Dr. re: McGill again

[Guest guest]

Merrick wrote:

Hi Tom (Dr. Fahey),

Your dilemma as a discus thrower interests me as I am a competitive masters

(age 52) powerlifter and more recently a Highland Games athlete (since 2007)

where we throw much heavier stuff than a discus. I'm not a biomechanist

specifically like Dr. McGill since he likes to do a lot of EMG work to

measure his outcomes. But one tidbit you tease out of his material and

others (Dr. Jolie Bookspan in " Fix Your Own Pain Without Drugs or Surgery,

and Craig on in " Muscular Retraining for Pain-Free Living) is about

motor patterns. In particular, McGill described the case of a golfer who

was using a lot of lateral flexion for his drives, a pattern he had to have

the golfer change and then groove the new pattern (in " Ultimate Back Fitness

.. . . " ).

Casler writes:

Hi ,

Yours is a valid point and volitional and reflexive motor control is

critical to force management to the TSM (Torso Stabilization Mechanism)

Merrick wrote:

Habitual movements or postures can end up creating or exacerbating pain.

For example, I notice that my left side can get somewhat lazy and passive,

even in a deadlift or squat. When I focus mental attention on the left

side, because the right side is the " natural " and will do it anyway, I get

much better performance.

Casler writes:

This is a HUGE point and needs emphasis. From birth we develop a dominant

side and in some this dominance is tantamount to a functional imbalance.

Next time you bend over to pick up the newspaper off the driveway try and

notice which leg you do so with. Yes one will be the dominant leg and hip.

This type of unilateral daily action will create a preferential dominance.

When working with LBP it is critical to observe this imbalance/reflexive

preference and condition away from it.

Merrick wrote:

Although I'm sure your discus technique is way better than my own in weight

for distance, stone (shot), and Scots hammer, I notice the same issues in

these events. I need to get my left side to do its fair share so my right

side doesn't overwhelm it and end up hurting. Interestingly, I find that in

some exercise movements my left side is the " stupid " side while in others

the right side is.

When I was in the Air Force, we women carried our purses on the left side,

creating a seemingly perpetual lateral flexion to the right coupled with

left shoulder elevation. Computer use with right-hand mousing, driving your

car with mainly right foot use: all sorts of daily activities that create

one-sidedness that can result in the problems you described. Your injury

might have been what McGill calls a " culminating event " in an imbalance

process that was long in the making.

Casler writes:

I have literally thousands of examples of the same type, and if each one of

us examine our own daily habits closely (and I mean closely) we will find

the same thing. While some might think it the beginning of OCD, it is

important to recognize that in some of our heavy training we do the same.

I found that when I squatted one foot was slightly in front of the other.

It " FELT " comfortable and balanced because I had done so for so many years,

but it was not providing a balanced and equal loading to both sides of my

body. Be aware of yourself and you will find many such examples. All one

need do is look at the dominant forearm of a world class Tennis player to

see that this can have a unilateral conditioning effect.

Merrick wrote:

In addition, remember there are a BUNCH of muscles and joints that play a

part. Spinal stabilization exercises alone may not help if your hips and

shoulders have restrictions or activation problems, or if you then go back

to moving in unhealthy ways (patterns) in the rest of your life (Bookspan

idea).

That " BUNCH " of muscles and joints is what I call a Kinetic Chain, and

observing the creation, transmission and absorption of force to, through and

within that Kinetic Chain is critical.

I have posted many times and Mel and I even used to argue about Open and

Closed Chains. If one examines the " snapshots " of force management within

these chains (and ALL their links) we can learn what must occur for the most

effective and balanced forces. After all, most injuries are directly

related to a body part,(chain link) being placed under a momentary load that

exceeds the condition or tissue strength, or asked to perform in an

unbalanced chain that produces such stress.

Merrick wrote:

Interestingly, your reduction of pain during the walking holiday, in

creating more bilateral movement vs solely unilateral, gives a clue to the

one-sided habitual posture nature that may be contributing to your problem.

on's book speaks to the idea that while injuries heal, muscular

reactions that resulted from an injury or near injury don't go away because

the injury has healed or never happened. The pain you experienced altered

your motor patterns and just because the pain has gone doesn't mean those

patterns return to their pre-pain state.

Casler writes:

Another good point. Motor patterns conditioned and acquired over a lifetime

will revert. It is important to be able to re-examine the critical Kinetic

Chain force management and be able to alter them. Any discus thrower (or

any athlete) knows that to be the most effective the motor patterns and

biomechanical postures and positions during each portion of the throw or

athletic action must be optimal for the best performance. This also means

managing those imbalanced portions and transitions. The more effectively

those are targeted, the better.

Merrick wrote:

My suggestions would be 1) check out Bookspan's and on's books, 2)

turn your attentional focus on your left side to see if there is some

disengagement there, and

Casler writes:

In an action like Discus or Shot, the " balance " is that one side is pulling

and the other is pushing to create the rotation, so there will not be the

same kind of balance as in a squat or deadlift where you have equilateral

participation in a balance between sides. In this Kinetic Chain we still

have a balance of forces, but they are created in " functional antagonism " to

each other (Push/Pull) However the point is still valid and the focus is on

balancing the pulling forces of one side with the pushing forces of the

other. If one observes the feet, legs, hips, torso, chest and arms of a

thrower from the prestretch wind to the block and release, it is a lesson in

complex biomechanical balancing of the kinetic chain each and every second

to produce maximum rotational force (torque).

Merrick wrote:

3)see what you can do to regroove your motor patterns toward your previous

performances and as you do so, try to notice if there is some small

sub-pattern or imbalance that might be contributing to potential injury.

Casler writes:

Again excellent advise, and probably the most difficult to follow. That is,

it requires a dismantling of the Biomechanics of the throw and a reassembly

to reduce those mismanaged stress areas. The difficult part is that when

distances begin to reappear we tend to " revert " .

In the end all high performance athletic events and actions will benefit

from balanced force management to and through the Kinetic Chain.

Casler

BIO-FORCE Conditioning Technologies.

Century City, CA

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