As a child, we learn to move through our first year of life in a developmental pattern that hopefully sets us up to be successful walkers. The steps along the way teach us important skills that facilitate a natural progression of mobility and stability. As a pediatric physical therapist, parents often ask, “can my child walk without crawling?”. The answer is “yes they can”, but you really don’t want them to. Crawling provides important skills that are utilized in walking. Often children that don’t crawl have poor strength and stability, resulting in balance issues and an increase in falls that cause injury.

How does this relate to you as an athlete?

As we embark on a new fitness goal to train or if we have been training for years and sustained an injury, our tendency is to walk before we crawl as well. We typically don’t allow our body to heal properly or begin our fitness journey by not realizing that we have muscle imbalances, mobility or flexibility issues, or poor stability. These potential problems set us up for poor mechanics and postural asymmetries that will eventually lead to increased aches and pains and injury.

What Are Muscle Imbalances?

A muscle imbalance refers to a noticeable difference in the size or strength of muscle groups. These discrepancies can be between two opposing groups or between the same muscle group on opposite sides of the body. An example of the first type of muscle imbalance could be an athlete with much stronger quads relative to their hamstrings, while an example of the second type of muscle imbalance would be an athlete with a right calf muscle noticeably larger and stronger than the left one.

Yes, injuries can cause muscle imbalances, joint immobility, or poor stability, but life itself can also cause these issues with things we do daily. A parent who always holds a child on the same hip, a software programmer that spends 8-10 hours a day sitting at a desk in a flexed position, or a person that stands most of the day, typically maintaining most of their weight on one side.

As athletes, or with any individual doing strength training, we can create muscle imbalances by always doing pushing exercises like push-ups or chest press and not off setting it with pull exercises like rows and pull-ups. It is also common for asymmetries to occur in individuals that do not adequately stretch muscles or mobilize joints. If an immobility occurs in the hips or ankles, the pain and stress may be felt at the knee, which is considered a stability joint.

How Do I Know If I Have These Issues?

There are many good resources available online for exercises for strengthening, stretching, mobility, etc; however, unless you know the underlying cause of your pain or limitations, you are basically just throwing spaghetti against the wall and waiting to see what sticks. Not the best approach! While you strive to figure out what is causing your issues, you could potentially be causing more damage or imbalance, eventually creating a serious injury.
The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) was developed by a physical therapist based on the developmental patterns of children. At Sport Speed Lab, the FMS is administered by a licensed Physical Therapist with years of experience in childhood development. The Functional Movement Screen will help to identify muscle imbalances, postural asymmetries, and immobility or stability issues to assist you in developing the right plan of exercises to address any limitations affecting your daily life or interfering with your athletic goals.