Lessons Learned in Kindergarten: Posture and Movement Education Can Help Prevent Future Injuries

My last post pointed out the inability of a large percentage high school athletes I encounter to successfully skip horizontally with coordinated rhythm and proper amplitude.

My original intent was to tie this in with early sport specialization and how “specialization” has contributed to the  lack of FMS skill acquistion…which includes skipping, jumping, hopping, landing, crawling, lunging, running, rolling, twisting, climbing, resisting, stopping and pulling movements.

In that post, as with many more before it, I presented articles from experts (Sports Doctors, etc.) that called for Multi-Sport participation and “free play” for young athletes up to the last year or two of high school in order to enhance overall athleticism and to prevent injury. Indeed, many of the experts have cited direct evidence of an epidemic of serious injuries as well as “overuse” injuries as a result of early specialization in a single sport.

BUT, JUST AVOIDING EARLY “SPECIALIZATION” AND PARTICIPATING IN MULTIPLE SPORTS AND ATHLETIC ACTIVIITES WILL NOT NECESSARILY INSURE that young athletes will fully develop these FMS and AMSC Skills and avoid injury.

Eliminating a large percentage of athletic and over-use injury in teen-age athletics requires a solid YPD Plan that is clearly understood by parents and coaches.

Going back to a post from a while ago, I mentioned that the YPD (Youth Physical Development) Plan for young athletes should START with motor skill development that is initially focused on FMS mastery with less emphasis placed on sport-specific skills (SSS). These are the CORE or foundational skills that need to be developed in order to develop well-rounded young athletes. Early development of the skills mentioned in the second paragraph above, of which SKIPPING is a key component, you will notice an absence of AMSC skills (athletic motor skill competencies) which would include 1) throwing, 2) catching, 3) grasping, 4)acceleration, 5)deceleration and 6) re-acceleration, 7) upper body/lower body pushing and pulling...both vertically AND horizontally, 8) landing  and 9) rebounding mechanics, 10) anti-rotation and 11) core bracing and 12) lower-body bilateral and uni-lateral movement patterns.

The AMSC skills should be added into motor skill development activities so that AS the youngsters begin to master the FMS skills they are already adding in the learning of AMSC skills. These AMSC skills are the vital independent movement patterns that will make up most of the the advanced training movements that are employed by elite level athletes. This should all be done in environments that are safe, fun and FULL OF VARIED stimuli. 

 In other words, WITHIN participation in a WIDE RANGE of sport activities that ALSO DEVOTE a portion of the sport teaching and activity time for both FMS and AMSC development skills. 
 This is where youth sport coaches need to understand their role as “developers” of  well-rounded athletes IN ADDITION to specific sport teachers.

As youngsters move from prepubescence to adolescence, the amount of time spent on FMS is lessened (BUT NOT ABANDONED) with more time devoted to AMSC within the sport practice time.

ADDITIONALLY, there is a THIRD COMPONENT that is vital to the YPD Plan of all young athletes that can greatly reduce the number of sport injuries and drastically reduce over-use injuries in the teen athletic population. POSTURE!

Before the physical qualities of Strength, Speed, Power, Agility and Mobility are ready to be trained ALL YOUNGSTERS should have been taught the proper mechanics of POSTURE with Postural Education at home, school AND in sport activities. Postural strength can BEST BE DEVELOPED when used in ALL environments of a child’s developmental years.

Prepubescence is the optimum time to develop motor skill patterns, body weight strength, speed and correct posture and postural strength as this is the age where the nervous and muscular system are most adaptable.

 Lack of postural integrity, or strength, IS A MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR TO INJURIES of the back, knee, hip and lower leg/foot AND NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED BEFORE UNDERTAKING ANY TYPE OF SPORTS TRAINING PROGRAM.

Over the years I have experienced many postural deficiencies that limit acquisition of proper sport mechanics and put the athletes at risk for certain injuries. A good example of a common postural problem that I most often encounter at the high school and junior college level is ANTERIOR PELVIC TILT.

This forward tilting of the pelvis, caused by lack of proper posture when sitting (and TOO much sitting) creates short, tight hip-flexor musculature (ilio-psoas group) which pulls the front of the pelvis “down” and forward. This “frontal, downward” tilt causes a stretching of the hamstring muscles that originate in the lower, rear portion of the pelvis which results in constant tightness of the hamstring muscles along with lack of proper muscle tension and mobility. In addition, the tilting also causes the top ridge of the pelvis to press upwards into the lumbar spine exerting pressure which can result in tightness of the low back and limit movement.

Here is a great example of how IMPROPER POSTURE DURING SITTING can create both “chronic” hamstring and low back pain and injury in addition to limiting movement.

Take a young athlete entering high school with this common postural problem and subject him/her to a training program that involves introducing back-squats with a barbell and you have a perfect setting for low back injury.

Correcting postural problems and developing postural strength and integrity should be done through resistance-band and/or body weight exercises, stretches, etc. AND SHOULD PRECEDE any loading with weights.

Young athletes who specialize early and do not develop all the FOUNDATIONAL MOVEMENT SKILLS and ATHLETIC MOVEMENT SKILL COMPETENCIES have a higher incidence of muscular imbalances.

An example of one that I see frequently involves squatting to jump VIA KNEE-FLEXION rather than the more efficient HIP-HINGE (hip-flexion) movement. This creates a situation where the athlete has become quad-dominant and lowers himself/herself for jumping and other movements via the flexion of the knees. These type of athletes have weaknesses that limit their strength and range of movement in both squatting and lunging movements and have a HIGH RISK OF DEVELOPING PATELLAR TENDONITIS.

Here is a pertinent quote from Mark Verstegen’s “CORE PERFORMANCE” book, “ If you lack pillar strength, specifically hip stability, the energy “leaks out” at the hip and the body must compensate. More pressure is placed down toward the knees and up toward the lower back, which over time can cause degenerative problems.”…”Parents are always telling their children to sit or stand up straight. There’s a reason for that. Without pillar strength, without what I call perfect posture, you will significantly increase the potential for injury in a chain that starts with your lower back, descends all the way to your knees and ankles, and rises up to your shoulders and elbows.”…”Everything in your body is connected and related through this pillar of strength. Your shoulders and spine are related to the core and gluteus maximus and they’re interwoven in cross patterns that need to be tuned for maximum efficiency.”

So, SIT UP STRAIGHT, SHOULDER BLADES PULLED BACK, ABDOMINALS ON STRETCH, PELVIS LEVEL AND EARS OVER SHOULDERS……that’s a start. NOW ACCESS and WATCH THE SHORT VIDEO on a school that PRACTICES POSTURE IN ALL PHASES OF THEIR DAILY INSTRUCTION!!! just click on the URL below....enjoy, embrace, employ!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d3KHbDrVV8