Knowledge
Medical Insight: Polodoc
Dr.med. Andreas Krüger is a Swiss board orthopaedic and trauma surgeon in Zurich, who specialises in knee and shoulder surgery. Andi is a second generation of tournament doctors for equine sports, known as Polodoc since 2013
Lifehack – Motion is Lotion
Diagnostics
Clinical examination with focus on the posture and muscle status is a good starting point. Controlling the lumbar muscles for insufficiency or imbalance is key. Even small
From the office to the pitch
Every polo player knows that feeling when the lower back is sore and asks for some attention. Three million years ago, mankind started to stand up and walk in an upright position. Since the desktop computer moved in, many people changed this main standing position back to a sitting work posture. The majority of us nowadays do mental work but also physical labour is executed in the sitting position. Many people with a mandatory sedentary work style seek for compensation in their leisure time. With polo, these ‘normal’ sitting habits may generate some extra load to the lower back due to ‘special’ sitting habits while riding and playing in a bend forward position. In general, the lower back is the hot spot and crossing site where the forces from the upper and lower extremity meet. With little adjustments – lifehacks – you can perform better and stay out of the back trap.
Problem Inside
Desktop work, sitting in the office for long hours in a poor posture, can increase the pressure on the spine and adjunct joints. Laptop and phone use involve us hunching in a turtle-like posture with our neck and head rounding forward. This can contribute
MRI: Red Circle shoes a Lumbar spine disk disease
3D body contour analysis can detect structural alignment problems Hunching can create low back pain due to disk strain
Poor sitting posture in the office can lead to back pain
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Polo Times, November 2021
to lower back pain because the discs that cushion our spinal vertebrae are strained. Additional load and strain are also affecting the lumbar spine while riding, with peak forces while galloping as well as bending the upper trunk in combination with rotation while swinging the polo stick. A combination of flexibility and muscle strength is a crucial prerequisite for doing these biomechanically demanding moves accurately – motion is lotion.
3D evaluation and clinical examination with focus on the posture and muscle status is a good starting point
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