Point Of Impact
ORTHOTICS
By
Budd Coates
M.S.
If you’ve ever watched a sporting contest, you’ll notice that there are nearly as many functional styles as there are athletes on the court or field. From size, genetics, disabilities and injury history, each athlete develops their own “style of function”.
My two favorite comparisons are golfers Jim Furyk and Rory Mcllroy. Jim Furyk appears to be performing a martial arts motion with his golf club as he moves from his back swing into his approach. It’s a swing that he developed as a youngster and his father decided not to change it, even with a lot of public and professional criticism. What they did do was master the ability to culminate this unconventional motion into the perfect position at “point of impact”. Rory Mcllroy is a very flexible and strong athlete. When evaluated with the Konica Minolta BizHub Swing Vision, commentators and viewers are in awe of his ability to execute a perfect swing phase from start to finish and with one of the largest range of motions on the PGA Tour. His impeccable fluidity allows him to be perfect at ball strike or “point of impact.” And he is one of the best drivers of the ball on the PGA Tour. What’s crazy is that Jim Furyk is one of very few golfers to have ever broken 60 in a PGA Tour event and Rory Mcllroy is not, but he did win 15 million dollars at the 2019 FedEx Cup Finals.
What helps bring them together at the top of their game is their ball striking or “point of impact.” Both golfers have selected the shoes and golf clubs that fit their form and function. From the shoes on their feet to their clubs: the grip, the shaft (length, flexibility and weight) and the head, they have created the greatest opportunity for them to make perfect contact with the golf ball. The golf ball they choose is designed to respond to this impact.
What often gets lost in all this is what happens from their feet to their head, or up the kinetic chain, during this process.
When a golfer is setting up his or her swing (the address phase), they always take a few seconds to place the club head behind the ball while moving each foot to the most comfortable position for base support. During the swing phase, stress on the feet includes all 3 planes, with eversion, inversion, as well as plantar and dorsiflexion, all while rocking from one foot to the other. These motions of the feet cause medial and lateral rotation of the lower and upper legs, torsion at the knees & hips, and a flurry of actions in the vertebrae between the hips and head. Add to that, the torque on the shoulders, elbows, wrists and hands. As simple as it may “falsely” appear, the golf swing leaves no part of our kinetic chain unused.
We know that posture controls function and posture begins at the bottom or base. Properly supporting your base (feet) will minimise unwanted rotation of your lower leg. A foot that overpronates or pronates too quickly can result in excessive internal rotation of the lower leg at a phase in the swing that you actually want to maintain external rotation. Properly supporting the medial, transverse and lateral arches of the feet can help avoid this from occurring, resulting in proper function of the lower leg, knee and upper leg (your lower body). Proper function of your lower body results in good form and this good form leads to ideal posture of the hips. With good hip posture and function, the spine is placed in the most ideal situation for efficient form. If, on the other hand, an ideal posture is not created at the base (feet), the spine will be forced to overcome the poor function and form of the lower body. Most golfers will take between 3-5 practice swings before teeing off or hitting from the fairway (rough or hazard). That means if you shoot in the 80’s and 2 putt most greens you would take between 150-250 swings per round and that doesn’t include warming up on the practice range. That’s an extreme amount of inappropriate stress on the spine do to a faulty kinetic chain.
Plus, the golfer walks on the average of 5 miles during a round. Combined with changes in terrain, and standing time, fatigue plays a major role in maintaining good function and form. With proper posture, the amount of fatigue is limited.
Moreover, whether your patient is a golfer, baseball/ softball player or even a volleyball player, the “ready stance” requires bilateral support prior to action. With both feet requiring balance between pronation and supination, full contact between the feet and the shoe during the entirety of action is of the utmost importance. The only way to guarantee that full contact is with MASS Posture. MASS Posture (Maximum Arch Supination Stabilization) offers the foot full contact and support during any motion (all planes of motion). This full contact, in turn, allows each foot to be in total balance between a pronated and supinated posture. Again, this correct posture allows the feet to function efficiently with the ideal stress on the kinetic chain resulting in proper form throughout the completion of the task at hand.
Ideal or MASS foot posture supports chiropractic adjustments further up the kinetic chain. Poor foot posture pulls us out of alignment while good foot posture allows us to hold adjustments. Moving closer to our individual ideal form may aid us in the compensations we make for anatomical deficiencies. The patient experiences their “perfect point of impact” and athletic success.
But, we all know that there’s more to these athletes than just sport. In between rounds of the golf course and hours on the practice range, they are normal human beings. Their day often resembles that of your other patients and this may just be where you can be of the most value. Your patients leave your office in perfect harmony but what happens next? They carry items (briefcase, baby, backpack, groceries etc.) on one side of the body. They reach across the kitchen counter to open or close a window. They shovel snow or rake leaves, often without that proper “base support” that determines activity up the kinetic chain. They “undo” your work. We need to educate all patients on the value of proper posture during the entire day. Walking with the support of MASS Posture as well as proper form while moving, for example; in ways that allow them to share workloads equally on both sides of the body, will contribute to health and a pain free life.
Originally from central New York, Budd Coates M.S. graduated from Springfield College (Mass.) with a BS in Physical Education and Illinois State University with an MS in Exercise Physiology. Budd developed the Health and Fitness program for employees of Rodale Inc. (publisher of Runner's World Magazine, Men's Health, Prevention Magazine and more). As an elite marathoner Budd both advised and contributed to Runner's World for over 30 years. He has also authored Running On Air and Run Your Butt Off. Now the Director of Running and Athletic Engagement at Sole Supports, he's promoting the importance of good posture and its effects on efficient performance and injury prevention. He is also on track to become one of a very small group of people in the world to run under 3 hours in the marathon over 6 consecutive decades.
