Saturday, January 06, 2007

Running Form Analysis 5

Some more good advice from Bob Roncker...

Good Posture = Good Physical Balance


One goes with the other.

A healthy neck supports your head, keeping it aligned with the rest of the spine in a proper, balanced posture. The neck has a slight natural curve, which sits on top of the two curves in the middle and lower back. Correct posture maintains all three curves and prevents undue stress and strain by distributing body weight evenly. Actually, when your back is balanced, it is self-supporting and requires little help from your back muscles.

What Does Good Posture Look Like? Good posture is being Tall. The body is straight, but not robotic! The appearance is relaxed as the ears, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles align in one straight line. If you hung an imaginary plumb line from the earlobe, the line would hang straight through the middle of the anklebone.

Some of you stood next to the wall as the laser light showed how aligned you were. Do you recall any differences as you made adjustments?

Another thing to try is to stand next to a wall with your heels touching the wall. Have your butt and upper back (shoulder level) in contact with the wall. Does that feel comfortable? Where is your head?

Good posture means there is musculoskeletal balance. This balance helps to protect the joints in the spine from excessive stress. It also guards against injury and possible deformity.


Position of Pelvis is Key

If there is forward rotation of the pelvis, you may experience the following:

Extension of the spine into a sway-back position

Increased internal rotation of the thighs

Secondary lowering of the longitudinal arch

Relative lessening of the ability to flex the hips in relation to the ground (remember the exercise of lifting your knees when tall and then when bent forward? – see below)

Bob

No comments: