Can You Increase Sports Performance As You Age?

Ask the Doc…..
“Can you really increase your sports performance as you age?”

Although we can’t stop the actual aging process, that doesn’t mean we can’t perform better in sports as we age. One of the fastest and most powerful ways to do that is usually the most often overlooked, and that’s to increase one’s balance and stability through structural analysis.

We’re all born with structural imperfections that we seem to “get away with” until we age. Fixing these abnormalities can at times, partially compensate for the aging process. Just ask javelin thrower Roald Bradstock, who at almost 50 became the oldest man ever to compete in his event in the Olympic Trials. Or ask any of the senior golfers and tennis players we’ve been privileged to work with.

The key is to find the structural abnormalities we all have and not just negate them, but optimize them. For example, everyone has one leg longer than the other. This means that a right handed golfer or tennis player will have a much harder time getting through their swing if they have a longer left leg, and a much harder time bringing their club or racket back with a longer right leg. If you’ve been playing sports like these for 40 years, your swing has always been restricted. Now with age, you can’t compensate as easily. But often by simply putting a lift in your shoe on the shorter side, you may be able to rotate easier than you could when you were 20!

Accurately correcting a flattened (pronated) foot and eliminating tight muscles (especially one’s calves) are also important. Such structural problems not only cost you in terms of performance, but can increase injuries. Not all the soreness we get as we age is due to arthritis. The reason tour players need an entourage of physical therapists and massage specialists is not because they’re swinging a golf club, but because they’re swinging in poor alignment.

If you wish to be the very best you can be, and enjoy being active without some of the aches and pains that accompanies aging, (and perhaps even increase your sports performance), you may want to consider having a structural analysis. Fixing the bent frame we all have is a much better starting point than buying a new driver or tennis racket!

A former reconstructive foot and ankle surgeon and past Clinical Instructor of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, Dr. Pack practices at MCG Medical Associates, Lake Oconee Village in Greensboro. He specializes in biomechanical structural analysis and works with patients who have arthritis and wish to decrease joint symptoms and remain active. Dr. Pack also treats athletes at all levels. In the 2004 Olympics he had a silver and gold medalist and helps the UGA Golf Team (2005 NCCA National Champions). For further information please see his web site at www.drloupack.com or contact him directly at 706-454-0040.