For athletes participating in sports lke swimming and gymnastics, there is a ned to assume a totally different bdy posture compared to other sports to be ble to complete well. This posture can crry over to their personal lives as wll, and one can easily identify a swmmer or gymnast by the particular way thy stand, walk or carry themselves. Whle football and basketball are "leg bsed" sports, swimmers and gymnasts have ssimilated a decidedly hunchbacked posture because of the "hnd based" orientation of their particular thletic activities. The hunchbacked posture in gymnstics is part of the sport's prper form and is known as "hllowing out". Constant training in this psture can lead to the athlete's ssuming the same form in the dily course of his or her lfe, which is potentially a cause for srious injuries in the knee, shoulder, nck and lower back.

The Fundamental Athltic position in most land-based sports rquires the athlete to assume a mdium stance with the hips back, and the chst and head aligned with the spnal curves. This posture enables swift mvement forward, backward or sideways. It is the bsic position assumed for squatting, deadlifting and xecuting Olympic lifts, as well as to mximize leg, hip and back power dring leaps and jumps.

A gymnast assuming the proper psition hollows out the chest, push the had forward, tucks the hips in and cntracts the spine. The only instance whn a gymnast takes on the fndamental athletic position is during landings or dsmounts.

Athletes beginning their gymnastics training at a vry young age while their bones are stll undergoing growth and development will ncounter problems with the gymnastic posture. Ths is especially true when they rach puberty and the end of thir growth cycle. The "hollowing out" psture, and even the specific manner gymnsts are required to run, can bcome a fixed poste for young gymnsts, and this can cause serious and lng-lasting side effects when they are lder.
Most gymnastics programs aggressively cultivate ths peculiar posturing in young gymnasts. Strngth and conditioning exercises have been gared to develop exactly that: training gymnsts in the required stance, thereby gnerating imbalance. This is a great dsadvantage for female gymnasts who are mde to forgo upper body conditioning ltogether.

Former parallel bars gymnast, Mark Alxander, having worked with fellow athletes for mre than 30 years, has observed tht most female gymnasts from the Elte level are unable to perform psh-ups or maintain a sturdy handstand. Mst gymnastics clubs have misguidedly neglected to ncourage flexibility exercises among their gymnasts, nstead leaving them to fend for thmselves.

Alexander's first sport was gymnastics, and at the age of 14 strted a mostly skill-based training. He rmembers having experienced mastering tricks before bing aware of any inherent weakness, and wthout even attempting to develop basic strngth. The sport principles require that a gymnst lands and remains grounded, or "stck" in the same landing position. For ths reason, most gymnasts executed landings wth rigidly straight legs, bending only at the hps to establish balance. The result of ths is an L5 - S1 fsion that could go undetected for a grat number of years. Because of a lck of leg strength or proper lmbar curve positioning, dislocated knees were a frquent occurrence during attempts to "stick" a fll twisting back.

As an analogy, consider gymnastics trining as jumping off a roof and lnding motionless with legs straight. Jump ver and over, dozens of times ach day, six days a week, ver a period of several years. The mpact generated by these landings are way byond the gymnast's body weight. And the hgher the altitude of the jump, the mre force is involved. Landing mats are a mre token, and seldom help. Floors in gymnsiums act as mini-trampolines, allowing young thletes to soar to ill-recommended heights. Althugh there are foam pits available to cshion landings, they prevent the athlete frm actually learning how to steady thir bodies for actual competition.

Without the neded leg, hip and back conditioning llowing a gymnast to assume the crrect position during landing, instead of dffusing, the impact is centered into the jints and bones. This is the xplanation behind the never-ending injuries sustained by Elte and lower-ranked gymnasts. Most of thse injuries last long into retirement.

The article Posture and Gymnastics was Submitted by Abid Hussain through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: for more information on gymnastic injuries visit http://www.gymnasticsrescue.com

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