Posture and Flexibility: Aaron Rodgers

I was interested to read an interview by Aaron Rodgers, last year's Most Valuable Player in the National Football League. Rodgers has been known for the astonishing power and speed with which he throws a football.

Rodgers credits his off-season flexibility workouts with increasing his strength. "I did a lot of posture stuff with my workouts," he said, "making sure that I was doing more pulls for my back then pushes for my chest. Because whether you're an athlete or not, a lot of people internally rotate their shoulders which decreases your flexibility in your shoulder if you're a thrower.

"Or when you're sitting at a desk most of the days you're going to have your shoulders internally rotate. So to combat that, I'm doing more exercises to open up my chest and pull my shoulders back. It increases the flexibility on your shoulder and takes stress off of it. So those are some of the things I thought about."

Rodgers is talking about a condition called Upper Crossed Syndrome. Here's one specific example: in order to throw a football, he first has to bring his throwing arm behind his head. But if he has been affected by a tightness in his pectoral muscle (which connects the upper arm to the chest), he won't be able to bring his arm back as far as he needs to. His "windup" won't have its full potential.

It's not only professional athletes who have to be concerned about Upper Crossed Syndrome. This technological age, in which we spend hours a day in front of the television, computer, tablet, and smartphone, is causing Upper Crossed Syndrome to become ubiquitous.

After hearing Rodgers' enlightened comments on the issue, it may not come as a surprise that his father is a chiropractor in California. He has learned these basic postural principles throughout his life. "I want to be able to move around a little bit better out there," Rodgers said, "and I thought flexibility would be a good way to do that. So I focused on that a lot."

To learn more about how you can prevent Upper Crossed Syndrome from affecting your life and work, contact your Peoria chiropractor today.

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