Are You Moving Without Restriction?

The other day I decided to jump back into a book I had started before, but never completely finished because of school, "Athletic Body in Balance," by Gray Cook. It's definitely one of those books where you learn something everytime you read it no matter how many times you do. And even if you don't learn something, there is a quote or an idea that puts things back in perspective and helps get your training back on track.

This book is a must read for athletes and for those who train athletes. It's simple to understand and constantly has you nodding your head in agreement.

Now, back to the title of this post. To start, what does it mean to be moving without restriction? It means that you are able to perform basic, fundamental movements efficiently. For example, can you squat to below parallel without your heels coming off of the ground? If you can, great. If not, you have some sort of restriction, which could be coming from your ankles, hips or a lack of stability.

The better question is this: who cares if you can't get into a full squat if I am the best and strongest player on my team?

As small a problem as it is right now, it can lead to issues down the road. If you don't move correctly now, it is likely going to cause other parts of your body to overcompensate for this restriction. Once again, this may not be a problem now, but after years of overcompensation, problems are going to come up.

An example given in the book (paraphrased) describes a runner who has a tight ankle joint. The runner doesn't know it, but now the knee is overcompensating for this lack of movement in the joint below it. Now the knee is doing more work then it is supposed to and begins to hurt. The runner takes anti-inflammatory medication and ices the knee as he continues to run. The knee doesn't get any better and the runner goes to the doctor who checks out the knee and prescribes more medication. What eventually happens is a major issue, possibly needing surgery to repair a knee that never had problems within its own joint. Because of a restrictive issue elsewhere, though, overcompensation for years has caused chronic knee problems that never needed to take place.

Another reason why you want to find restrictions is because they could be causing you to move inefficiently, expending more energy than you need to in order to perform the movements of your sport. The less energy you use, the less fatigued you will be at the end of the game or match, the better you are at finishing off your opponents. Simple stuff. You want to move efficiently.

So if you are an athlete or train athletes, the message is this: screen yourself or your athletes to look for restrictions. If you are not qualified, find somebody who is at www.functionalmovement.com. Another alternative is to purchase the book yourself and go through the self-test of the movement screen.

If you have any questions or comments, be sure to leave them on facebook or below.