Positive Health Article published

There are a variety of factors that need to be considered when you exercise to make sure it's performed properly, safely and for maximum benefit. Some of these factors are common knowledge; warm up and cool down, use correct technique, don't over train, use the right equipment, progress your training sensibly and find a good coach are some. Others are less understood, and one that we will be talking about here is Biomechanics.

What is Biomechanics?
In scientific terms, mechanics is the science of matter and forces and their effects on movement and equilibrium. Biomechanics is how this is applied to the body. It is often divided into 2 sections:
Static; which is concerned with the body in balance;
Dynamic; which is concerned with the body in motion.
The human body and how it moves in mechanical terms can be divided into two areas of study: 'extrinsic' and 'intrinsic' biomechanics.

Extrinsic Biomechanics looks at movements and the measurement of those movements, then establishes the most efficient way to perform them. It is an important science that is relevant to any sport, fitness or physical conditioning programme.

Intrinsic Biomechanics, on the other hand, is the study of how the body is able to perform those tasks or movements in relation to the individual's mechanical make-up.

Example
Take sitting at a computer using a computer mouse and keyboard as an example. Have you ever noticed that during the day (or the period of time that you are on the computer) that your shoulders slowly elevate? This 'mousing' and keyboard activity can cause tension in the trapezius muscle and can result in discomfort if you are a regular computer user. Conventional wisdom says you should periodically lower your shoulders, you should have them massaged and you should look at your desk ergonomics.These are extrinsic biomechanical interventions that can help, but unless you understand the cause of the shoulders elevating, any strategies to resolve the problem will be ineffective in the long term, even if they do help in the short term.

One common intrinsic biomechanical cause is tension in the median nerve. This is a nerve that runs from your neck, down your arm into your fingers. When you perform repetitive movements nerves become 'tensioned', in other words they get stiff, and the muscles that would take the tension off the nerve (if they were to contract), then go into spasm to minimize the tension. In this example the trapezius muscle takes the tension off the median nerve by elevating the shoulder. So if the shoulder needs to elevate to take the tension off the nerve and you are being told to press your shoulder down, this can actually increase the tension on the nerve and at best hinder progress, or at worse can cause further problems.

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