Muscle Slings in Sport

“… learn to see a living person with anatomically trained eyes …” (Braus)

In this book the author describes sequences of movements in sport, and illustrates how the muscles, which are united in concerted actions, combined with their connective tissue sheaths (fascia), work together in functional groups known as “muscle slings”. This term has been introduced and widely applied in the theory and practice of sport and sports medicine.

The author paints a vivid picture of the phases of the various movements in sport, and points out the muscles which are involved in muscle slings – just as if he were an enthusiastic reporter watching a game or an athletic performance.

The text is superbly complemented by the unique three-part illustrations created in the 1950s by the Leipzig artist, Kurt Opitz. Their quality and accuracy have never been bettered – and probably never will be – because they are the result of an intensive cooperation over a lengthy period, between the artist and the anatomist.

Kurt Tittel represents an anatomical approach which is not confined to detailed accounts of lifeless structures in the dissecting room, but which is both descriptive and functional and gives the reader thrilling depictions of the sequences of movements of the living body in various sports disciplines. He has been an anatomist and sports physician for more than four decades, and had medical responsibility for professional athletes at a national and international level, and was thus in continuous contact with the practical aspects of sport.

The reader will gain an insight into the functional-anatomical approach to the motor system in everyday life and will acquire the knowledge needed to develop training concepts for both sport and rehabilitation.