Fred and Kristen Adelman, Sports Injuries: It Aint What You Do, Its The Way That You Do It!

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Fred and Kristen Adelman, Sports Injuries: It Aint What You Do, Its The Way
That You Do It!

When you perform your sport or physical activity, are you moving
efficiently? Do you contribute to your own injuries? Try the experiments
below:

Experiment 1

1) Fold your arms and look to see which hand is tucked in and which hand has
the fingers showing.

2) Now reverse the pattern and fold them the opposite way. Don't worry if at
first you struggle to do this.

3) Notice the difference in sensation and your reaction to that difference.

4) Unfold and after a few moments fold them again. Look at which pattern you
have chosen.

(Note if folding the arms the opposite way does not feel different try the
same exercise by clasping the hands.)

The pattern in step 1 is your habitual 'folding the arms' programme that is
activated without conscious thought and will feel familiar and probably
comfortable. The pattern in step 2 requires some thought to achieve and will
probably feel wrong, as this is different from your usual preference. This
experiment shows how strong the force of habit can be. Not only does it
select the pattern of the movement in step 1 but it also determines what
feels right and wrong in relation to position and movement. Whilst there is
nothing wrong with the pattern in step 2 is it a move you would choose to do
automatically? Probably not, because you only perform movements in a manner
that feels right.

When you do what feels right you engage your usual habitual movement
patterns, those performed often enough to establish the habit. What you feel
when active is important for allowing modifications and adjustments to the
movement. If, as you have found in this experiment, your feelings can
differentiate only between familiar and unfamiliar you will unconsciously
perform all actions based on what feels right (habitual) and never in a way
that feels wrong or different thus limiting your potential to change and
develop. This does not cause a problem if all your movements are efficient,
however, the next experiment demonstrates there is no in-built mechanism to
prevent or measure inefficient effort.

Experiment 2

1) Sit on a chair and get ready to stand up.

2) Before you move, observe what preparations you want to make. Do you hold
your breath? Do you push forward with the lower back and raise the chest? Do
the muscles in your neck stiffen and pull back the head? Do you feel the
need to push with your hands on your legs? Spend a little time to study this
movement before attempting the next step.

3) Now try to stand up from the chair without doing what you have just noted
(it may be necessary to ask someone to observe your actions to give you
feedback). How far can you execute the move before one, or all of these
patterns appear?

To successfully execute step 3 can be difficult because the usual
preparations you make are a part of your habitual 'getting out of a chair'
programme and are ready to go before you even begin to move. You would not
attempt to start the move until the familiar conditions such as the
sensation of muscle tension associated with the act are present. From a
mechanical point of view the common actions mentioned in step 2 actually
reduce the efficiency of the movement.

If your preparation and subsequent actions for this exercise are
unnecessary, why do you do them? Why are you not aware that the amount of
effort applied was inappropriate placing unnecessary stress on joints and
ligaments? This is because you do not have a reliable mechanism that rings
an alarm bell when an appropriate limit with regard to effort is exceeded.
You continue to do it like this because it is a habit. When you end-gain
(concentrating on the end result rather than the process of how its done)and
think only of why you are getting out of chair, perhaps the telephone is
ringing, you will give little thought to how you get out of the chair.

So the point of these two experiments is to highlight what I believe to be
the most important factor influencing performance – habit. End-gaining, or
not being in the moment, leads to a subconscious dependence on habit that
prevents the possibility for real improvement because we become used to the
feel of the act and hence to do not attempt to do it any other way. The
amount of effort applied to even the simplest of movements may become
excessive, but again because it is a habit we remain oblivious to the energy
we waste.Excessive or inappropriate effort will put a strain on joints and
can effect timing of muscle contractions. Inefficiency can be a leading
factor in non-contact sports injuries.

We may assess technique or style if we believe improvements could be made
but this is usually done using our same basic underlying 'patterns' of
movement and effort based on our concept of the activity. The presence of
one or more of the actions discussed in the second experiment suggests
inefficient preparatory patterns are likely to be present in others. Whilst
they remain, attempts to improve performance will have limited results
because the same patterns will be used as a basis for all activity.

The two behavioural factors highlighted in these experiments are pertinent
to performance-enhancing exercises. The next time you perform an exercise or
a technique, ask yourself these two questions: -

Question 1: Did it feel good? If the answer is 'yes', was it because it was
my usual habitual pattern? If it felt wrong, how do I know it was wrong?
Remember the experience of the first experiment – it is your habit that
determines whether it feels right or wrong!

Question 2: Was the amount of effort applied appropriate for the task? Could
I perform the task with less effort? Again, how would I know? Think back to
the second experiment and whether you were aware of the excessive effort
used just to get out of a chair.

This leaves us in a difficult position. If we cannot trust what we feel, how
can we ensure our efforts are not wasted or worse still detrimental to
health and performance? If your movement and concept of movement is
questionable, all measures to enhance performance using these unreliable
mechanisms will have a limited or even harmful outcome. To complicate the
issue you may not even be aware that there is a problem due to the nature of
the condition as you can soon forget what it is like to have natural, free
movement if poor movement becomes habitual. More vigorous activities
performed with poor movement will further reduce awareness leading to an
ever-increasing amount of effort being applied to complete the simplest of
tasks. The viscous circle is complete – garbage in, garbage out. Before you
think about training you should ensure that the mechanisms you rely on for
movement are functioning to their optimum ability.

Unfortunately, living in today's fast moving world provides the conditions
most likely to bring about a lowering in the standard of these mechanisms.
Using FM Alexander's radical approach, The Alexander Technique, can help you
to eliminate the end-gaining habit and enhance self-awareness to allow you
to see the subtle changes required if you are to improve.