When an athlete comes in to begin training I always take them through a Structural Balance Assessment for the upper and lower body, despite their training goal or reason for coming in to the facility. A Structural Balance Assessment is completed to reduce the athletes chance of injury. Missing games and practice is the least of my worries when it comes to athletes, high school to professional. The Structural Balance Assessment ensures that your knees, back, hips, ankles & shoulders work correctly. Preventing injuries with balanced joints, muscles, stabilizers & fixators has a huge pay off in the future.
The Structural Balance refers to a dissection of the body identifying strengths and weaknesses of the specific joints, muscles and there range of motion. For example, the front and back of the thigh, as well as the inside and outside of the thigh are evaluated because they all play a crucial role in supporting the movements of the knee and hip. The large muscles of the body need the fixators and stabilizers that support them to work properly to allow for proper function during activity.
I have identified some the key areas of the body below that we evaluate during the Structural Balance Assessment: