When working with our clients one of the first things we check is their breathing pattern. This is because the way a person breathes can have a big impact on their health, including the health and function of the musculo-skeletal system. Much of the impact of breathing on our health has to do with the role of our diaphragm.
The Diaphragm during Respiration
There are many ways to breathe but the most effective, efficient and relaxing way to breathe involves using our diaphragm. The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle that spans the lower border of our rib cage. On inhalation, as the diaphragm contracts, it flattens and moves downward. This downward motion creates a vacum in the chest, helping to pull air into the lungs. When the diaphragm relaxes it moves upward, back into its dome shape, and this upward motion helps us to exhale.
Intra-abdominal Pressure and the Stabilizing Role of the Diaphragm
The downward motion of the diaphragm also creates pressure in the abdomen. This pressure is called “intra-abdominal pressure” and is important for facilitating a stabilizing response in the muscles of our abdomen, low back and pelvis. This highlights the dual role of the diaphragm. Under optimal circumstances it acts as a facilitator of both respiration and muscle-skeletal stabilization.
Often people are taught diaphragmatic breathing by lying down and breathing into the belly, inflating it toward the ceiling. Although this may be a good way to get started, it is an approach which focuses only on the respiratory role of the diaphragm and fails to address its crucial role in stabilizing the trunk and pelvis.
Experiencing Diaphragmatic Breathing and Intra-abdominal Pressure
For the diaphragm to perform optimally in both of it’s roles it is essential that its downward motion be symetrical and that the pressure it creates in the abdomen be distributed evenly. To experience this even distribution of intra-abdominal pressure for yourself, place your hands around the abdomen just below the lower ribs, making contact with the front, sides and back of your body. Your diaphragm sits just above where your hands are touching. Now inhale and feel how the pressure created in your abdomen is pushing gently into your hands.
True diaphragmatic breathing creates intra-abdominal pressure that expands outward into the full circumference of the abdomen. When you breathe in with your hands wrapped around your abdomen, check and see if you feel the pressure moving in all directions. If you feel most or all of the pressure pushing into your belly, then on subsequent breaths try to gently, but consciously, redistribute the pressure into every place your hands are touching, especially into the sides of your waist and into the back.
Another technique for improving diaphragmatic breathing and intra-abdominal pressure involves tying a theraband or a stretchy cloth around your lower ribs and feeling your inhale touch the whole circumference of the lower ribcage. Here you can feel the intercostal muscles between your ribs move. The intercostals assist the diaphragm in playing both its roles and are an important source of load and mobilization of the rib cage, helping to keep these bones healthy and mobile.
Intra-abdominal Pressure and the Pelvic Floor
As I mentioned earlier, when we are truly breathing diaphragmatically the downward motion of the diaphragm will be symetrical and create an even distribution of pressure in the abdominal cavity. But it doesn’t stop there! In fact one important benefit of diaphragmatic breathing is its affect on the pelvic floor. This is because true diaphragmatic breathing and optimal intra-abdominal pressure will move directly downward toward the pelvic floor, loading the pelvic floor muscles and soliciting a response from those muscles that maintains their strength and responsiveness.
To sense the intra-abdominal pressure in your pelvis, place your hands on the front of your belly below your umbilicus (belly button) and above your pubic bone and take a breath. You should feel a gentle pressure increase here. You may also begin to sense a gentle pressure in the floor of your pelvis.
Other Benefits of Diaphragmatic Breathing
Another reason the direction our diaphragm moves is so important is that it helps pull air into the lowest lobes of your lungs. Since the lungs are narrow at the top and wider at the bottom, blood flow into the lower lobes is greater than into the upper lobes and therefore breathing diaphragmatically will allow for more oxygen transfer into the blood. With a big chest breath we are actually taking in less oxygen than if we simply take a small but healthy diaphragmatic breath!
Diaphragmatic breathing also has benefits to our nervous system. The para-sympathic nervous system (rest and digest) is activated by relaxed, diaphragmatic breathing while the sympathetic (fight or flight) is activated by chest breathing. Again, for healthy breathing that big chest breath is not always what we want. It is actually preparing our body to ramp up, promoting a stress response rather than alleviating it.
Diaphragmatic breathing can also help alleviate back pain and reduce back tension. When breathing diaphragmatically, the intra-abdominal pressure solicits a response in the abdominal and lower trunk muscles that gently unloads the spinal joints and strengthens the abodminal muscles. These muscles get a gentle massage and workout just by breathing correctly!
Breathing through Your Nose is Essential
Finally, to get the most out of diaphragmatic breathing it is essential to breathe in and out of your nose. Mouth breathing is shallow and will promote lifting the chest up in lieu of the diaphragm moving down. Since ALL of the benefits of diaphragmatic breathing hinge on the symetrical downward movement of the diaphragm and the even distribution of intra-abdominal pressure then breathing through the nose is key in reaping these benefits.
For guided instruction on the basics of diaphragmatic breathing, check out this video.
The Best Breathing for Reducing Pain and Stress
in Cardiovascular Health, DNS, Health Article, Personal Alignment TrainingWhen working with our clients one of the first things we check is their breathing pattern. This is because the way a person breathes can have a big impact on their health, including the health and function of the musculo-skeletal system. Much of the impact of breathing on our health has to do with the role of our diaphragm.
The Diaphragm during Respiration
There are many ways to breathe but the most effective, efficient and relaxing way to breathe involves using our diaphragm. The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle that spans the lower border of our rib cage. On inhalation, as the diaphragm contracts, it flattens and moves downward. This downward motion creates a vacum in the chest, helping to pull air into the lungs. When the diaphragm relaxes it moves upward, back into its dome shape, and this upward motion helps us to exhale.
Intra-abdominal Pressure and the Stabilizing Role of the Diaphragm
The downward motion of the diaphragm also creates pressure in the abdomen. This pressure is called “intra-abdominal pressure” and is important for facilitating a stabilizing response in the muscles of our abdomen, low back and pelvis. This highlights the dual role of the diaphragm. Under optimal circumstances it acts as a facilitator of both respiration and muscle-skeletal stabilization.
Often people are taught diaphragmatic breathing by lying down and breathing into the belly, inflating it toward the ceiling. Although this may be a good way to get started, it is an approach which focuses only on the respiratory role of the diaphragm and fails to address its crucial role in stabilizing the trunk and pelvis.
Experiencing Diaphragmatic Breathing and Intra-abdominal Pressure
For the diaphragm to perform optimally in both of it’s roles it is essential that its downward motion be symetrical and that the pressure it creates in the abdomen be distributed evenly. To experience this even distribution of intra-abdominal pressure for yourself, place your hands around the abdomen just below the lower ribs, making contact with the front, sides and back of your body. Your diaphragm sits just above where your hands are touching. Now inhale and feel how the pressure created in your abdomen is pushing gently into your hands.
True diaphragmatic breathing creates intra-abdominal pressure that expands outward into the full circumference of the abdomen. When you breathe in with your hands wrapped around your abdomen, check and see if you feel the pressure moving in all directions. If you feel most or all of the pressure pushing into your belly, then on subsequent breaths try to gently, but consciously, redistribute the pressure into every place your hands are touching, especially into the sides of your waist and into the back.
Another technique for improving diaphragmatic breathing and intra-abdominal pressure involves tying a theraband or a stretchy cloth around your lower ribs and feeling your inhale touch the whole circumference of the lower ribcage. Here you can feel the intercostal muscles between your ribs move. The intercostals assist the diaphragm in playing both its roles and are an important source of load and mobilization of the rib cage, helping to keep these bones healthy and mobile.
Intra-abdominal Pressure and the Pelvic Floor
As I mentioned earlier, when we are truly breathing diaphragmatically the downward motion of the diaphragm will be symetrical and create an even distribution of pressure in the abdominal cavity. But it doesn’t stop there! In fact one important benefit of diaphragmatic breathing is its affect on the pelvic floor. This is because true diaphragmatic breathing and optimal intra-abdominal pressure will move directly downward toward the pelvic floor, loading the pelvic floor muscles and soliciting a response from those muscles that maintains their strength and responsiveness.
To sense the intra-abdominal pressure in your pelvis, place your hands on the front of your belly below your umbilicus (belly button) and above your pubic bone and take a breath. You should feel a gentle pressure increase here. You may also begin to sense a gentle pressure in the floor of your pelvis.
Other Benefits of Diaphragmatic Breathing
Another reason the direction our diaphragm moves is so important is that it helps pull air into the lowest lobes of your lungs. Since the lungs are narrow at the top and wider at the bottom, blood flow into the lower lobes is greater than into the upper lobes and therefore breathing diaphragmatically will allow for more oxygen transfer into the blood. With a big chest breath we are actually taking in less oxygen than if we simply take a small but healthy diaphragmatic breath!
Diaphragmatic breathing also has benefits to our nervous system. The para-sympathic nervous system (rest and digest) is activated by relaxed, diaphragmatic breathing while the sympathetic (fight or flight) is activated by chest breathing. Again, for healthy breathing that big chest breath is not always what we want. It is actually preparing our body to ramp up, promoting a stress response rather than alleviating it.
Diaphragmatic breathing can also help alleviate back pain and reduce back tension. When breathing diaphragmatically, the intra-abdominal pressure solicits a response in the abdominal and lower trunk muscles that gently unloads the spinal joints and strengthens the abodminal muscles. These muscles get a gentle massage and workout just by breathing correctly!
Breathing through Your Nose is Essential
Finally, to get the most out of diaphragmatic breathing it is essential to breathe in and out of your nose. Mouth breathing is shallow and will promote lifting the chest up in lieu of the diaphragm moving down. Since ALL of the benefits of diaphragmatic breathing hinge on the symetrical downward movement of the diaphragm and the even distribution of intra-abdominal pressure then breathing through the nose is key in reaping these benefits.
For guided instruction on the basics of diaphragmatic breathing, check out this video.
Aligning the Hip for Success in Trikonasana
in Movement Article, YogaAs the variety and number of classical yoga postures that I continue to teach and practice has decreased, my interest and enthusiasm for certain postures has only increased. Utthita Trikonasana or Extended Triangle Posture is a great example of this. I keep coming back to it and it keeps giving, providing countless opportunities for insight and reflection.
As any student of yoga knows there are as many ways to teach Trikonasana as there are teachers who teach it. This can present a challenge for the student practicing it. What should I focus on? What are the keys to this posture? What should I be doing (or not doing) to prevent injury?
Trikonasa can serve as a litmus test for low back pain and when certain mistakes are made doing it the asana can increase low back issues and even create them when they didn’t exist before. This is espeically a pitfall for yoga teachers and more experienced students who have the strength and stamina to sustain misaligned postures for longer periods. Therefore it is essential that the posture not bring up any existing pain in students who have it and that all students are attentive to executing the posture in a way that doesn’t excessively load the lumbar spine and sacroiliac joints.
I’ve discovered that a single, key early step in this posture will dramatically reduce the tendency to manifest the various problems that this posture can bring up, including low back issues, and it will greatly increase the chances of success in the posture. Basically, this step involves getting the lateral hip aligned vertically with the outer ankle bone.
Figure 1
Notice in the photo to the left (Figure 1) how the my left hip joint (both hips really) is pushed forward of my ankle. This results in a laxity of the muscles in the lateral hip, leaving the muscular support of this hip much to the quadriceps and the forefoot and results in excessive load on the hip and knee joints and a significant misalignment of my spine.
Figure 2
Often accompanying the hip forward is the lower ribcage which tends to shear forward of the lumbar spine (Figure 2). When the ribs shear forward this way, any turn of the rib cage and chest must come primarily from the lumbar spine and will tend to accelerate the hips even more forward, excessively loading the lower back and increasing the load on the hip even further.
Look at how my rib cage in the photo below (Figure 3) reveals the excessive arch in my low back. As I twist to the left, the arching of the back will only increase along with the load on the spine.
Figure 3
Bringing my hip back in line with my ankle bone, or at least closer to it, will go a long way toward resolving these issues.
First, it immediately reduces load on the quadriceps and the anterior hip, reducing stress on the hip and knee joints.
Second, it allows me to relax the gluteus maximus of my front leg hip, making it easier to upright the pelvis and give greater space to the lower lumbar vertebra and sacroiliac joints.
Third, with the added length in the lower back it’s now possible for me to release the rib cage back into a more optimal alignment with the pelvis, further reducing stress on the back. You can see these changes on my Trikonasana in the photo below (Figure 4).
Figure 4
With the hip back in alignment I can initiate the twisting action in the posture from the pelvis, incorporate more abduction in my front hip and reduce the demand on my spine for providing the bulk of the rotation. This alignment will also help to involve my front leg more in the twist for better distribution of loads between the two legs.
Along with optimizing the alignment of the ribcage with the pelvis I have reduced a lot of the load to my lower back and SI joints in this posture and redistributed it into my pelvic floor and legs. Now with the spine communicating directly with my legs I can generate more length through the whole spine and up into the chest and arms and really bring the pose to life!
Overall, bringing my hip back distributes more of the loads in this posture into more places. This improved load distribution serves to strengthen and increase blood and lymph flow to tissues throughout the body and contrasts starkly with a posture that simply overloads the hips, knees and lower back. That’s the difference between a posture that brings health to the body and one that only serves to wear it down.
Exercising For Health vs. Fitness
in Cardiovascular Health, Movement Article, Personal Alignment TrainingI think we can all agree that exercise is a good thing, regardless of how motivated we may or may not be to do it. The questions that remains are whether a particular activity can be called “exercise” and whether one type of exercise is better than another. Sports are a great example of this. I love basketball! I don’t play it anymore but I find it really fun to watch and can appreciate that it’s even more fun to play. Is playing basketball exercise? If so, is it good exercise? This depends on what you mean by good exercise.
What is good exercise?
If a client of mine asks me my opinion about an activity they engage in from the standpoint of it being good or bad, I always ask first what is the primary reason they are doing that activity. Recently I had been working with a client who had been running for exercise in the past but had stopped because it was impacting his health in negative ways. After a few sessions he was feeling much better and he asked me if I thought he should go back to running. I asked him “do you like running?” His answer was an unqualified “No”. I then told him that I would not recommend he start running again.
Now I know an awful lot of people LOVE to run and to anyone who loves to run I would say this – if you love it and it’s not impacting your health in ways that are interferring with other important activities or responsibilities in your life then absolutely you should run. But if you don’t love it, then I really don’t recommend it as I belive it puts too much stress on the body in a variety of ways to really be healthful. Frankly I don’t think running is “good exercise.” And I would say the same thing about a lot of what serves as exercise in the fitness realm these days.
Why are we exercising?
This brings up an important point. We don’t always exercise for health reasons. Or, we place our psychological health ahead of our physical health, if those can really be separated. By this I mean many people enjoy and hugely benefit from the satisfaction that an intense, demanding workout brings. It’s reinforcing to work hard and feel like we’ve accomplished something physically challenging. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with doing this.
But if I am running a lot and I’m having joint pain that is affecting my ability to move in other ways and this pain is getting worse and I am experiencing some level of debilitation as a result or I see debilitation looming on the horizon then I need to reasses whether running is really the form of exercise I ought to be doing and start considering other options.
What is fitness?
Exercise done for reasons OTHER than promoting health I would generally categorize as a fitness activity. Fitness activities are a type of training used to become proficient at or “fit for” that same activity or a related one. If I want to be good at basketball then I should practice things that will improve my game and make me more “fit” as a basketball player. Will those same activities make me a healthy person? In some ways maybe, but in many ways clearly not. Just look at the athetes who play basketball professionally for a long time. They are frequently hobbled. Kobe Bryant and his knees come to mind.
Movement and Exercise
On the most fundamental level human beings thrive on movement. The better we move and the greater variety of movements we’re able to execute the greater potential we have for health and longevity. Movement is not sexy, but it is essential. Elderly people who fall down and break their hip often decline very quickly, even if they were functioning pretty well beforehand. Once our movement becomes very limited then our health immediately suffers. If you’ve ever suffered a serious injury that severly curtails your activity you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Exercising for health
Exercise that is done for health reasons is also a type of fitness activity in that it makes us more “fit” for fullfilling our human needs. On the most basic level our human needs consist of eating, sleeping and procreation with most of the fitness requirements related to eating in the form of food gathering and preparation. To eat a varied diet, our hunter gatherer ancestors needed to move and move in a lot of different ways from squatting to digging to climbing to chopping to grinding.
The what and why of exercise
Now that we have outsourced so much of the movement in our diet we don’t even think about all of the work that went into bringing our farro, arugula, beet and goat cheese salad to the table. The substiute for all of the digging, fertilizing, harvesting, picking, feeding, milking, processing, packaging and shipping that went into our salad has become exercise. Therefore if we wish to replace these outsourced movements with exercise, that exercise should have a significant variety of postures and movements. A single activity with a repetitive and limited movement profile like running won’t provide the variety of movements that will make us “fit” for the variety of human activities that keep us healthy. Again if you love running (or some other limited movement profile fitness activity) do it, but see if for what it is and what it isn’t. It IS going to make you very fit for running but it ISN’T going to make you fit for meeting your human needs.
Haven’t we adapted to modern life?
I suppose there’s an argument to be made that as our lifestyles have changed our needs have changed with them. Haven’t we as human beings adapted to the more sedentary lifestyle we now lead? Certainly we have. After all our bodies and our minds are extremely efficient in adapting to change. I can train myself to sit at a desk for 8 hours a day and have lunch delivered to my office. But is that what I want to be fit for? Sitting and eating takeout? Are those adaptations manifesting health?
Our bodies and minds adapt to the input they are given and therefore it’s the things we do most often that have the biggest impact on our health and function. It is this fact that we need to consider when making choices about exercise because ultimately it won’t be the 1 hour per day of exercise that has the greatest impact on our health but rather what we’re doing for the other 23 hours. How does the activity we’re spending an hour doing affect us during the rest of our day? Is our 1 hour of exercise making us more fit for enjoying a high quality of life? Or are we simply making ourselves fit for a single activity that may or may not be good for us in the long run?
Introducing DNS (video #3)
in DNS, Personal Alignment Training, VideosIntroducing DNS (video #2)
in DNS, Personal Alignment Training, VideosIntroducing DNS!
in DNS, Personal Alignment Training, VideosTiffany and I completed our second course in Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS) a couple of weeks ago and it’s already having a HUGE impact on our work with clients. It’s rather uncanny how using even a limited amount of these early developmental postures and movement patterns has such a significant impact on strength, balance, flexibility, joint stability and pain reduction.
Those of you who have worked with us know that we’ll often e-mail you handouts to facilitate the work we encourage you to do on your own. We are sending most folks home with at least one DNS “posture” now and have decided, at least for now, to post videos in lieu of sending handouts.
Here is the first of 3 videos that show 3 different DNS “postures” and provide some instruction for each of them. These videos are not recommended for people who have not yet received one to one or group class instruction from Tiffany and/or myself.
So if you haven’t yet set up an appointment to experience DNS, I would urge you to do so. You won’t be disappointed!
New Years Reminder: Align Yourself Better in 2016
in Personal Alignment TrainingNew years resolutions are a tricky business. By making a new years resolution I am stating that I am resolved to follow through with my intentions. If I am truly resolved then I will follow through with my intentions and may enjoy the benefits of my success. If the resolve is lacking then I will likely not follow through and I may instead experience feelings of failure and disappointment.
One could argue also that if I truly have resolve with regards to some intention, say, getting into better shape, then I won’t really need to make a resolution to do that. I just go and get into better shape because my resolve requires that action. I must be careful that my new years resolutions aren’t simply an endless list of the things I’d like to change but lack the skills, the will or the resolve to change.
I’d like to suggest an alternative to new years resolutions: “new years reminders.” I can use the new year to simply remind myself of the changes I’d like to see in my life but have yet, for whatever reason, failed to manifest. I’d also like to suggest that of the many possibilities for new years reminders, BETTER ALIGNMENT be moved up the list!
Why better alignment? Well it’s to do with the fact that our alignment impacts our health in so many ways, physically and psychologically, and that it is the essential first step for many other popular new years reminders including “getting into better shape”, “losing weight” and “reducing stress”, just to name a few.
Improving our alignment has the following benefits with regards to getting into better shape:
In additon to the above, improving our alignment has the following benefits with regards to weight loss:
And it that weren’t enough better alignment helps to reduce stress in the following ways:
So consider making a “New Years Reminder” to develop the alignment skills you have as well as learning new ones. Consider reminding yourself to do the things you’re already doing, walking, standing, sitting, etc. with better alignment and with more of the health promoting effects you want.
What Does a Muscle Do?
in Movement Article, Personal Alignment Training, YogaAt my Restorative Exercise certification training in spring of 2014, Katy Bowman, the founder of R.E. posed a question to our group – “What do muscles do?” Her answer – “they respond.” To be honest I didn’t give her comment much thought at the time, but since that day her words have come back to me time and time again and the truth of them has been born out of my experiences working with clients and in my own body.
What do we typically think of when we want to affect a muscle? Generally either stretching it or strengthening it. If I want to stretch a muscle, what do I really want to happen? I want that muscle to change it’s length. Specifically, I want that muscle to be longer that it currently is.
Let’s say I find out I have tight hamstrings and that having tight hamstrings is not a good thing so I decide I’m going to stretch them. I stand and bend forward and try to reach the floor, pulling strongly on the muscles in the backs of my legs. It certainly feels like I am stretching my hamstrings, but usually I am stretching the muscles in my back even more. In fact, because of the difference in the way these 2 groups of muscles are meant to function, the way that the hamstring muscles and the muscles in my lower back “respond” in this scenario can be very different than I intend.
Bending from the lower back
The hamstrings consist of three muscles located on the back of the thigh which are called the semimembranosus, the semitendinosus, and the biceps femoris. The primary job of the hamstrings collectively is to extend the hip joint (pull the femur back relative to the pelvis) and flex (bend) the knee. When the knees are kept straight and the hips are flexed as in a standing forward bend, the hamstrings do the job of hip extension by acting as the main muscles that support the weight of my upper body as it moves forward and down. In other words, as I flex my hips to bend forward the hamstrings apply a counter force in the opposite direction, that of hip extension, to help carry the weight of my pelvis, trunk and head.
In this example, the muscles in my lower back have a job to do as well, particular the erector spinae whose job it is to help stabilize my spine and prevent it from distorting to the point that it puts undue stress on the spinal joints. These muscles work in combination with my hamstrings and my gluteal (buttock) muscles to enable me to bend forward without damaging the very important and essential tissue contained within my spinal column, namely the spinal cord.
Thus the job of my hamstrings in a forward bend, as well as those of the lower back, is to “respond” to that movement by acting as a kind of breaking mechanism, carrying the load of my trunk. Of the two muscle groups, the hamstrings are the bigger and stronger and therefore should be encouraged to do more of the work in a forward bend. For the hamstrings to respond this way I need to emphasize bending more from my hips and minimize the bend from my lower back. When the hamstrings are tight they don’t allow for much movement from the hips before they can no longer respond to my motion of bending forward.
Bending forward from the hips
If I keep bending forward, even when the hamstrings cannot respond anymore, then my lower back has to carry the load instead. My head and trunk are pretty darn heavy and therefore this puts a lot of stress on my back. If I keep doing my forward bend this way not only will I eventually hurt my back, but I will also not make much progress in increasing the length of my hamstrings. That’s because when I bend well beyond the range of my hamstring length the hamstrings cannot respond anymore and therefore will not increase their length. Meanwhile the muscles in my low back will respond, and quite appropriately, to the consistent excessive loading I’m putting on them by getting weaker less able to effectively do the job of maintaining a functional position of my lower spine that keeps the joints healthy, mobile and pain free.
This is just one of many possible examples of the way in which muscles respond to the input we give them in both helpful and not so helpful ways. Therefore when I recognize that I have a muscle that hurts or that is too tight or too week, before I go about stretching or strengthening I should consider what I may already be doing that is causing the muscle to respond as it is.
In the example of my hamstrings, I need to consider how much time I spend sitting or wearing shoes with heels or standing with my pelvis tucked. Any of these “activities” will result in shorter hamstrings because when I engage in these very common activities I am effectively telling my hamstrings to shorten. My tight hamstrings are just responding appropriately to the message I’m sending!
Standing with tucked pelvis
What is a Hip Opener? (part 3)
in Movement Article, Personal Alignment Training, YogaIn the previous post we looked at hip extension from a prone position. One important feature of extending the hip this way is that it is extended with active, muscularly driven movement. Active hip extension has the important benefit of stregthening the hip extensor muslces. Another benefit to active hip extension (versus passive) is that it is somewhat safer because we have to use whatever strength our hip extensors have to overcome the tension in the antagonist hip flexors. This avoids overstretching the hip flexors and minimizes stress on the lower back. Finally, doing active hip extension allows us to better assess the ROM of our hips and therefore establish a more accurate baseline from which to make progress.
Active hip extension does, however, have one major disadvantage, and if you’ve worked on either or both of the postures I presented in part 2 you would have noticed this rather quickly. It is difficult to hold these postures long enough to facilitate rapid progress. Therefore I’d like offer a way of increasing hip extension passively that is both safe and effective as well as somewhat pleasurable to do.
The posture below is demonstrated in the video you see above. I recommend reading the description first and then watching the video after for clarification.
Lie down on your back with your knees bent and your feet on the floor. Place your feet pelvis width apart (about 6 inches) with the shin bones vertical and the knees directly over the ankles. If either or both of your knees don’t bend this much, only bend the knees as much as is comfortable for your most limited knee. Tuck your chin in toward the top of your throat and legthen the back of your neck until you can feel that the head is not at all tilting backwards. If you find it difficult to keep the chin in, place a folded blanket under the base of the skull to increase the height of the head. Make the blanket high enough that it removes any posterior tilt from the skull.
Place a standard size yoga block in between your knees and hold it. Without dropping the block, slowly lift the pelvis up off the floor and place a second block on its side under your pelvis. If you cannot lift the pelvis high enough to fit a standard size block without dropping the block between your knees then a standard size block is too hight for you. Use a half block or some equivalent height instead. You should feel absolutely no pain in your back! If you do feel pain in your back, decrease the height until you no longer feel back pain. If you cannot lie this way with the pelvis elevated and without back pain seek help from an experienced teacher.
Once you have the pelvis elevated and supported, making sure the support is only under the pelvis and not under the lumbar spine, remove the block from between your knees. Then notice the way the pelvis automatically rolls back a little toward the rib cage. This keeps your lumbar and thoracic spine neutral. Avoid actively rolling the pelvis back (i.e. tucking the pelvis). Simply allow the pelvis to roll back to the extent that it is naturally inclined. If the pelvis doesn’t roll back this way at all, try moving the support under the pelvis a little closer to your feet.
Next, keeping your foot in contact with the floor, move your left foot gradually out away from the support, keeping it in line with the hip. Remain aware of the position of the pelvis relative to the rib cage and notice if at any point moving the leg starts to pull the pelvis out of its position. When you reach such a point, pause there and let the weight of your leg gently pull on the hip flexors. In the beginning you may not feel much. As you practice more your sensitivity will increase and you will perceive the sensation of loading on the hip flexors in the groin and in front of your hip. You will also being to perceive the sensation of these musles letting go. This is your cue to start gradually moving your foot further away from your hip.
Stay for 20-30 seconds. Then bring the foot back to its original position and try this with the right leg. After you’ve done each leg once, lift the pelvis up remove the block under it and come down. If you feel any pain in your back upon lifting the pelvis up off the block it is telling you that you have used too much height. Try decreasing the height and repeating the sequence described in the preious 2 paragraphs.
When you’ve found a height you can use to do one repetition without experiencing any pain after, then you’re ready to begin more repetitions and with longer holds times. Repeat the above 2-3 times on each leg, first for 20-30 seconds and then over the course of a couple of weeks working up to a minute on each leg.
Eventually you’ll reach a point where you’ll be able to stretch each leg all the way out without any response from the pelvis. When you reach this point the next step is to increase the height of the block under the pelvis. When you feel you’re ready to do this, increase the height by turning the block on its side. Avoid placing the block on its end or making the block so high that you are forced to arch your lower back. Using too much height may lead to a back injury and will not be as effective in increasing your hip extension as will extending the hip while maintaining a neutral spine.
Conisider doing this passive hip extension in combination with active hip extension to see how one improves the other. You may also enjoy combining these hip extension postures with the standing forward bend described in “What is a Hip Opener, Part 1” to see how increasing the length of the hip flexors with hip extension helps them to contribute more to your hip flexion. However you use these postures, enjoy the increase in ease and freedom of movement these postures give to your hips!
What is a Hip Opener? (part 2)
in Movement Article, Personal Alignment Training, YogaA hip opener is a posture meant to increase a particular range of motion or multiple ranges of motion in the hip joint. The most important aspect of such a posture is that the hip be targeted and that the force applied to the hip to create the opening not be diverted into the lower back or the knee. Hip extension is one ROM of the hip that often gets neglected because of the ease with which many of us use the joints in the lower spine to do motions that would otherwise be done from the hip. Working on hip extension is therefore extrememly hepful and important not only for health and function of the hips but also that of the lower back.
Improving hip extension will help prepare the body for backbends as well as help to support healthy gait mechanics. The simplest way to work on hip extension is from a prone position. Lie face down on the floor and find a comfortable position for you head, perhaps resting your forehead on a blanket or on your forearm. Check and see if the pubic bone and the frontal most aspect of the 2 ilium (the A.S.I.S. or anterior superior iliac spine) are resting on the floor. If the pubic bone doesn’t easily rest on the floor, try placing a folded blanket just above it on the 2 A.S.I.S.. The idea is to tilt the pelvis back a bit to bring the pubic bone in contact with the floor (see figure 1).
figure 1
If the 2 A.S.I.S. are not able to rest on the floor when the pubic bone is in contact with the floor the blanket support will offer something for the 2 A.S.I.S. to rest against. Whatever the case, getting the pubic bone in contact with the floor is crucial. Once you have it down, then lift your right leg off the floor while keeping the knee straight. Make sure the pubic bone stays in contact with the floor. This is hip extension (see figure 2).
figure 2
Hold the position for a few seconds, making sure that the pelvis doesn’t roll to one side when the leg is lifted. Lower the right leg and try it with the left leg. If your feel pain in your back and/or on either side of the sacrum (on the back of the pelvis) when doing hip extension as described above, try pushing the pubic bone down into the floor with moderate force and then lifting the leg again. If this doesn’t at least reduce if not resolve the pain then suspend working on hip extension this way and move on to the next option (see figures 3-5 below). If you can lift each leg with your pubic bone remaining in contact with the floor and without pain in your back, then try doing this in front of a mirror so you can see how much hip extension you actually have. How high does the leg lift before your pubic bone starts to lift as well? 6 inches? 10 inches? 1 inch? See what you’ve got currently so you have a baseline from with to assess progress.
Repeat this method of extending the hip 3-4 times on each leg, feeling the muscles in the back of the hip and thigh working to lift the leg. Continue to keep the knee straight and the pubic bone in contact with the floor. If your low back starts to hurt as you’re holding the leg up, decrease the height of the leg until the pain goes away and continue. As long as you’re not experiencing back pain, begin increasing the time of hold to 20-30 seconds. Then rest a few breaths and come up.
If your back hurts when you try the above, no matter how high or low you lift the leg, then try the following instead. Come to your hands and knees with your fingers and thumbs spread, your wrists directly over your hands and your knees directly under your hips. If you knee caps are sensitive to pressure, have your knees on a blanket for more cushion. Allow the pelvis to rotate forward and your back to arch as much as is comfortable. Try not to actively arch the back but let the arch happen by relaxing the abdomen toward the floor (see figure 3). Then, using your abdominal muscles, lift your lower front ribs up away from the floor and pull them in toward the spine until you feel the middle of your spine round out slightly. Be careful not to tuck your pelvis when you do this.
figure 3
You can use a mirror to get feedback. You should see a clearly concave lumbar spine and a clearly convex thoracic spine. If upon looking at your image in the mirror you find it’s hard to tell where the lumbar ends and the thoracic begins, continue to lift the lower ribs up and in toward the spine until you can begin to see the junction of lumbar and thoracic. Then lift up the portion of the thoracic spine in between the shoulder blades by pushing your palms into the floor with your arms held straight. Try to feel the rhomboids, the muscles that connect your shoulder blades to your spine, becoming longer and more active(figure 4).
figure 4
Now push down through your left knee until your left hip engages and your right knee begins to lift off the floor. Be conscious of lifting the right knee up by using the left hip and not by using the muscles in your lower back. Once the right knee is lifted, stretch the leg out behind you until the knee is straight. Keeping the left hip active and the right knee straight, gradually lift your right thigh toward the ceiling (figure 5). Avoid arching your back and dropping your lower ribs toward the floor. Also be sure to keep the upper thoracic spine lifted and the shoulder blades wide. Hold the leg up for 10-15 seconds, then lower the leg and repeat on the opposite leg. Repeat each side 3 times.
figure 5
This is also hip extension and this version will typically work for everyone and is particularly helpful for those who’s hip extension is limited. The exception is anyone who cannot bear weight on their hands this way. If this includes you then seek help from an experienced teacher to work on your hip extension. There are many postures that can be used to increase hip extension in addition to the above. In the part 3 I will discuss another of my favorites!