Thoracic Spine Mobility:
The easiest way to explain the impact the Thoracic Spine has on sporting movements is to go watch a friendly golf outing between 2 gentlemen. One friend is the taller, thinner athlete, who doesn’t appear to be all that athletic, but has a smooth, “sweet” swing that appears effortless. His friend is the guy who spends a lot of time working out and is a little bit bound up and overall tight. It is pretty much guaranteed that, while the bigger, stronger athlete can produce much more power in the weightroom, he will get beaten on the course 9 out of 10 times.
The golfing example demonstrates that the more mobile athlete is able to better activate their prime movers because they can reach a greater range of motion, thus generating greater force. Because of their greater mobility the prime movers of the core, lats, glutes, and pecs are allowed to do the job they were designed to do. They don’t rely on smaller muscles to force the body through a range of motion. Thus, the taller, thinner and less athletic looking athlete tends to naturally be more stable, more mobile, and actually more athletic.
This same example can be seen in baseball and softball hitters as they rotate their torso through the batting zone. Many of the most gifted hitters of all time in major league baseball had the fluid, “sweet” swing that everyone looks for in a hitter. The only great hitter that comes to mind which didn’t meet this description was Mark McGwire. And, of course we have a pretty good idea how he was getting around his mobility restrictions.
The take home point here is that if the Thoracic Spine is tight and restricted, the core (which serves as the prime mover for trunk rotation) is limited in it’s overall range of motion, and in many cases, it has to overcome the force of the restriction to get moving. Both situations will case a decrease in power production for the rotational athlete.
The throwing athlete is also included in this conversation. Of course, a good throwing athlete, including the sports of softball, baseball, Lacrosse, Soccer Goalie, and even less popular sports, such as water polo, should be relying heavily on the core as the primary movers to generate arm velocity. As discussed, the Thoracic Spine will have a huge impact on these athletes.
But, the throwing athlete involves the Thoracic Spine even more. If they throwing athlete does not have the necessary mobility, their shoulder will either limit arm velocity, or it will attempt to find it elsewhere in the form of increase range of motion (usually at the scapula). Remember that the scapula is meant to be a very stable bone in the body and provide a foundation for the shoulder. But, if the Thoracic Spine is restricted, the scapula will pull away from the ribcage, thus compromising the stability of the shoulder joint. This will undoubtedly show up in decreased arm velocity and shoulder joint pain. And it is directly traced back to the Thoracic Spine.
Learn more about how the Thoracic Spine affects other movements:
Learn about mobility of the T-Spine:
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