Joint Ventures Article - One Beacon Street

What are Biomechanics?
Article by Jessica of Joint Ventures

While there are multiple sources and reasons why one might experience pain, one might not consider that there is a break down biomechanically in one’s body.  Let me explain.  Some aches and pains are due to injury - “I crashed my bike and broke my humerus,” while others are not -  “I only have pain when running.”  When there is no mechanism of injury (MOI) and the basic objective measurements add up, that tells the physical therapist to start to look at one’s biomechanics. 

For those who have been to physical therapy, you’ve become pretty familiar with the process of collecting data and information.  For those who have not, your physical therapist (PT) will take objective measurements concerning your range of motion and flexibility, strength and stability, gait and balance, and in the meantime assess your biomechanics.  Biomechanics is defined as “the mechanics of biological and especially muscular activity (as in locomotion or exercise).”  In PT, we look at how your muscles work together to accomplish a task and this is where there might be a breakdown.

Not making sense? 

An example is shoulder impingement.  The shoulder actually consists of four joints with many ligaments and over 17 muscles.  There are patterns of movement and muscle activation that the shoulder requires just to raise your hand over your head.  If there is a “misfiring,” weakness, tightness, or just plain lack of use, the entire shoulder COMPLEX will be thrown off.  With repetitive movements and poor patterns, eventually pain will come, and then you will know something is wrong! 

Another abbreviated example is knee pain.  If there is no joint pathology, i.e. arthritis, generalized knee pain without a MOI is commonly a result of poor mechanics.  Tight muscles may pull on the patella (knee cap), weak muscles may cause the knee to fall in or rotate, or the patella itself may be misaligned.  Then you walk on it, repeating the same motions over and over. Ouch!

References:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biomechanics

http://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/guide/impingement-syndrome

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00032#Cause

http://www.shoulderdoc.co.uk/article.asp?section=857

If you have more questions about biomechanics, or would like to talk about coming in for an assessment, please contact me at Jessica@JointVenturesPT.com.