Biomechanical Movement Fundamentals

What are biomechanical movement fundamentals? In my opinion, they are optimal ways to move the body to maximize performance and minimize risk of injury. This does not only apply to sports performance, but to everyday life.

Here is an example from a biomechanical point of view. An athlete dead lifting 300lbs in the gym will have better performance and reduced risk of injury by maintaining a neutral spine, maintaining full contact of the floor with their feet and taking a deep breath on the decent to have the diaphragm assist in spinal stability.

The same fundamentals still apply for a person picking up a bottle of water off the floor. You will have improved efficiency in the movement by following the same 3 steps as the weight lifter. You may be thinking, why concentrate the same amount as picking a water bottle up off the floor compared to deadlifting? The answer is that repetitive movement performed improperly can also cause injuries.

Being mindful of biomechanical movement fundamentals for everyday life can be very helpful with making sure you don’t injure yourself. This can also have a reverse affect where being very analytical around everyday movement can help improve your movement when weightlifting by working on muscle memory (engrams).

Hopefully this article helped someone improve their movement fundamental throughout the day and in the gym.

Dr. Keon Kirlew