Improving your spine mobility is essential for maintaining a healthy and pain-free spine. With sedentary lifestyles and poor posture habits, many people experience stiffness, pain, and reduced mobility in their spine.
I have always been a big fan of Tennis. Watching the movement on the court, the pace of the game, and the entertainment that comes along with it.
When you watch a player move, it seems effortless. Of course, this comes with practice, consistency, and the passion to be at the top. But to play the game, we rely heavily on our ability to move our body in a variety of angles and speeds, at the same time ensuring we are grounded enough at the point of contacting the ball.
Moving our feet, reaching our arms, turning our heads, and keeping an eye on the ball…
The spine plays a tremendous role in connecting all of our extremities together. It is vital that it flows, twists, shifts, and stabilizes so that our entire muscular structure can load up and then explode into connecting with the ball.
So…hitting a ball is not about my hand, elbow, and shoulder only? Correct! We also need to make sure we have good spinal mobility. After all, a lot of our powerful muscles insert themselves into the spine.
Unlike professional athletes, those of us who have desk-based jobs and lack regularity of movement can really struggle to use their spine when playing tennis effectively.
Here are 3 of my top tips for seeing the impact of training your spine to move better:
- Every day use hand reaches to improve your spine mobility – Play around with it; maybe reach above your head or towards your toes, use one hand or both. Don’t forget you are a multi-directional human being, so don’t forget to reach different angles and different heights.
- Breathing – Your mid-spine is directly attached to your rib cage. Shallow, stressful breathing restricts the ability of the mid-spine to move. Take moments throughout the day to bring your attention to your breath. Take big breaths and feel the expansion in your lower rib cage and belly…not just your chest and shoulders. Guess what…it also helps to improve focus and decrease stress.
- Are you gyming? – Think about your gym routine. Is it only one directional? Does it look like you are training for a sport that requires multiple reaches, lunges, and single-leg balances?
When you see the impact good spinal mobility makes on your ability to hit the ball and the ease with which that happens, you won’t be disappointed. Stay in touch and if you need some individual advice, contact us at www.jointspace.ae or message us @JointSpaceDXB.
