Yes, I’m really quoting The Time Warp, from Rocky Horror. Terrible movie, awful song, but it gets to the point, the pelvic tilt (or pelvic thrust if you’re a slut like Janet).
Recent Yoga for Posture posts included Mountain Pose and a sitting modification for Mountain Pose. These two exercises are among the most powerful methods I have found for improving your posture especially when you add a little visualization to the mix.
There’s More
But, like I said last week, you can add a little more.
This weekend, I warned you never to forget the basics, and to put in regular, consistent practice. I neglected my own advice, and I payed for it with three days of lower back pain.
Fortunately for me, the one of the many benefits of doing something hard, for a long period of time, is that, in doing so, you create long lasting change. When I set out to fix my back and correct my posture, I attacked the challenge with vigour.
I worked hard, regularly and consistently for years and one of the benefits of that is that the changes have stuck. If I had taken a summer off back maintenance four or five years ago, the price I would have had to pay for this weekend’s work would have been much greater. Because I put in the hard reps, for a long time, it wasn’t so bad.
Time was, that butcher’s bill would have been a pinched nerve and days of bedrest, pain killers and muscle relaxants. This week, the bill was a couple of Aleves before bed, and a little soreness through the day, located in the muscles just above my coccyx, on the left hand side.
Today’s Exercise
Which brings me to today’s exercise. I’ve been taking brisk walks, a couple of times a day, to help ease the tension in the muscles and connective tissues of my lumbar region. One of the things I have noticed is that motion=good, and standing still=bad.
The problem is, my little guy loves to go to the park after dinner, to play tag with his friends.
- Taking kid to park=sitting on a park bench.
- Sitting on park bench=lumbar flexion.
- Lumbar flexion=lumbar pain.
- I’m already suffering lumbar pain.
So, what to do, stand? Well, doing Mountain Pose for a minute or two is great for your back and posture. Standing around the park for ½ and hour while Little Mr. M. runs around with his buds is…not great for my back and posture. So, while I was standing with the other parents, I did some
Pelvic tilts:
- Stand straight, with neutral spine
- Feel the position of your lumbar spine
- Lean back slightly to turn off your low back muscles
- Gently tilt your pelvis forward, moving and stretching the lumbar muscles and spine
- Gently tilt your pelvis backward, moving and compressing the lumbar muscles and spine
Only go until you feel a mild discomfort. The idea is not to stretch out your lumbar spine (that’s generally a terrible idea), nor is it to compress your lumbar spine (also generally a terrible idea). The idea is to work the muscles and joints a bit to let them relax.
Interestingly, it also has the salutary effect of helping you learn your neutral lumbar spine position.
A few reps of this and my lumbar immediately feels better.
