CrossFit, the sport that’s taking hold of the athletic population, especially those that are now out of college and looking for ways to continue to pursue competition in another sport. Though crossfit is gaining popularity, it also has been known to hold a reputation for being particularly intense on the body. Starting any new sport, it’s normal to be sore, especially in one that has a strength component but an aerobic aspect as well. But when do you know that the soreness might be an indicator of an underlying issue? When there’s no clear indication of an injury we need to assess just how we’re moving overall especially in instances when you’re fatigued. In this article we’ll discuss common biomechanical faults we see with our CrossFit athletes, how movement patterns tend to impact some of the major lifts in the sport, and how physical therapy at The Charlotte Athlete can help you resolve said issues and keep you competitive, long term.
The Major Lifts in CrossFit & Common Faults
CrossFit is defined as, “a high intensity fitness program incorporating elements from several sports and types of exercise.” With that said, there are 9 foundational movements that will help develop the skills to tackle anything programmed in a given gym. The more from the list that is adopted and honed in on skill, the greater level of fitness will then be forged.
To say we all do each movement perfectly wouldn’t be realistic, especially under fatigue. But when we repeatedly trade movement fundamentals for the sake of putting up big weights, the risk of injury goes up substantially. Our bodies naturally will remember the positions we put them under, if you’re repeatedly faulting your movements for the sake of finishing a workout or lifting a weight, this can lead to nasty habits that become increasingly difficult to break. Let’s dive in.
The Squats:
Squats are one of the most important movements needed in and outside of the gym, at its core it’s a very natural movement. Consider how you get up from a chair, bed, the floor, they all require squat mechanics. Building on this movement with increased load helps ensure that it sticks with you long term, which at the end of the day is always the goal. Squats require midline stability, posterior chain engagement but also mobility to reach full range of motion, which is defined in CrossFit as going below parallel. These include:
- Squats
- Front Squats
- Overhead Squats
Common Faults:
With squats, a big aspect that we note is the difficulty to reach below parallel. Compensations for this may include: early butt wink, increased forward trunk lean trunk flexion, excessive toe out, wide stance, and a heel rise. Each of these compensations are a way in which our bodies will adjust in order to achieve the intended movement pattern. But each of the compensations listed are likely from individual reasons. With increased trunk flexion as you get into a deeper squat and presence of a butt wink, the individual is placing an increased load on the lumbar spine. Whereas a lack of full depth and heel rise may be due to a lack of mobility at the hips or ankles, oftentimes both.
The Presses
Seemingly an upper extremity focused movement, this is actually a test of core strength entirely. Being able to lift a load overhead requires a few different aspects from the athlete, including adequate shoulder mobility (shoulder elevation and external rotation), thoracic spine extension, and midline stability. How does this transfer over to your day-day? Think about anytime you need to reach the top cabinet or lift something overhead, these both require the same movement patterns that are called into action with a press. Listed below are the core 3:
- Shoulder Press
- Push Press
- Push Jerk
Common Faults: With pressing movements, the following are the most common faults we encounter: excessive lumbar lordosis (arching), excessive cervical flexion (head to far forward of the bar while overhead), and inability to achieve the midline position when the bar is overhead compared to the plumb line of the body (inability to get fully overhead). Compensation in these ways sets the athlete up for not only cervical and lumbar hypermobilities and pain, but also creates a variety of shoulder issues/ pain because the shoulder joint will be the one suffering the consequences.
The Deadlifts
Outside of squats, deadlifts are critical in everyday life. What is the safest and most powerful way to pick things up from the ground? The deadlift movement. Unrivaled in its simplicity and effectiveness, this movement is unique in its ability to increase healthy head-toe strength.
- Deadlift
- Sumo Deadlift High Pull
- Medicine Ball Clean
Common Faults:
As previously mentioned, the deadlift is both simple in movement and extremely beneficial in functional fitness altogether. Building tolerance to high resistance builds the body’s ability to be able to continue to lift and maintain head-toe strength. The CrossFit Journal Articles actually has given the deadlift a new name, the “healthlift” as the association advocates for the implementation of the movement more and more throughout their affiliates. Although this movement is extremely beneficial, it does tend to get a bad rep with increasing back pain. Why? Because the foundation of the movement itself is oftentimes overlooked due to its simplicity. Common faults seen in performance of the deadlift include: increased rounding or hyperextension of the lumbar spine, lack of posterior chain engagement, decreased hip mobility leading to inability to hinge, poor gaze angle, insufficient pre-life tension, excessive knee bend, and excessive pulling from the arms. All of the listed impairments will, again, increase the pressure and demand on the lumbar spine, and may feed into any problems already present. This can lead to a pretty nasty flareup which in turn may increase the hesitancy of an athlete in returning to the exercise.
As said previously, the 9 movements listed above are critical in honing in on skills required to build off of as you continue down the road that is CrossFit. We’re going to dive into not only the common complaints that we see in each of the foundational movements, but also address what you’re doing outside of the gym can impact your ability to perform.
Besides form, how what you do outside of the gym can impact your performance inside.
To dial into the root cause of the aforementioned injuries, not only is form critical, the everyday tasks can also contribute to an athlete’s tendency to fall into a given movement pattern. With the rise of the reliance on technology, desk jobs are becoming incredibly popular, but unfortunately, our anatomy doesn’t agree with this, we were made to move. When these two come to clash that’s when we notice impairments in an athlete’s form setting themselves up for injury in the future. But how? The lack of movement in the day translates to decreased mobility for the more athletic lifts that the sport requires. Sitting for prolonged periods of time, especially at a desk, tends to create a cascade of negative adaptations: increased hip flexor tension, decreased posterior hip capsule mobility, decreased ankle mobility, and increased extension in the lumbar spine. Going up towards the upper half of the body, typically people are either doing one of two things (sometimes both), either: leaning way far forward towards their computer or leaning all the way back and letting their arms do all the reaching towards the keyboard/desk materials. The poor positioning overall feeds into the lack of being able to reach full extension in the overhead lifts, making all the pressing movements increasingly difficult and can lead to injury if not addressed.
Are you thinking “I fit the picture but I don’t have pain, is there anything I can do?” Read below.
Bottomline? 100%. If you’re noticing restrictions without having pain right now, that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t be a candidate for physical therapy. It’s actually where we meet a lot of our patients here at The Charlotte Athlete! Being proactive is always going to lead to better outcomes rather than reactive treatment. But, what would physical therapy look like in this instance? It all starts with a discussion. We want to know where you are in your sport, how you’ve come to realize there are some aspects you’d like to work on, and how this affects either your daily life or being in the gym (or both). We follow that up with taking a full, in depth, view of how you’re moving, putting you in positions where you find that you’re limited in. This is then followed by a thorough examination of the given region(s) that may/may not be involved. Based on the findings, you then receive a detailed regimen created just for you.
Are you fitting the picture and experiencing pain? Read below.
We’re not here to scare you, but we do want to be very realistic in what this can mean for you later down the road. Being restricted in your lifts on top of experiencing symptoms can lead to some nasty injuries down the road from nerve involvement to shoulder injuries. These can really impact not only your life in the gym but outside of it as well. As mentioned above, we have to begin with a discussion. We do this to gather as much information as possible. This includes: when did the pain start, what movements aggravate/relieve the pain, how would you describe the pain, etc. Each of these factors are crucial in determining the best plan of action. After this, we examine the relative joints/muscles/structures surrounding the affected body region. During this time, we’re thoughtfully ruling in and out what the primary cause of the given injury is, by doing this we are then able to determine the best individualized treatment. As manual therapists, being hands-on is our “thing”. We are trained to effectively and efficiently treat using our hands, and possibly dry needling. Oftentimes we utilize dry needling right out of the gate. This is likely because not only does dry needling assist in structurally changing the body, but also has an endorphin release effect, therefore improving pain. Especially in CrossFit, you’re likely to avoid working on mobility. It’s not as fun as hitting a PR, but it’s just as crucial. As previously mentioned, our bodies adjust to the circumstances and situations they’re put under, that being said, mobility will conform and adjust accordingly. The lack of mobility therefore may restrict the ability of a muscle group to function in its highest capacity, limiting both power output but functionality as well.
The next step is correcting the movement patterns. If you’re like a lot of the athletes that we see and primarily work from home or at a desk, take a look at the following exercises, these are great tools to get you started:
Starting from the top—the thoracic spine. Increasing range of motion here will not only improve your ability to get to an adequate position to perform the pushing movements but to also maintain this position in performing more of the higher level movements such as an overhead squat. Perform the following exercises to help loosen this area up:
Looking down the chain we get to the hips and ankles, two aspects that if not addressed can be primary factors in your ability to perform any type of squatting or deadlifting movement, and who will then take the blunt force if not controlled? Oftentimes that would be the lumbar spine. Try the following drills below to address both the hips and the ankles:
From Scaling to Elite
Whether you’re starting out or a veteran in the sport. CrossFit will find its way to challenge you either mentally or physically, usually both. Some of the key take aways from this blog will be the following:
- Recognize that what you do outside of the gym matters just as much, if not more than what you do in it.
- Pushing yourself isn’t bad! In fact we encourage you to get after it, but when it comes to affecting your life and lifts, that’s a whole different matter.
If you’re unsure on where you stand and want a second opinion, reach out! We’re here to help.
—Dr. Marissa