A few years ago, I pulled a muscle in my upper back. Even though it healed, I still seemed to aggravate it from time to time. Earlier this year, I made one simple change in my gym routine to address the problem: I substituted chin-ups instead of pulldowns.
Since I made this change in February of this year, I have had no problems whatsoever with my upper back. My only explanation is that the chin-up is a natural movement, while the pulldown - having your legs held in place and pulling an overhead weight down - it not a natural movement.
Even though this is anecdotal evidence, it does show how the body can benefit from following natural movement patterns.
