And by formation I mean proper alignment.
You are what you repeatedly do… heard that before, right? Well, if you stand, sit, and move in improper alignment all the time, you’re going to have… improper alignment. Why should you care? Well, here’s why:
Improper alignment places unnecessary stress on your body, mainly your spine and pelvis. Extra stress can make you more prone to injury and/or illness.
Daily stress on your spine and pelvis can cause a lot of problems, mainly because your body is quite skilled at compensating for this stress at the expense of other body parts. Knee pain while running? It just may be improper alignment (or not. I’m not writing this to diagnose you, but rather make you aware of the interconnectedness of the body). Often we experience pain in a completely different area than the origin of the problem.
Here are a few examples of poor alignment and what suffers as a result:
*Sucking in your stomach while thrusting out your ribs to appear thinner? That displaced air has to go somewhere, and it’s going to be pushed up into your diaphragm or pushed down on your pelvic floor. Over a long period of time, this can result in breathing problems and/or incontinence.
*Hunched forward while typing at a computer desk for 8 hours a day? You could develop kyphosis of the spine, which compresses your diaphragm and can lead to breathing problems (I picture my bent over elderly grandmother, who does happen to have a lower pulse ox due to her kyphosis). Plus, if your shoulders are only used for holding your arms out in front of you, you’ll lose range of motion, making you more susceptible to injury for that one time you break it down just a little too hard at your cousin’s wedding. Ouch.
*Walking with your pelvis ahead of you while carrying a (baby, pet, grocery bag,etc)? You could develop lordosis of the spine, which can cause lower back pain. Lordosis can be attributed to a weak lower back, caused by overly tight psoas and hip flexor muscles from sitting all the time, or from other muscle imbalances. If you’re walking with your pelvis out in front of you all the time, it’s going to excessively stretch the lower back and lead to weakness of those muscles.
So, what is proper alignment?
A few cues:
Feet should be pointed forward, with knees following.
Your butt should be behind you, and you should be able to see your toes. If you can’t see your toes (and it’s not due to an excessively large abdomen), you’re too far forward. You want your hips to be in line with your knees and ankles.
Ribs should be down, so there’s a straight line to your hips and pubic bone. This will cause a slight rounding of your shoulders, which is proper alignment and something I only learned recently!
Shoulders should be down and retracted (scapula pulled back) but not so that it flairs out your ribs. Your goal is to have your shoulders move independently from your ribs. Again, a little roundness is proper alignment.
Take a look at the pictures for a visual of proper and improper alignment: (I pulled these off of Pinterest because 1) I’m busy chasing and feeding babies and training moms who do the same so I don’t have time to make my own pictures and 2) Why reinvent the wheel? There’s tons of great information online, you just have to know what you’re looking for to find it :).)
Want an alignment assessment? Contact me [email protected]