Muscle
Interactions
One of the more difficult, but important keys to
understanding the human body and it's various functions, is
understanding that all muscles interact with eachother. As we
discussed in the Muscle
Function section, all muscles serve a number of
different roles. We have to keep in mind that each muscle in the
body has an impact on those muscles around them. Many times the
impact is positive, but sometimes that interaction is negative, and you
won't know which is true, until you understand how they all work
together.
Some of the most important interactions within the body are listed
here. This is certainly not an all-inclusive list, but it does
include a number of interactions which tend to show up a great deal in
a clinical practice and prove to be either problematic or closely
related to eachother for a number of reasons. Click on the
muscular interation below to learn more and understand how their
interactions affect the body's functions.
Muscle
Group #1
|
Muscle
Group #2
|
Notes
|
Hip
Flexors (Illiopsoas)
|
Hamstrings
|
Role
of the Hip Flexor can have a very large impact on Hamstring Strains due
to pelvic positioning
|
Core
(Transverse Abdominis)
|
Hip
Flexors (Illiopsoas)
|
Core
instabiility will force the Hip Flexors to become synergistically
dominant and overworked, causing injury
|
Glutes
(Glute Max)
|
Hamstrings
|
Poor
Glute firing will cause the Hamstrings to become synergistically
dominant and overowked, causing injury
|
Glute
Medius
|
Hip
Adductors
|
The
combination of a weak Glute Med and tight Hip Adductors is a lethal
combination for knee injuries
|
Ankle
Dorsiflexors
|
Glutes
|
There
is a direct correlation between the ability to dorsiflex the ankle and
fire the glutes
|
Hamstrings
|
ACL
(Obviously not a muscle, but important none-the-less)
|
If
working properly, the Hamstrings can protect the ACL
|
Hip
Adductors
|
Core
(Transverse Abdominis)
|
There
is a direct connection between firing the Adductors, muscles of the
pelvic floor, and core
|
Peroneals
|
Posterior
Tibialis
|
If
one is working overtime to modify foot mechanics, the other will be
stressed and eventually breakdown
|
Gripping
muscles of the Hand
|
Rotator
Cuff
|
There
is a direct correlation between a person's grip strength and their
ability to fire their rotator cuff (protective mechanism)
|
Pectoralis
Major and Minor
|
Scapular
Stabilizers
|
Pec
Tightness combined with poor scapular stability has a major impact on
shoulder health
|
|
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