We often think of injury as something sudden—an acute twist, a pop, a break. But in truth, most injuries don’t happen that way.
In my experience, especially working with high-level athletes, I’ve come to believe this:
Most injuries aren’t caused by trauma. They’re caused by erosion.
Like water slowly wearing down stone, repeated movement dysfunction—flawed mechanics, poor patterns, chronic compensation—degrades the body over time. The injury is simply the last straw.
What Is Movement Dysfunction?
Movement dysfunction is the term we use when an athlete’s body moves inefficiently or incorrectly under load, speed, or fatigue. The body may appear functional—running, jumping, lifting—but underneath, it’s compensating.
- Hips shifting laterally during squats
- Knees collapsing inward during landings
- Feet rolling or over-supinating during sprinting
- Shoulders overcompensating for weak trunk control
- Trunk rotation compensating for lack of hip mobility
These patterns are often invisible to the untrained eye—but they accumulate, stress tissues, and eventually, break something.
Two Primary Causes in Youth
- They Never Learned Fundamental Movement Skills Correctly
Many youth athletes enter sport and training without ever learning the foundational movement skills they need—skills like bracing, rotating, balancing, or skipping. This gap sets them up for long-term dysfunction.
As we’ve discussed in earlier chapters, this issue is widespread. PE has been cut. Coaches are often undertrained. Early specialization limits variability. The result: kids grow up strong but unskilled—and that strength masks deep mechanical flaws.
- They Train Through Mild Injuries and Build Compensations
The second root cause of dysfunction is subtle, but even more dangerous: compensation.
It happens like this—a child tweaks an ankle or shoulder. They never stop moving. They adjust their pattern to protect the pain. But the new pattern is inefficient, and over time, it rewires how they move.
Eventually, a new problem surfaces somewhere else entirely. And unless someone is looking for the original compensation, the dysfunction never gets resolved.
A Personal Story: A Pro Bowl DB and the Hidden Culprit
One of the clearest examples of this in my career came while working with a Pro Bowl defensive back from the Seattle Seahawks. He came to us with persistent hamstring issues—nagging pulls that just wouldn’t go away.
At first glance, it seemed simple: tight hamstrings. But the usual treatments—massage, stretching, strengthening—didn’t work. That’s when we started asking a deeper question: Why?
What we found was critical.
The season prior, he had suffered a significant case of turf toe—a painful injury that had caused him to over-supinate, rolling onto the outside edge of his foot to avoid pressure on the toe. This altered his entire lower chain.
The foot misalignment changed his stride mechanics. It placed new loads on his hamstring. And it disrupted the natural timing of his sprinting pattern.
The hamstring wasn’t the problem. It was the symptom.
Once we retrained his ground contact mechanics and re-integrated proper movement sequencing, the hamstring issues resolved. No invasive procedures. Just a return to correct function.
The Aruka Approach: Identify Before It Breaks
This kind of erosion can be prevented—but only if we’re paying attention before symptoms appear. At Aruka, we’ve built systems designed specifically to catch these dysfunctions early:
The Injury Risk Analysis (IRA) Assessment
Our IRA assessment evaluates posture, movement mechanics, and joint function across key movement patterns. It’s not just a screening—it’s a diagnostic tool to help identify where and why dysfunction is occurring before injury shows up.
We look at:
- Movement Skill Accuracy
- Ground contact and foot alignment
- Core stability and bracing
- Joint sequencing under movement
- Functional imbalances between limbs
Motion Therapy Programs
Once dysfunction is identified, our Motion Therapy system prescribes corrective exercises and re-education drills to restore proper mechanics. This is where true healing happens—not by treating the pain, but by retraining the pattern.
Motion Therapy includes:
- Mobilization strategies
- Motor control drills
- Re-patterning techniques
- Therapeutic Interventions when needed.
These tools aren’t just for recovery—they are a pillar of performance longevity.
What Parents Can Do
- Watch your child move. Don’t just look at effort—look at posture, symmetry, and control.
- Address “minor” pain early. If something keeps showing up, it’s a signal—not an inconvenience.
- Ask for a movement evaluation. Don’t assume performance equals function.
- Prioritize mechanics over mileage. The goal is not just to work harder, but to work better.
- Seek professionals who understand dysfunction. Not every coach or therapist has been trained to spot it.
Fix the Root, Not the Result
True injury prevention isn’t about stopping every fall or accident—it’s about building a body that moves well enough to absorb, adapt, and recover.
That only happens when we see movement dysfunction for what it is:
The erosion that leads to breakdown.
The whisper before the scream.
The signal we must learn to listen for.
Citations – Chapter 14: The Erosion Effect – Movement Dysfunction
- Cook, G. (2010). Movement: Functional Movement Systems—Screening, Assessment, Corrective Strategies. On Target Publications.
- Myer, G. D., et al. (2011). “The role of biomechanics in ACL injury prevention and performance enhancement.” Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, 40(2), 55–66.
- Sahrmann, S. A. (2002). Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes. Mosby.
- Kibler, W. B., & McMullen, J. (2003). “Scapular dyskinesis and its relation to shoulder pain.” Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 11(2), 142–151.
- Wilk, K. E., & Reinold, M. M. (2016). “Nonoperative rehabilitation for sports injuries.” Clinics in Sports Medicine, 35(2), 209–225.
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