A very interesting article was in the NY Times last week. Core training needs to be 3-dimensional. Just training the abdominals is not enough. Especially with our culture being in so much flexion due to computers, cars, tv and the lack of exercise, people are really weak in their backs.
I just taught a Balanced Body University’s Pilates course this weekend. All the students were active professionals. Most were having trouble with extension in getting to the deep extensors of the back. When the deep extensors do not initiated the movement, the back shortens and for some, cause discomfort.
Another problem with abdominal training, is finding qualities of tone. To get to the deeper transverse abdominals, breath is essential. Once found, it has tremendous lightness. In teaching all clients from beginners to teachers, many are firing and compressing the rectus too strongly for the required action. For instance, the rectus abdominus assists in flexion of the spine in crunches and rollups. Many are unneccessarily firing the rectus with a simple pelvic tilts of the lower spine.
“Abdominals come in many flavors” Doris Pasteleur Hall
Training of the spine in different positions is essential for dynamic stabilization. How you organize your spine lying down is very different from sitting, standing, plank pose. Getting aware of where your spine is in space is important.
This simple exercise can be difficult. Many are firing the rectus which will lower the head down. Some have trouble keeping a head-tail connection. You will see the spine rotate and/or unleveled.
What the NY Times article is not addressing is how the training of the limbs in coordination with the core is important. Awareness of how the body moves is lacking in most training. We have constant pressure by clients of having a stronger workout. Many of these clients lack internal awareness of their bodies and training of deeper stabilizing muscles. Many of the deep stabilizing muscles will never have the feel as a bicep firing to lift a weight.
Learning good form is essential for proper conditioning and balance.
We are going to talk about the important of bridging and how to do it correctly.
How we use our legs is very important for posture, moving and helpful in backcare. Bridging is very helpful as the building blocks for better understanding of how the legs need to be strengthen.
When someone comes in with back pain, I look at their bridging.
Many are weak in the legs.
They compensate with their backs to initiate the movements of the bridge.
Our lack of understanding of the correct use of our legs creates different kinds of POSTURE.
First of all, the legs are not under-standing the relationship to the pelvis. When there is a poor tailbone-heel connection, the legs and feet work unevenly to support our upper bodies. For many, one tucks to bring the pelvis over the feet and pulled the front ribs down to solve the problem of a poor head-tail-heel connection.
So we are going to look at types of bridging and how to use them in your warmup.My teacher, Irmgard Bartenieff, created a great concept about the neutral bridge. The Bartenieff Fundamental, the pelvic shift forward, is a bridge with the spine neutral. The legs lift the pelvis up. The pelvic shift forward relates how we use the legs to move and support the pelvis.
Pelvic shift forward is a concept of how the legs and the pelvis influence the weight shift. The best example of this is our gait, walking. The pelvic shift forward is our getting from sitting on a chair to standing. The pelvis and the legs influence our moving forward in space. Our hips have to go through hip flexion and extension to propel us through space.
Poor posture and gait diminishes proper shifting our weight forward for simple actions. This poor action forces our upper bodies to shift us forward to walk.
The pelvic shift forward is a different bridge than the articulating bridge with the pelvis begins in posterior tilt. The articulating bridge is about the sequencing of the spine. For some clients with certain back injuries or spinal osteoporosis, articulating bridge is not recommended. The articulating bridge for a healthy spine is a great exercise of opening the back.
To extend the hip through the legs, one uses the hamstrings and depending on the force needed, the gluteals. We only think of the gluteals as of squeezing the buttocks. This is primarily the gluteal maximus and the fibers closer to the gluteal cleft.
Tucking occurs when both sides of the gluteal maximus are fired at the same time. In gait, we are firing one side of the gluteals at a time depending on the gait cycle. Recent research has proven the gluteals are being used to assist us in standing and moving on our legs. There are other sections of the gluteals we want to put our attention to. These muscles are the attachments to the femur on the side of our hips. The gluteal medius, gluteal minimus and the lateral fibers of the gluteal maximus help us to stabilize on one leg. The gluteals help us extend our hips especially in larger forces needed as in walking up stairs, changing levels such as a deep lunge to standing and standing on one leg. The tone needed to extend the hip is very different than in tucking.
Isn’t this video amazing? Standing work brings into all your connections, core, arms and legs.
Watch how Joe does front rowing. You can see the anterior serratus kick in when he reaches the arms forward. Doing full body work like this and the plank are amazing full body exercises.
Pilates is wellness. Wellness is a deep connection of the body and mind.
True fitness is wellness.
Pilates will teach you how to center your mind and your body. It creates balance of dormant muscles to overused muscles. It creates an ease of motion of joints at the same time Pilates strengthens you.
Pilates will teach you about your whole body and its fascinating connections. As you enhance your learning of your body, your new knowledge will enhance your posture, your fitness, your movement loves and your energy.
If your body does not feel well, how can your mind and spirit?
Learn:
Breath: to relieve stress, open areas of tension
and teach you about getting to the deeper muscles for support, the transverse abdominals.
Breath connects you to your deepest abdominal muscles.
The transverse abdominal is like your very own corset.
Centering: coordination of the body radiating from your core in all movements.
The core muscles are your back and abdominal muscles
that stabilized your spine.
Inspire your core muscles to create better posture and tone
Learn how to dynamically train them for improved posture
and coordinate them with your entire body.
This is the best injury prevention skill to have.
Balanced Muscles:create efficient movement, tone and joint mechanics.
By creating better balance in your muscles,
relieve tension that causes discomfort.
Precision and Control: good form invites good function and better fitness.
Learn how improved function and control with a few repetitions
are more valuable
than many repetitions done poorly.
Here’s my client question: 43 year old former dancer (ballet) and gymnast Runner in her late 20’s until recently when she has been sidetracked by hip bursitis. She spoke with her Doctor and Physical Therapist before starting with me. They said that she can do any type of movement provided it doesn’t cause her pain.They would prefer we don’t do extreme hip rotation.
In my visual assessment, I caught right away that she is bow-legged with hyper-extended knees and her parallel stance is not strong as she prefers turn out. Today, was our first session and we spent a lot of time on the Tower with Roll Down, Push Thru Seated Front and Circle Saw as I wanted to see core strength, rotation ability/mobility and articulation. When I got to Footwork (Bend & Stretch) I found a pattern that surprised me. I expected her to pattern her movement like I used to since I began with bow legs and hyper extended knees. But, instead of her knees splaying out, they come in and almost knock when she corrects her feet to parallel. So, we moved to Reformer Footwork and it was the same, when she pushes the carriage away, if I apply gentle pressure to her heels to “swing” them parallel, her knees “knock” inward. I put the Franklin ball between her knees to keep them apart (when, in my case, I use the ball to keep my knees more together). We then moved to bridging where I discovered the lack of hamstring strength. I focused on the hamstring connection for a while, did some pulling straps/swan and finished with mermaid. Can you offer me any suggestions? Am I on the right path? I do feel that we need to get her hamstrings stronger but will this help with the knock knee/footwork issue? Should I use something bigger than a ball, like maybe a yoga block between her knees?
Or between her ankles? H-E-L-P!! As always, thanks for you insight! Cheri
by Lesley Powell
How a client organizes in a static position can be different when moving. Watch how she organizes her body to stand on one leg. As she stands on one leg, look at the bone rhythms of the legs.
Does the foot remain stable, supinated or pronated?
Does the shins rotate inward or outward?
Does the femur rotate inward or outward?
What happens to the pelvis and spine?
She might have been doing some compensation patterns in standing to appear not knocked knee. Your working with her on creating balance in the legs is great. Be careful about pushing parallel if she can not maintain it on her own. She has been working on this pattern for awhile.
Sometimes with knocked knees, putting a block/ball between the femurs can be a poor cue. They should not be squeezing the block hard. It might be better to use a theraband tied around their thighs. The tightness of the theraband should be enough to get them to parallel not beyond.
Strengthening the abductors/rotators is important. Since her PT’s do not want her to do extreme range, keep the movements small.
Rotators – lie on the side with knees bent. Only lift knee a inch off the other leg. Or with theraband tied around thighs tightly lying on the back. Move one knee again in tiny range of motion.
Abductors – range of motion on side should not be higher than her hip
Standing – Can she stand on one leg without letting the knee knocking in?
Working on balance of all the leg muscles is important. Since she is not allowed to do range of motion, I would also teach some release techniques for lateral rotators, abductors and adductors, and feet as well.
My “lowers” issue is morphing into a psoas issue.
I DEFINITELY feel stronger in my lowers, my pelvic floor especially.
But I have a “numb” zone where I should be firing my psoas.
Right between the top of my pubic bone – in the “bikini” zone of
my lowers, I just can’t feel it. Occasionally, I have a moment of
“got it”then it’s gone. BUT, I can then pick it up from my
belly button to my ribcage.
I do wonder if it has something to do with the trauma of pregnancy and childbirth (another colleauge who has 2 children feels the same as I do in this area). No matter “why”, now I want to find it and feel it. I’m thinking a lot of pelvic clock, especially on the arc, to try to focus on it. What would you suggest as a prescription?” Student
Since the iliopsoas is such a deep muscle within the body, feeling can be quite different from feeling the quality of tone as in the abdominals. We also get confused with a tight muscle as feeling with a truly functioning muscles.
Stand up, bend your knees and flex your spine. Place your hands on your belly and try to soften the abdominals muscles. As you soften your belly, sink your hands deeper into your solar plexus. Try to pick one leg up and you should feel the psoas bulge out.
Study an anatomy book and look at where the iliopsoas connects to the upper spine and then connects to the lesser trochaner. Since the muscles are so deep within the body, visualization is key to good function. As Irmagard Bartenieff describes “the iliopsoas is the key to pure hip movement. “ With correct initiation, the thighbone differentiates from the pelvis. The iliopsoas, psoas for short, is one of the deepest muscles of the torso. It connects the trunk to the leg. It is responsible for the flexion of the hip. The psoas major connects to the lumbar spine. It diagonally crosses down in front of the pubic bone and attaches to the lesser trochanter of the femur. The iliacus attaches to the inside of the iliac crest (the hip bone). It also connects into the lesser trochanter.
Tightness of the psoas can lead to dysfunction and change the alignment of the body. Lie on your back with one leg straight and the other foot bent. Observe how your psoas feels on both sides. Is one side tighter? Where…upper, middle or lower? I will do a variation of constructive rest like this. Sometimes I do 5-10 minutes on each leg. As my psoas relaxes, I feel a totally different space inside of my torso.
Place your hands on the front of the pelvis. Now try to slide one leg down to straight on the floor and then return back to bent knee with the foot resting on the floor. This is a Bartenieff fundamental, a pre-thigh lift. Here you do activate the psoas but it should not change the torso’s length and stability.
Laban’s theory of mobility/stability is an important concept in engaging correctly the psoas. If the pelvis changes with unleveling or out of neutral spine, the body will go somewhere else to move the leg instead of the psoas.
Thigh Lift
The flexion of the thigh, the femur bone in the hip socket should feel like a folding of a hinge. This femoral fold should be soft if one is connecting to the illiopsoas. If there is a contraction around this fold, one could be overusing other muscles such as rectus femoris, some certain fibers of the adductors and even the back muscles. When the back becomes involved, this gives the appearance of the hips hiking, unleveling and/or rotating. The awareness of the movements of the pelvis and the thighbone are very important to establish for correct sequencing.
Definitely pregnancy, illness and stress can affect the psoas. When my digestive problems act up, I feel my psoas tighten.
Great reading is Eric Franklin. Eric will also be at Movements Afoot April 5 to teach a workshop on the psoas.
I also would like to thank my teachers about my understanding of the psoas, Amy Matthews, BodyMind Centering and CMA, Irene Dowd and Nicola Weiner’s Psoas Workshop.
Posture is more than looks. It is the foundation for health. Your bones house important organs for life. With poor posture, the organs get compressed and cannot fully function at full capacity. Think of a front end crash of a car. The engine does not run as well. Improving your posture is a long term health plan. Good posture enhances how you walk, how you present yourself to the world and your internal health.
Walk around slumped. How does it change how you walk and how you feel?
Taking a stand
I have included many standing exercises. I have been doing alot of exercises on a block. It challenges balance and how you use your standing leg. The exercises on the floor are the building blocks for strengthen for standing.
Oprah in the past month has been leading interesting shows and articles on health. This February issue has some excellent articles about menopause. If you missed her shows, you can go to Oprah’s website. Great information about weight, finances, women’s health and more. Do check it out!
There has been some interesting comments to my post Uneven Shoulders. When a problem arises on a body level, a teacher should look below or above the issue.
The other issues is about what is scoliosis.
This is the definition of scoliosis in Wikipedia.
Cause
In the case of the most common form of scoliosis, adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, there is no clear causal agent [6]. Various causes have been implicated, but none has consensus among scientists as the cause of scoliosis. Scoliosis is more often diagnosed in females and is often seen in patients with cerebral palsy or spina bifida,[citation needed] although this form of scoliosis is different from that seen in children without these conditions. In some cases, scoliosis exists at birth due to a congenital vertebral anomaly. Occasionally, development of scoliosis during adolescence is due to an underlying anomaly such as a tethered spinal cord, but most often the cause is unknown or idiopathic.[citation needed] Some therapists like the referenced Hanna Somatic therapist believe that trauma to an adult can cause, not just asymmetry but an actual curve to the spine visible on x-ray, although no documentation is offered in her article. [7] Scoliosis often presents itself, or worsens, during the adolescence growth spurt.[8]
In April 2007, researchers at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children identified the first gene associated with idiopathic scoliosis, CHD7. The medical breakthrough was the result of a 10-year study and is outlined in the May 2007 issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.[9]
Even when a client comes in for a session, many do not record on their intake forms if they have scoliosis. The other issue with clients with a scoliosis diagnosis is how was it determined. Many did not have any medical imaging tests like MRI’s or Xrays.
When I begin an assessment of their posture, I look at how they organized their bodies in standing, lateral and forward pelvic shifts and standing on one leg. A client with a “C” or “S” curve of the spine, I then assess where they are tight and weak. With building a lesson plan of releases, strengthening and movement awareness, I look how their bodies respond.
If their bodies make immediate positive changes (this is also determined on their fitness and awareness levels), I will lean to looking at a muscular imbalances as a diagnosis. If the spine does not make changes, I will put on my back burner that there might be underlying causes for their spinal issues.
When I teach movement to everyone, I allow the client to find movement within their comfort zone. I will make them aware for instance if one side is lateral flexing to one side better than the other. By making them aware of their habits, they will make more positive change.
When I do my Hanna class with Laura Gates at Movements Afoot, the beginning of the class is making us aware of our posture and how we walk. I can see my pelvis is rotated and one shoulder is higher. Through the gentle movements of Hanna Somatics, I feel my spine unraveled. It is better than an adjustment. At the end of the class, I can see my posture has improved as well as my walking.
“I have noticed that there are many people walking around with scaplua that are not even (i.e. the left is noticeably lower than the right). There have been a few cases in my group mat classes where I brought the client to our resident Physical Therapist who said that there were no spinal or rotator cuff issues that it was a bad habit/posture that caused it. He also said that it is very common. I have brought Telescope Arms, Angel Arms and Sternum Drops into class. What would you suggest?” Cheri Wild
by Lesley Powell
The Physical therapist is right. When you see a problem, you need to look below or above to see how the body is organized. You have to look at the entire body.
When a student comes in, I observe how they walk, stand, sit and lie down. Poor patterns of alignment will keep showing up in an exercise.
Scoliosis could be a major factor why a shoulder might be higher. As a teacher, make your clients aware of feeling balanced in an exercise. Scoliosis for many is a muscular imbalance. Some cases of scoliosis could be hereditary due to spinal or leg differences.
What to look for:
Standing
standing evenly on both legs
one hip high or rotated
Sitting
even weight on sitz bones
alignment of ribs over pelvis
side bending – more flexibility on one side
Supine
pelvis – is it level/rotated?
ribs – how align with pelvis?
neutral bridge- are they even on both legs? Legs parallel?
Prone
more tone on one side of the back
side bending in prone
Especially in a group mat class, I would keep the students aware of being balanced in an exercise. Are they rolling down evenly on both sides? Do they favor a side? Also finding out which sides are tighter and weaker can help to retrain the problems
View Lesley Powell's profile
In my visual assessment, I caught right away that she is bow-legged with hyper-extended knees and her parallel stance is not strong as she prefers turn out. Today, was our first session and we spent a lot of time on the Tower with Roll Down, Push Thru Seated Front and Circle Saw as I wanted to see core strength, rotation ability/mobility and articulation. When I got to Footwork (Bend & Stretch) I found a pattern that surprised me. I expected her to pattern her movement like I used to since I began with bow legs and hyper extended knees. But, instead of her knees splaying out, they come in and almost knock when she corrects her feet to parallel. So, we moved to Reformer Footwork and it was the same, when she pushes the carriage away, if I apply gentle pressure to her heels to “swing” them parallel, her knees “knock” inward. I put the Franklin ball between her knees to keep them apart (when, in my case, I use the ball to keep my knees more together). We then moved to bridging where I discovered the lack of hamstring strength. I focused on the hamstring connection for a while, did some pulling straps/swan and finished with mermaid. Can you offer me any suggestions? Am I on the right path? I do feel that we need to get her hamstrings stronger but will this help with the knock knee/footwork issue? Should I use something bigger than a ball, like maybe a yoga block between her knees?
xes, I feel a totally different space inside of my torso.
by Lesley Powell
