Check out how BKE Integration helped this athlete with her ability to arch the lower back while in hip flexion. What worked? Not stretching or any flexibility or mobility or soft tissue techniques. It came down to training her hamstrings to “load” or contract and stabilize her pelvis while moving into forward pelvic tilt.
If you have a bio mechanical issue that appears to be lack of flexibility, it might not be your flexibility at all, but instead a “loading” issue….
Did you ever notice that when you are in an unnatural environment for too long, you start to feel lousy and that when in nature and especially when around water you feel better? The ocean and other sources of flowing and crashing water give off negatively charged electrical particles called ions. These negative ions are healthy. They restore your body’s electrical energy flow and make you feel good. They are plentiful anywhere in nature. Positive ions, on the other hand, exist around man made electronics and machines. They give you that “fried” feeling you get when you are on your computer for too long.
At Athlete Engineering, we assess each athlete by breaking down the fundamental needs of their sport and position and compare those needs to the individual’s current condition. Not only do we look at the athlete’s structure and movement, but also their biology and state of consciousness (BioKinetic Energy). From this assessment we can determine where the priorities are for optimization.
Have the athlete stand and reach with one leg out to the side, keeping the foot just off the ground. You may allow the athlete to gently tap their foot at the end reach, however, don’t allow her to distribute any weight onto the foot.
Notice the difference in this athlete’s neck before and after a BKE Integration session. In the before, you can see a flatness to the neck. In the after, it has a nice curvature to it, or lordosis. His first cervical vertebrae, the atlas, was misaligned by being protracted, or forward.
A lot of standard training takes place in the sagittal plane. However, when we move in sports, and even in regular gait, we are relying heavily on rotational movement.
Check out how we were able to improve this athlete’s foot and ankle rotation in one session! The small pics are of the push-off phase in gait, before and after.
