Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Ambidexterity

TF raises an interesting subject right/left handed and footedness, to put it clumsily (as I would).  I am right handed and right footed naturally.  You can tell this by which foot you lead with when you run up a flight of stairs.  However, conscious of the strain this puts on my right knee and the problems I have had over the years, particularly in ultra events,  I started several years ago to consciously try to lead with my left foot and this has paid off to some degree in evening out the repetitive strain on my right side.   This, along with off the shelf orthotics to assist alignment has resulted in an easing off of the previous problems with my right leg.

However, this doesn’t come naturally and when tired or when instinct takes over, the dominant limb prevails – evidenced by my broken right arm which instinctively is used to break a fall – as it were.

Interesting to hear from Matt – is your bad knee your right one and are you right handed?

YJ had mirror images on Saturday morning of mine after his fall with damage to the left knee and left elbow – so is he left handed?

Jessica Ennis having sustained a triple fracture of her right foot which put her out of the Beijing Olympic games was trained to change to lead with her left foot for the long jump.  This took her a year to master but paid off handsomely at the weekend.

Your thoughts?

Cautiously UTUP-ing Sat all being well

NLN

No comments: