shoulders that are tilted forward and down, and forward head posture. LeBron James has all these imbalances as seen below:
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The second imbalance problem LeBron James has is called Condition 2 posture:
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This posture is characterized by imbalances in the body left to right. LeBron is typically seen standing with his right foot more turned out than his left foot, with his right shoulder lower than his left shoulder, and standing on one leg not both. These are all signs of imbalance that would allow us to classify him has having Condition 2 postural imbalances. 
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Condition 1 posture is characterized by excessively strong and tight hip flexors which cause surrounding and opposing muscles to weaken. Condition 2 postural imbalances overwork one side of the body. These two imbalance patterns together could very easily have explained why LeBron James cramped up on only one side (left side) of his body. Most experts agree dehydration is not the cause of cramps but fatigue could be. Why would LeBron cramp up only on his left side? His postural imbalances would easily explain why and make perfect sense, because without his postural imbalances there would be no explanation why he only cramped up on one side of his body. 
Resources: Cause of Exercise Associated Muscle Cramps (EAMC) −− altered neuromuscular control, dehydration or electrolyte depletion? 
Three Percent Hypohydration Does Not Affect Threshold Frequency of Electrically Induced Cramps
4 Comments
Lorenzo Jennings link
6/24/2014 05:35:19 am

Fatigue Makes Cowards of Us All. –Vince Lombardi

Reply
alex
8/4/2015 08:44:41 am

" Your argument: James cramped up because his body is not properly aligned". I think that's too narrow a view and a not a logically sound argument. I'm sure there were other players on the court who were also not Not "properly aligned" AND did Not cramp.

Reply
Matt Whitehead link
8/4/2015 09:13:22 am

Hi Alex, Thanks for your thoughts. I hope you read the entire article because I went through the details and logic of why he cramped up and not other players. I took a very well rounded and thoughtful look at why only the left side of his body cramped and not both sides (which would be the case if it was dehydration alone).

If you don't agree with my ideas, why do you think Lebron cramped up? I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas.

Reply
sally
5/27/2019 02:15:32 am

well. that's me!!!!!
combination of condition 1.and 2.
i have egoscue dvd and a book.
but as a normal person who has no medical or anatomy background,
it's hard to understand egoscue theory.
I have ongoing chronic knee pain and back pain.
can you give me some advice?
I really want to visit your office but I live in Korea.
Thank you.

Reply



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    About Matt Whitehead

    I'm an Egoscue Institute certified Postural Alignment Specialist (PAS) and Advanced Exercise Therapist (AET), certified personal trainer, PatchFitness performer, FiveFingers wearer, trail runner, mountain biker, dad, music lover, environmentalist, and wanna-be slam dunk champion. I will be providing you with the latest posture exercises to help you live, play, and be pain free.

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