Generating structural change – two things you can do something about
Have you ever thought of yourself as having poor posture?
Do you have any idea of what to do about it?
When we consider the shape of a body, we aren’t referring to the excess stored energy around a person’s waste (body fat). To us, it is more about the shape of slumped shoulders, arched lower back or the bony spurs on the inside of a person’s big toe.
The shape of a body can tell us a lot about a person. Compound that with an assessment about the way they move and we can start to piece together usual information about potential pain points and simple improvements strategies.
For those of you stuck in a chair all day, there is a good chance that your body has been, or is being put into a particular shape – for a concerningly long period of time.
To help we have pinpointed two areas you need to be aware of and more importantly, what you can do about them.
Yeah, your hips are tight.
You’ve heard it all before, “tight hip flexors from sitting too much” blah blah.
For us, it is about providing solutions not problems.
Changing the structure of your connective
tissue requires work and persistence. Thomas Myers, the author of Anatomy Trains (a bible regarding connective tissue of the human body), refers to “Fascial Fitness” which
describes the healthy loading of connective tissue (muscles, tendons etc.) comes a healthy spiral lattice pattern in the tissue, whilst a lack of loading produces an irregular type pattern.
What does this all mean?
Well to loosen up your hip flexors you want to apply healthy loading strategies to influence the connective tissue structures. This doesn’t require flogging yourself at the gym.
In fact, we have a tonne of resources available and here is a classic example.
It involves flexing and extending the muscles and structures that move the hip flexor,
to encourage healthy loading of the tissue, to facilitate structural change.
You don’t need a gym for that.
Your thoracic and lumbar spine are “stuck” and need to get moving.
Your spine is made up of a number of bones stacked together, you’re born with 33 to be exact.
During our early years on earth we wriggle, crawl, fall, walk, run and climb all the while moving these vertebrae with ease and little concentration. From the moment we are shoved in a chair for a few hours on end, we stop moving this system and, with the body being the adaptable beast that it is, we start to lose our ability to do so.
Simply put, don't use it, lose it.
Unfortunately, you cannot go through life without “using” your spine.
And it is often poor movement strategies (from not moving the spine) that cause most of the issues people have today.
Again, the solution is not so complex. Start to bring simple spine moving strategies back into your life.
This is one of the easiest/most convenient you can do – particularly if you find yourself sitting all day.
Gone are the days in which we had no hope when it comes to pain.
There is a tonne of emerging research supporting the fact that if we move regularly and move well, we will all live better.
So, if you want more out of yourself and your life, start finding reasons to get your body going, not excuses as to why you can't.
#teamSOF
