Movements Afoot’s Blog
A BodyMind Think Tank – Taking fitness to the next levelArchive for Rehabilitation fitness
Leg Alignment
Hi Lesley!!
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.
Overuse of the Back
by Lesley Powell
Many overuse their backs due to weakness/stability in other areas of the torso. Another issue is overuse of the superior muscles of the back and weakness of the deeper muscles, the multifidus. Learning correct stabilization is key.
Laban’s concept of mobility/stability is about differentiation. To mobilize a body part, one has to stabilize somewhere else. If the attended mobilized body part is rigid, the body will hypermobilize above or below.
In the last post, we talked about the psoas. This post addresses when the thighbone is not moving well in the hip socket and other compensations in the body. Sometimes the back and sacrum compensates when there is a lack of mobility in the hip socket.
When the thighbone moves inside of the hip socket, it needs to roll, glide and slide. If the thighbone is not moving well, the hips will unleveled or tucked to lift the leg up. There is some posterior tilting of the pelvis, but it is in degrees.
In standing, the back can compensate with a weak standing leg. Many clients (dancers as well) have weak gluteal medias on the standing leg. They compensate to make the hips level using the quadratus and/or shortening the psoas.
As in a prior post about the abductors:
I took a wonderful workshop at the Laban Conference in Novemeber in NYC with Diane Woodruff, CMA, PHD on hip abduction. Diane had us observe different initiations of side leg lifts. Many people were lifting from the back, the quadratus, the tensor facia latae, etc.. She had us do some very simple things to wake up the hip abductors and make sure the initiation stays correct.Alignment is key. Do you have a good head-tail-conncection? Diane had us tap the side of our hips, the gluteal medius & minimus. Then we lifted our leg up cueing to where we had tapped. After each lift, we had to rest.
The rest helped me to get a new length of my abductors and assure the initiation was happening in the correct muscular use. It was amazing how by working correctly how standing changed. So many people are lifting their legs without being conscious of their form. Form is key. Doing a 100 legs lifts wrong can do more to train your back to shorten than toning your legs.
I think of side kicks (abductors lifts) as a sideways differentiation of the thighbone moving in the hip socket and stability of the pelvis. When people cannot feel how to move the thighbone freely in the hip socket, the muscles around the pelvis have to work harder. Harder does not mean functionally well. If the qradratus is working instead of the gluteal medias, this takes away from training the tone of the leg muscles.
In footwork on the reformer, a lot of clients are pushing from their backs and muscles around the femoral fold. I have clients start doing small pushes out half way without unleveling and/or tucking the pelvis. As they learn to feel more stability, they have to work their legs better. Than I increase the range of motion of footwork without the pelvis changing. If the pelvis changes as the legs extends, the workload ususally travels away from the leg muscles and Core.
The Business of Being a Pilates Teacher
by Lesley Powell
This past weekend I taught Level 3 Apparatus for Balanced Body University. We had an amazing cross section of teachers, new and teachers bridging over to BBU. We had wonderful conversations about being a Pilates teacher and its demands. It was so great to share how the bridging group of teachers how they got started, their successes and failures, burnout and dealing with difficult clients and marketing oneself.
Great ideas/stories presented:
A lot of beginning burnout starts with taking clients at all different times, morning and evening. I know. I did the same in the beginning of my career.
Determine when you want to teach.
Are you a morning person or night person? Once you mapped out when you want to train, this will give you structure to your life.
Dealing with difficult Clients
Most of all, creating professional standards of behavior is very important. If you are scheduled for an hour, teach an hour. More does not mean more. I see many teachers overteaching beyond their time frame. If they want more, let them schedule other privates or attend your classes/workshops.
If you overteach, the client may expect that all the time. This will be a problem as you get more booked. Some clients may need to be somewhere.
For clients wanting to overstep the boundaries of client to friendship, be very professional and create boundaries. If the client wants to take too much of your time, cut them off and say that you need to take care of professional duties of answering emails/phones to schedule clients. Email is great to schedule clients if the client is using you as a therapist.
Marketing oneself
When you first start your career, you will be teaching many different clients. Evenually you will become to know your forte. My forte was with injured clients. I did work in Upper eastside and fancy clubs. I did not particularly enjoy that kind of work for myself. Particular niches are working with doctors, pre & post-natal, mothers, sports/dance conditioning. Sending out flyers to particular groups can be helpful.
Many teachers developed clients through teaching group classes. One teacher with a gym had his teachers teach free classes in community centers. At Movements Afoot, we started some free community classes which are bringing new people into the studio. Most times, students of classes rarely become privates. Their recommendations to others looking for private Pilates sessions is extremely helpful.
Forum for you
I would love to hear from other teachers about their ideas/frustrations. It was so wonderful this weekend to have a place to share about ourselves and get support for staying fresh in our teaching and ideas to stay successful.
Training Clients with Foot Problems
by Lesley Powell
Agony of DE-feet
“Have any of you worked with anyone who has had a proximal big toe joint fused due to arthritis? Any experience? opinions? I would imagine it would be an issue for gait – she limps a bit now.
My friend’s surgeon is recommending this since acupuncture and physical therapy haven’t worked. He said there could be a bit of a limp… She’s not a client of mine – i’ve worked with her a few times and she experiences temporary relief but doesn’t do any management herself so she’s looking for a permanent fix…” Pilates Teacher
When a client has arthritis/bunion at the big toe, the joint no longer flexes. It is painful to flex at this joint. So they will have to change their gait to adapt to this. Most probably they will have to turn out at the foot. This allows the foot to come easier through when walking.
With one of my client with a bunion, her walk was more of a shuffle. Because of the inability to push through the foot, this is one way the client develops less hamstring and gluteal strength. The hamstrings and gluteals are also necessary for standing on one leg. She never got well on her legs which is called “midstance” in gait.
Since the client is not doing a proper pelvic shift over the standing leg, they will shuffle or limp. I worked a lot on teaching the client to do a better thigh lift 
to transfer the leg from back to front. This will mean still training the legs especially psoas, quadripceps, hamstrings and gluteals. Training the feet is still essential for grounding forces and alignment of the standing leg.
Psoas: thigh lifts, single leg stretch, double leg stretch, reverse kneeling abdominals on reformer, leg springs/straps to train psoas (lie opposite direction than usual training)
Quadriceps: footwork on reformer and wunda chair, sitting on physioball- bouncing, single leg lifts, squats
Hamstrings & gluteals: leg springs/straps. Bridging especially in neutral, Pilates shoulder bridge with one leg lift, standing using wunda chair, Pilates Upright
Other great exercises: single leg kick, double leg kick, quadriped with opposite leg and arm, quadriped with flexing knee in with flexed back and extending leg and back, swan
Feet: small releves to their comfort zone, footwork with toes curled over foot bar, theraband to strengthen plantar flexion (pointing foot at metatarsal joint and full foot plantar flexion, ankle circles
Pilates Mat & Scoliosis
by Lesley Powell
“I would like to know how to handle a Mat Pilates participant with mild scoliosis in a group class setting. I have a teenager who has asked to take my Mat Pilates class. I asked her to be patient with me while I researched what I can do to assist her. Should I not have her do certain exercises? I am nervous. I can’t find any information on Mat Pilates and Scoliosis.” Thanks! Cheri
There are wonderful ways to bring better balance to all your clients as well as the clients with scoliosis. Since we all have preferences of left and right, body habits and imbalances, getting better balance of mobility and strength will take the Pilates workout to a different level.
A wonderful example is my experience with Diane Woodruff at a Laban Conference in Brazil. She had all of us perform a crunch and observe the range of motion. Then she took through a simple mobility of the spine in sitting. It is very much like Mermaid in the Pilates repertory.
Start Sitting
- Lift the right arm up.
- Laterally flex the spine to the left.
- Rotate the spine to the left & bow to the knee with the hands on each side of the knee.
- Roll your spine center flexed.
- Roll back up to neutral spine
- Repeat to the other side.
With that warm-up, she had us perform the crunch again. We all were able to flex our spines more. When teaching mobility, have the clients become aware of which side was tighter. Have them perform more on the tight side.
Awareness is key in making change.
- When the class does pelvic rocks (clocks), which side of the pelvis is touching the floor.
- Leg circles- Does one side have more trouble stabilizing?
- Bridging- Does one hip go higher/rotate?
- Roll down- Is the spine evenly rolling down on the floor?
- Quadriped with opposite arm and leg lifted- Is one side harder to find balance?
- Sitting- Where are the ribs in relationship to the pelvis?
- Standing- Are the hips level?
With scoliosis, you want to open the tight muscles and strengthen the weaker ones. With all clients, tight muscles can prevent them from connecting to the deep core muscles. Mobilizing the spine, stretching the ITB’s & the psoas are essential for everyone’s wellness.
A great resource is Muscles/Testing and Function with Posture and Pain. They have an entire section on posture. I highly recommend this book for every serious teacher.
In the Fall, Joy Puleo will be teaching a workshop on Scoliosis and Pilates.
Tuck vs the Pelvic Shift Forward
by Lesley Powell
One of the hardest things to teach and explain is the difference between tucking and Pelvic Shift Forward.
under-STAND-ing
Pelvic shift forward
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.
Observation
Stand with the pelvis behind the heels.
Notice how the foot reacts to this weight shift.
What muscles of the legs are working?
How is the upper torso reacting to this position?
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.
Now purposely tuck;
How does this change the work of the feet now, the legs and the torso?
Walk with this posture!
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.
The pelvic shift forward is a different bridge than the bridge with the pelvis begins in posterior tilt. The posterior bridge is about the sequencing of the spine. The posterior bridge does not work the legs in the same way as the pelvic shift forward.
The use of space is different for these bridges. The pelvic shift forward shifts the knees and pelvis towards the feet. The posterior bridge moves away from the feet.
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.
SI Dysfunction
by Lesley Powell
“I have a training question for you. I have a client that has come to me with SI Joint problem. She is seeing a doctor who wants her to get an injection to diagnose it and at this point doesn’t know of any underlying cause for it.
I want to know what movements and exercises will be best for her. Should I work to strengthen the muscles around the SI joint? Also she is a fitness instructor who is pretty flexible & mobile in her joints. Is there anything I can do to bring some sort of stability to her ligaments/joints etc?” BBU Student
I have SI Dysfunction. I primarily got it from my dancing. Especially dancers and gymnasts are prone to this because of movements of extreme range such as splits, arabesques and attitudes can stretch the ligaments of the sacrum.
Lumbopelvic stability is essential and relieving for this condition. I have to work on this all the time. Pre-Pilates, BBU movement principles and/or Bartenieff Fundamentals(tm) are great to address this.
- Pelvic clock. Observe in 6-12 how both sides of the pelvis/sacrum is sequencing evenly on the floor. Sometimes the pelvis is rotated. The pelvic clock can educate your preferences of movement of the pelvis. Put attention to the sides not grounding as well.
- Pelvic floor, transverse abdominal & multifidus training
Thigh lift/toe taps/marching Look how they lift their legs. Many people are not gliding the thigh bone in the hip socket well. This will give the appearance of hip hiking or tightening around the femoral fold. 
Foam roll training is great for this.
It also addresses the stability of the legs. Other ideas on foam rolls- Bridging- getting the legs to do the work. Observe if the hips rise at the same time.
neutral bridging-pelvic shift forward
pelvic shift lateral-typewriter, figure 8’s, bridging with thigh lift - Sometimes mobility exercises such as full short spine are not great for my sacrum.
- Observe how they do foot work and standing. Is their weight on the outside of the foot. Training of the medial lines of the legs are also helpful.
Ohhh the scapula comin around the ribcage.
by Lesley Powell
Freeing the shoulderAn article about the shoulder-
Upper and downward rotation of the scapula can be a confusing anatomical term.
The term is about the placement of shoulder blade on the ribs in movement. Upper rotation is the healthy movement of the scapula following the lift of the arm in the front sagittal plane. The tip of the scapula will follow the direction of the hand moving up in space. The inferior border of the scapula (the lower tip of the shoulder blade) moves forward to the armpits and then up around to the front ribs. Downward rotation of the shoulder blade follows the movement of the arm sagittal back in extension of the shoulder. The superior border of the scapula moves up over the shoulder when the arm extends backwards.
HUMERUS-SCAPULA PUSHUP
To start
- Lie prone with a foam roll or a prop (bolster, blocks, books, etc.) under your thighbones.
- Your weight is on your forearms parallel with the humerus bone right under your shoulder socket. If you have a tendency to use your Lats too much, place the elbow slightly in front of your shoulders.
The movement
- Allow the shoulder blades to come together. You will feel slumped. Keep your head in line with your spine. Remember this is about the scapula moving not the spine.
- Press down on the forearms. Feel how the lateral border of each scapula revolves around the armpit towards your front ribs. The tip of your scapula moves towards your elbow. Observe how the clavicle is rolling over your shoulder. The length between your armpit and hips remain the same.
- Repeat three more sets
Observation
- Were you able to maintain your spine in neutral as your scapulae gliding together and apart? Did the clavicle remain wide the entire time? Were the ribs under the clavicle and the armpit remain the same distance apart?
Level II Scapula – full extension of the arm
The movement
- With weight on your parallel forearms, Allow the shoulder blades to come together maintaining a good head-tail connection
- Press the forearms into the floor. Feel the tips of each of your shoulder blades reach to your elbows. The space between your scapulas is wide with your spine in neutral.
- Lift your elbows off the floor while maintaining the stability of the scapula on the ribs. Keep the reaching of the connection of the tips of the shoulder blades to the elbow. You want to feel a line of reach from the tip of your scapula to your elbow to the hand. This is the hand scapula relationship.
- (Optional – if you were able to maintain the upper rotation of the scapula with straightening your arms, try this) Lift of your right hand off the floor by reaching the tip of the scapula more in upper rotation. Both shoulder blades should remain wide on the back ribs.
- Place your right hand back to the floor. Maintain the shoulder blades adhering gently around the ribs.
- Repeat to the other side.
Observation
As you improved the scapular connection, did you feel how it changed the length of your ribs? How did your ribs changed when you fully extended the elbow?
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