November 19, 2009
What posture are most of our clients in during most of the day?
Answer: The seated posture.
What position does this put the pelvis in?
Answer: Posterior rotation
How about the lumbar spine?
Flexion.
How do these clients then stand up and end up in an anterior pelvic tilt?
Answer: They don't.
If you are still in doubt, check in with how you are sitting as you read this email - you, along with the large majority of readers are likely in a posterior pelvic tilt and lumbar spine flexion.
Think of all your clients that sit for a living. The biggest problem with sitting
IS NOT that it puts the hips flexors in a short position BUT, rather because it puts the lumber spine in a flexed position.
OK...so what is the big deal?
This position destabilizes the entire spine .
More importantly, it inhibits the spinal stabilizers; especially the psoas which sets our clients up for injury which will put them on the workout sideline!
Quick A&P review of the psoas:
- primary anterior stabilizer of the spine
- helps to elongate and stabilize the spine against potential buckling forces that threaten spinal stability.
- prolonged and chronic lumbar spine flexion weakens the psoas resulting in:
- Compromised spine and trunk stability;
- Compromised hip stability as the psoas is more involved in hip centration than it is in hip flexion;
- Over-use of the other hip flexors to perform hip flexion (this is the true cause of tight hip flexors);
- Altered breathing as the psoas is fascially connected to the diaphragm (as well as the pelvic floor).
Keep reading. Some interesting points about the lumbar spine:
ü The lumbar spine is designed for stability - the lumbar vertebrae are the largest vertebrae in the spine and the facets are aligned to limit rotation;
ü Lumbar spine stability is intimately tied to stability of the thorax, pelvis, and hips;
ü There are as many individuals that have a posterior pelvic tilt as those that have an anterior tilt. The effect on the lumbar spine - lumbar flexion.
Think of your clients who get that feeling that their back may 'go out'.
OR
those whose backs have 'gone out'. And they just didn't know how that happened. (???)
Perhaps...they lacked spinal stability.
Conclusion:
The psoas is one of the primary and most misunderstood stabilizers of the spine. Improving its function is key in spine and hip stabilization. And don't forget to stress the importance of proper sitting posture for your clients that sit for a living.
For more resources on improving lumbar stabilization, hip dissociation, and respiratory function, check out Complete Core Conditioning.
Coming next edition of FITNESS INSIDER: RAISING THE STANDARD - Part VI: Centering the Thorax
Newsletter Archive
November 11, 2009
Jenice and I had a great weekend with Team #1 of our CNS certification. We feel blessed to have seven very driven and passionate fitness professionals to work with and with whom we can share this information.
One very important topic we began talking about with CNS-Team #1 we will cover in this article.
Do you have clients that have a 'clicking in their hip'?
Complain of hip tightness? Back pain?
It may be that the femur is not correctly centrated in the hip joint.
What is joint centration?
Centration is the ability to achieve and maintain an optimal axis of rotation.
or another way to think of it is
centering the lever bone within the joint.
Improving joint centration is the one key to improving rotation in any joint and decreasing pain, pinching in the joint and possibly decreases the possibility of future wear and tear on the joint.
When we look at the hip for example, no region of the body is more important to decreasing stress on the low back, knees, and feet than the hips.
Therefore, do you think achieving and maintaining hip mobility is vitally important? You bet!
Just consider the hip joint for a second:
ü The largest (density wise) muscle in the body, the gluteus maximus, crosses the hip joint;
ü There are approximately 22 muscles that cross the hip joint and this does not include the pelvic floor muscles or muscles that don't cross the hip that contribute to proper hip function;
ü The hip stabilizes the entire upper trunk and extremities while absorbing ground reaction forces from the lower extremity.
Unfortunately, the hip is one of the regions of the body that takes a beating when there is dysfunction in trunk stabilization, loss of big toe stability, or decreased ankle mobility.
While we must always find the driving cause of hip dysfunction, we often need to improve specific function of the hip in order to improve function of the other regions.
What is one key to improving hip function?
Achieve optimal joint centration.
I realize this is an overly simplistic view of joint action as joints will rarely be exactly centrated during most patterns. However, the further from optimal centration we get, the more compensations and related joint stresses that will ensue.
The key to joint centration is:
Ensure proper muscular balance around the joint.
While no muscle is more important than another, it's generally the muscles that are closer to the joint, i.e. the stabilizers, which tend to be the one's requiring more attention. In the hips, these will tend to be the gluteus minimus, psoas, piriformis, gemelli, and obturators.
Conclusion:
The key to improving hip function is achieving proper joint centration. Stabilize the spine (coming next edition), dissociate through the hip, and follow the proper exercise progressions appropriate for your client.
For more resources on improving hip function, check out Complete Hip and Lower Extremity Conditioning.
Newsletter Archive
November 11, 2009
Jenice and I had a great weekend with Team #1 of our CNS certification. We feel blessed to have seven very driven and passionate fitness professionals to work with and with whom we can share this information.
One very important topic we began talking about with CNS-Team #1 we will cover in this article.
Do you have clients that have a 'clicking in their hip'?
Complain of hip tightness? Back pain?
It may be that the femur is not correctly centrated in the hip joint.
What is joint centration?
Centration is the ability to achieve and maintain an optimal axis of rotation.
or another way to think of it is
centering the lever bone within the joint.
Improving joint centration is the one key to improving rotation in any joint and decreasing pain, pinching in the joint and possibly decreases the possibility of future wear and tear on the joint.
When we look at the hip for example, no region of the body is more important to decreasing stress on the low back, knees, and feet than the hips.
Therefore, do you think achieving and maintaining hip mobility is vitally important? You bet!
Just consider the hip joint for a second:
ü The largest (density wise) muscle in the body, the gluteus maximus, crosses the hip joint;
ü There are approximately 22 muscles that cross the hip joint and this does not include the pelvic floor muscles or muscles that don't cross the hip that contribute to proper hip function;
ü The hip stabilizes the entire upper trunk and extremities while absorbing ground reaction forces from the lower extremity.
Unfortunately, the hip is one of the regions of the body that takes a beating when there is dysfunction in trunk stabilization, loss of big toe stability, or decreased ankle mobility.
While we must always find the driving cause of hip dysfunction, we often need to improve specific function of the hip in order to improve function of the other regions.
What is one key to improving hip function?
Achieve optimal joint centration.
I realize this is an overly simplistic view of joint action as joints will rarely be exactly centrated during most patterns. However, the further from optimal centration we get, the more compensations and related joint stresses that will ensue.
The key to joint centration is:
Ensure proper muscular balance around the joint.
While no muscle is more important than another, it's generally the muscles that are closer to the joint, i.e. the stabilizers, which tend to be the one's requiring more attention. In the hips, these will tend to be the gluteus minimus, psoas, piriformis, gemelli, and obturators.
Conclusion:
The key to improving hip function is achieving proper joint centration. Stabilize the spine (coming next edition), dissociate through the hip, and follow the proper exercise progressions appropriate for your client.
For more resources on improving hip function, check out Complete Hip and Lower Extremity Conditioning.
