The Importance Of Your Elbows In Achieving Perfect Squat Form From a Wilmington Chiropractor

The Importance Of Your Elbows In Achieving Perfect Squat Form From a Wilmington Chiropractor

How Does Strength Training Improve Back Pain in Wilmington NC?

The Importance Of Your Elbows In Achieving Perfect Squat Form

​When lifting, form is crucial. Good form means fewer injuries and better focus on each muscle group. Bad form can mean muscle strain and injury.

Most people find guidance from personal trainers and from online research when they begin strength training, so their form on basic moves will need a lot of fine tuning. But it’s ideal to have knowledgeable trainers as you advance in strength training, too.

Using Perfect Form During Squats
One freestyle lift that can develop problems is the squat. Lifters may squat too deep or not deep enough; they may keep their back at too vertical an angle; or they allow knees to cave in. One common mistake during squats is lifting elbows too high.

When the elbows rise too high during a squat, several problems can occur:

  • The barbell may move on the back
  • The back angle may adjust to compensate
  • The thoracic spine may flex
  • Elbow and upper arm pain may develop

When the barbell moves up the back, it’s annoying! But more seriously, it decreases efficiency in your squat and can result in pain in the shoulder, elbow, or wrist.

If you feel the barbell traveling up your back, check your elbows first. Lowered elbows can reduce shoulder extension and allow force to travel to the barbell, where it belongs.

Get Your Elbows in the Proper Position
For optimal positioning of the elbows during squats, follow these tips:

  • Elbows and chest should be lifted to secure the bar between the hands and the back
  • The bar should rest on top of the posterior deltoids
  • The grip should be narrow to provide less shoulder extension and less pressure on the elbow and wrist
  • A thumbless grip allows the elbows to remain lower and allows a neutral wrist
  • If using thumbs, try a wrist wrap for support
  • Raise elbows just enough to produce a tight, secure back racking
  • Elbows should not move up and down during the squat

Fixing your elbow problems early in your training can help you avoid injuries and lift smarter, not harder.

King Chiropractic Can Improve Your Performance
If you are an athlete or lifting weights, King Chiropractic can help you perform better, train harder, and recuperate quicker. We offer treatment for quick pain relief and we look for root causes to help prevent future injuries. We can help restore diminished range of motion and improve your performance as an athlete in and out of the gym.

Call King Chiropractic in Wilmington today at (910) 777-7228 to schedule an appointment, and watch those elbows!

Squats have a lot going for it.

  1. It’s a totally natural position. Much of what we do to generate power with our legs comes out of a squatting position. When done with proper form, whether with or without weights, it is a completely safe movement pattern.
  2. It’s the single most effective exercise one can do. It works over 230 muscles at one in a functional manner. That means the work done by squatting translates into what you’re doing in your daily life. That’s more than 1/3rd of you body trained every time you do it.
  3. It’s the only exercise that completely works the ‘lower posterior chain’, a fancy term that means all the muscles of the legs and butt. These are the muscles that you use to stand up, sit down, walk, climb steps, run, jump, etc.
  4. It’s a hip movement, not a knee movement. As long as you can sit down in a chair without pain, there’s a place for you to start from where you can get better over time.
  5. It will improve your cardiovascular health.
  6. By incorporating linear progression techniques and forcing the body to adapt to lifting heavier weight over time, you force your body to create hormonal growth factors that fight cellular degeneration and death.
  7. You don’t have to spend a lot of time in the gym to get strong.
  8. Squatting will change your body composition. You’ll look better and be healthier.
    If these attributes were available in a pill, potion, or gimmick, you’d already have your credit card out. But the news is even better than that. The most you’ll ever need in order to do squats is access to a squat rack. And squat racks can be found at almost all gyms that aren’t called “Planet Fitness”.

Squatting regularly will help you get gain muscle and will address alignment issues of the ankles, knees, and hips.

Now that we’ve introduced you to the concept of squats, in the next post we’ll talk about how to start doing them, even if you’ve gotten to the point to where getting up out of a chair is a challenge.

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King Chiropractic Hand & Foot
6934 Market St
Wilmington, NC 28411
(910) 777-7228