Body Mechanics and Feet

Body mechanics is a term often used in connection with lifting and preventing back injury, but body mechanics involves far more.  The theory of body mechanics is that the body has maximum strength, agility, endurance and protection against injury if each joint is working around its optimal alignment.  Each muscle and it's antagonist muscle are balanced.  The joint is symmetrical and can move freely in a linear fashion. 

Techniques in sports are developed to enable the body to deliver maximum performance. 

The feet significantly impact body mechanics.  The feet are the foundation, and if the foundation is unstable, it would be reasonable to expect that the rest of the body is too.  Consider a golfer - essentially a tripod - 2 legs and a golf club.  If two of the three legs in the tripod are unstable, the shot will be less predictable.   Hence golfers spend time learning their most stable posture with respect to the ball and the target.  Because of instability of the feet, golfers have to apply muscle power to maintain a stable foundation.  That means firing agonist and antagonist muscles simultaneously to cause rigidity.  So on the back 9, when the muscles fatigue, the foundation becomes unstable and the game less predictable

Linear Motion preserves energy and joints.

Hyperpronation (ankles that roll in when standing, walking, and running) causes the knees to become misaligned during the gait.  Knee motion becomes non-linear.  It is easy to understand that misalignment of the moving parts in your car engine would cut the engine life short.  The same applies to your joints.   Hyperpronation causes misalignment and extra wear and tear on your joints.  The imbalances in your body changes your upper body motion too.