🔥Where Does Rotational Power Come From?
Ever wonder how golfers 🏌️‍♀️ or baseball players get their power? It’s not just one muscle doing the job, rather a sling of tissue equally mobile and strong performing the movement↔️.

One of these important slings is the ‘Back Functional Line’ which moves a long the following path:
🔻Latissimus Dorsi (opposite side)
🔻Lumbo-sacral facia
🔻Glute Max
🔻Vastus Lateralis
🔻Sub-patellar Tendon

So as a golfer it’s equally important to have control of your lead hip AND your opposite lat. Tightness in any one of these areas will affect the ability to elongate the tissue during movement, hence decreasing power (and drive distance!)

🤔Crazy right? The best athletes in sports involving rotation are not necessarily jacked, they can control and elongate their functional lines, like the crack of a whip🌀. Likewise for your average person, we need control over this line when shovelling show and opening doors

❓So how can we stretch and control this area? I’ll show you next week with a modification of a simple stretch.

💥WHAT ARE CALF STRAINS? 

The Gastrocnemius muscle (gastrocs) is the more commonly injured calf muscle. It originates from the distal end of the thigh bone, and the two heads converge to form the achilles tendon (along with the underlying soleus muscle). These muscles act to plantar flex the foot (toes downward) ⤵️.

🔴Acute strains of the gastrocnemius occurs when athletes attempt to accelerate from a stationary position with the ankle in dorsiflexion (toes pointed up), or if they are in a lunge. This is because the gastroc is in a stretched position and under a lot of load.

👟Generally  athletes complain of stabbing sensation at the belly of the muscle or at the musculotendinous junction. Exam reveals tenderness at the site of the strain and stretching reproduces the pain.

💊Starting treatment is typical of acute injuries: icing, NSAID’s and foot movement as tolerated. Once swelling is gone, the athlete can gradually weight-bear, gently stretching the muscle to the point of feeling slight tightness. Later, muscle strengthening can be added: isometric ➡️concentric➡️eccentric lowering.

DESK POSTURE 101
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Many of us will be back working at our desks all week. If you spend a ton of time sitting this week here are some obvious tips:
1️⃣Limit your time sitting in one spot and MOVE, to help give overworked muscles a break
2️⃣Design your workplace (if you're in an office), with these ideas in mind:

🔴Chairs with Lumbar supports have been shown to lower intra-discal pressures of the low back compared to those without support

🔴Chairs with arm rests also show to reduce low back disc pressure

🔴Sitting in a slightly reclined position lowers disc pressure (around 120 degrees 📐)

🔴Choose a chair wide enough that allows you to keep your knees apart. Keeping your knees together makes your more likely to slump forward

🔴Your chair and desk should be arranged so that your forearms rest on the desk with elbows at 90 degrees. This position reduces over-activity of the upper traps and neck muscles ♨️

✅As I've said before, there is no PERFECT posture. But these are Go-to positions in your day if you have to sit for long periods. But move every 30 minutes at least