The Importance of Functional Anatomy

In a recent newsletter I talked about how important it is to understand functional anatomy and human movement.

I gave the example of a D1 hockey player I worked with over the summer that “tweaked his hamstring”.

After he answered a barrage of my questions and I analyzed his movement a bit, I was able to determine that it was the short head (SH) of his biceps femoris (one of the 4 “hamstring” muscles).

Who cares?

This is actually really important because the SH is the only hamstring muscle that isn’t a hip extensor.  This means I could still have him load a hip extension pattern (think stiff-legged deadlift) without further aggravating his “tweak”.

The outcome?

Continued progress despite a minor injury.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have my athletes continue to develop despite having a minor injury than have them sit out completely or just push through it and delay healing.

-Kevin Neeld

Please enter your first name and email below to sign up for my FREE Athletic Development and Hockey Training Newsletter!

Use CODE: "Neeld15" to save 15%