Biomechanics 101

Our musculoskeletal and sports medicine specialists are trained to use the medical model of care. They “react” to injuries. This requires little “biomechanical” knowledge. They know anatomy, injury diagnosis, pharmaceuticals, surgery, and localized therapy. What they don’t know is static structural biomechanics. The human being is an architectural structure, with or without injury and should be looked at from that perspective to prevent injuries. Our specialists of today are not trained to physically examine an uninjured athlete and identify predictable underlying future injuries.

The current definition of the word “biomechanics” is the study of a human being in motion. This sounds romantic and wonderful, but the irony is, no human being is symmetrical, therefore, motion will be nothing more than a moving bag of biomechanical imbalances. It would be virtually impossible to accurately determine what the underlying imbalances are with this analysis.

For optimal understanding of a human’s architecture, a static examination must occur first to determine the structural asymmetries before motion can become part of the analysis. Collapse of the arches of the feet, alignment of the knees, leg length, femoral head height and centers of gravity are but a few of the measurements that should be done. Body weight distribution, left vs. right, is another.

Research has shown that 99.5% of all people have moderate to severe pronation of the feet. 68% have asymmetrical collapse of the arches of the feet. When examined while standing barefoot, 64% of people have >3mm difference in femoral head height (hip height). 42% are >5mm. With these imbalances, the science of biomechanics would improve if it was the study of the static human structure, and the current definition of biomechanics, which includes motion, would be better served to be called “motion biomechanics”.

Finally, this gait, or motion analysis should only be considered once the static biomechanics are examined and improved to the highest level. This can be accomplished by undergoing a Structural Fingerprint® Exam, the leading biomechanical exam available today.

Click here to learn how to perform the Structural Fingerprint® Exam.