Unit One of POSITIONAL OPTIMIZATION at WORK
Take a deep breath
Proper breathing is the foundation for creating stability in the midline. A deep, productive breath should be slow and through the nose, making the lower ribs (diaphragm) expand. It should look like a tiny person behind your navel just opened an umbrella inside you. If you put your hands around the bottom of your ribs, you should feel them expand.
- Lie supine, feet up on a wall or box, knees and hips bent 90 degrees.
- Place hands on lower abdomen or bottom of ribs.
- Inhale through the nose, as if to smell a scent. If this is challenging, an essential oil, such as peppermint, may be applied under the nose to assist. Pretending to smell an odor, such as coffee, may help if oils are not available.
- Exhale slowly, through the mouth. Imagine attempting to blow on hot food at the beginning of the exhale, and trying to blow out a trick birthday candle during the end of the exhale.
Brace yourself
Movement happens from core to extremity. This means that the stability in your spine leads to mobility and power in your hips and shoulders. If your spine isn't braced during performance and physical tasks, you are at risk for spinal injury and you are not being as powerful or as mobile as you could be. The following is the bracing sequence you should go though before movement or changing positions:
- Begin with feet facing forward. Squeeze your butt.
- Pull your rib cage down using your abdominals.
- Flex your abs and breathe into the tight container you've made of them.
- Externally rotate your shoulders by screwing your shoulders down and out (palms face up).
- Set your head in a neutral position by tucking your chin and elongating the back of your head.
1&2: Squeeze butt, 3&4: Pull ribcage down, 5: Flex your abs and breathe into the tight container you've made of them, 6&7: Externally rotate your shoulders (palms face up), 8&9: Set your head in a neutral position.
This bracing sequence applies to almost all exercises. The greater the load, the more intense and important the bracing sequence is. Even when you are just standing around, there should be some semblance of bracing happening. If you sit or stand all day, make sure that your butt is squeezed and your abs are “on.” It is also important for your shoulders to be depressed (down) and externally rotated (rotated out). Having your shoulders rolled in, abdominals soft, or standing on one hip will eventually come back to haunt you in the form of pain, injury, or decreased strength and power.
Keep your spine together
As stated earlier, the bracing sequence above applies to movement. It is a way to keep your spine from moving under load. This means the way your back looks at the beginning of an exercise is the way it should look at the end of an exercise. When performing movements, you should only be changing the angles of your hips, shoulders, and appendage joints (like knees and elbows). It is an error for any part of your spine to flex or extend locally during a movement.
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Torquing
At this point you should understand that the spine should be in a braced and neutral position during activity. Having a braced-neutral spine will give you the stability needed to create force through your hips and shoulders. Symbiotically, if you generate enough tension and force (torque) in your extremities, you have a better chance of maintaining a braced spine. Generating tension in your hips and shoulders is crucial for optimal force, power, and stability during movement. The following cues should be part of your bracing sequence and movement prep:
- Screw your feet into the ground.
- Spread the floor.
- Push your knees out.
- Activate the arch in your foot.
- Break the bar.
- Preferate an imaginary paper towel on the floor, with your hands.
- Fondle the floor.
- Pull the bar apart (like a magician's scarf).
- Hide your armpits (for pull-ups)
- Armpits forward (for overhead pressing).
- Elbow pits forward (for push-ups and dips).
When you rotate your hips and shoulders into an 'on' position, they become powerful and stable. If you create torque before you move, you can get away with missing a small bit of flexion or extension range of motion. For example, if you don't have great hip flexion, but have excellent hip rotation/torque you will be able to lift an object safely and productively. If you are missing shoulder or hip rotation, stabilizing your spine and generating force becomes exceedingly difficult.
1: Go through bracing sequence. 2: Initiate descent by shoving hips back and leaning forward. 3-4: Continue to load hamstrings and glutes by driving hips back. Do not shift weight back. Stay centered over mid-foot the entire time. 5: Lower hips and bend knees while keeping a relatively vertical shin. Aim to sit on your sitz bones, near the edge of the chair. 6-7: Assume a braced, neutral sitting position. 8-9: Reverse the process to stand. Lean forward and lift butt until tension is felt in hamstrings. 10-11: Continue to straighten hips, knees, and shins until you are in a standing position.
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Movement inventory
Now it is time for you to take inventory and responsibility for your movements. Good positioning looks like this:
- Breathing diaphragmatically
- Spine braced and neutral
- Torque at hips and shoulders
- Feet and hands forward
Poor movement and positioning signs:
- Chest breathing
- Local extension or flexion in spine
- Hips or shoulders internally rotated
- Feet and hands spiraled out or in
- Knees in, elbows flared
A note on footwear
When walking, exercising, sitting, or standing, you should always attempt to have your feet as straight forward as possible. This allows maximum torque to be generated at the hip and provides maximum stability in the knees and spine.
The shoes you wear all day greatly affect your ability to maintain forward-facing feet, whole-body mobility, and stability. Without stable feet, it is impossible to generate torque at the hips or have a stable spine. Even if you sit all day, your feet should be in a shoe that allows you to be in a braced-neutral sitting position. Good footwear is:
- Form fitting: your foot should not slide around or be pinched.
- Flat: your shoe should have a uniform sole with no heels, heel cups or major orthotics.
- Flexible: your shoe should allow you to articulate through your whole foot.
- Feel-good: your shoe should be comfortable and easy to walk in.
Fallen Arches
A fallen arch is basically the weakened state of the muscles and ligaments in your feet. Most children have healthy, archie arches. These arches flatten out when an individual starts wearing supportive or inflexible shoes. That's right; flat feet are caused by supportive shoes and insoles! Arches (geometrically and anatomically) get stronger when they are top loaded and weaker when they are bottom loaded. This means that putting weight (your body) on top of an unsupported arch will make it stronger while 'supporting' your arch will make it weaker.
The best way to get your arches back is to get rid of your insoles and work towards wearing minimally supportive shoes. You can work your way down since going from very supportive shoes to minimally supportive shoes can cause muscular pain (those arches working and getting stronger) if done too hastily.
How to Text or Read:
1: Shoulders rounded, elbows out, hands in are recipes for carpal tunnel, shoulder, and neck pain. 2-4: Palms up, elbows, and shoulders down is the way to go for pain-free texting and reading.
