BIOMECHANICS COACHING

I first studied the field of sports therapy in 2004 and biomechanics in 2013. Both disciplines enable me to know more about the body - its movement and dysfunctions - with an interest in increasing performance. What quickly became very apparent was the fact that a large majority of people were suffering from back, knee or shoulder pain, and that biomechanics was the missing link in helping my clients to become pain free, as well as helping to increase their performance in their chosen sport or daily life.

About Biomechanics

 

Biomechanics is the study of the human body, the body’s mechanics, and how it moves in mechanical terms. The science is divided into two areas of study: extrinsic and intrinsic biomechanics.

Extrinsic biomechanics looks at movements, the measurement of those movements or tasks, and then establishes the most  efficient way to maximise those movements and ultimately improve sports performance. It is an important science that is  relevant to any sport, fitness or work-related physical conditioning.

Intrinsic biomechanics is the study of how the body works mechanically during the performance of a movement or a task. This has major impact on how the body compensates during performance, movements and tasks. Often the body is merely compensating for intrinsic biomechanical faults during movements. The more we practice these movements, the more we have to compensate, and so the risk of injury increases. This is often caused by lifestyle or even previous injury in one part of the body or joint.

Dysfunction within our muscles, around the pelvis for instance, can often cause a leg length discrepancy which can cause the spine to compensate and lead to a dysfunctional core as well as resulting in back, shoulder and knee pain along with muscle spasm, leading to pain and muscle tightness.

Once we begin to become normalised on a biomechanical level, we begin to experience free range of movement, a core that functions, an increase in power and performance, with less chance of developing injuries while performing within your training or in daily activities, as well as in most cases becoming pain-free.

Biomechanic sessions can be performed separately or as part of personal training package. Whether you are suffering from low grade back pain or want to get a very individual personal training plan, it truly is the missing link in becoming fit and pain-free.

My Approach

A corrective system of screens, releases and exercises are performed over time to bring the body back to natural normalised pain-free movement by reducing nerve tethering, muscle spasm and joint dysfunction, and thereby correcting the dysfunction. This can be used in conjunction with sports massage therapy to help speed up the process.

Biochechanics & Sports Performance

The performance of a sport is affected by many different factors. Your biomechanical function has a profound effect on your movement patterns, which in turn affects your performance. Without going through a biomechanical screening and performing the corrective exercises, you are more than likely performing with muscle, nerve and bone dysfunction; all the while becoming stronger in your dysfunction while increasing the chances of injury.

 

By going through the screening process and corrective exercises, you allow your muscular skeletal and nervous system to become aligned and free to work, which increases core function, speed, power and balance.

 

Strength and conditioning has had something of a renaissance in the fitness industry in recent years. Clearly biomechanics plays a critical part in this type of training, too. Irrespective of the type of training you do, you need to be biomechanically prepared, otherwise that training can cause injury or at least compromise your performance.

Biomechanics & Injury Prevention
 

There are many causes of injury, ranging from poor technique, poor core strength, poor preparation, insufficient range of movement in the relevant structures and many others. Your correct biomechanical function is also a critical factor, but is generally less understood.

 

A biomechanical screen will highlight the flaws in your pelvic, shoulder and knee function, as well as check whether you have any low grade muscle spasm in the key muscles, which may be restricting both movement and the correct functioning of a joint. In addition, a biomechanical screen will check your nervous system and highlight any problems that may cause your body to compensate and breakdown.

 

For example, a rotated pelvis is something that many of us have, but are not aware of. One of the results of this is what’s known as a functional leg length discrepancy. As the pelvis rotates forward, the ilium (pelvic bone) on that side can drop lower compared to the other side and make that leg appear longer. This can result in a variety of different injuries depending on how you compensate; it can cause lower back pain, knee pain, shin pain, hamstring injuries, even foot pain. Some people have been known to have upper back and shoulder problems from this, too.

 

By screening issues like pelvic rotation, the risk of many of these injuries can be significantly reduced. The solution is to perform tests to see whether the pelvis is working biomechanically correctly. Once established, there are a variety of corrective exercises that can performed to re-align the pelvis and encourage it to function correctly again.

Rehabilitation & Injury Management

The kinetic chain and how structures relate to each other in biomechanical terms can have a profound effect on outcomes. Understanding that the shoulder can be a biomechanical cause of pelvic and lower back injuries, and vice versa, is a major step forward in the management of injuries and back pain.

 

So if you have an injury that is failing to respond to treatment, chances are there is a biomechanical load somewhere else in the body that is loading that susceptible area. Finding the biomechanical cause can be critical in getting back to work and sport and importantly minimising the risk of recurrence.