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348 South Waverly Road
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Align Fitness Pilates and Barre Studio is dedicated to your fitness needs, whether you are training for a 25K or starting an exercise program for the first time! We offer Pilates mat classes and equipment privates, Barre classes, and Tai Chi classes.

Rib cage position - yes it's important!

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Rib cage position - yes it's important!

Align Fitness

bad-posture-spine.jpg

Looking at the above graphic, you’ll see the generic representations of the four typical postures of the human body. Hardly anyone is an A but a few people are lucky enough to what I call, “live in neutral.” I’ll mention this as they lay on the floor or reformer on their backs. Mostly what I’m referring to is the natural position of the pelvis - when a nice little curve exists in the lumbar spine. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean neutral follows the rest of the spine up to the neck and head. Most of my naturally neutral people pop their ribs sky high! That mid-back extension (or flexion, see D above) is what I want to talk about.

I got sidetracked wondering how that crack happened, here’s a good link to learn some history about this old piece of metal.

I got sidetracked wondering how that crack happened, here’s a good link to learn some history about this old piece of metal.

The Liberty Bell! I’ve mentioned it a time or two during class or private sessions. Picture the Liberty Bell swinging, but only forward - that’s your rib cage! We can move the bottom part just like a bell. We can jut it forward (mid-back extension) or tuck it in (neutral) or less commonly, tuck it under (flexion). It’s not quite as rigid as the copper and tin Liberty Bell but it’s close. The intercostal muscles that traverse between your ribs allow for movement (inhalation/exhalation) but only minimally. When I cue, “knitting your ribs together in front like the closing of elevator doors,” I’m asking you to contract your intercostals and internal oblique muscles to control the swinging/movement of your own Liberty Bell rib cage.

If you jut your Liberty Bell rib cage forward, your head goes back and your hips stick forward. This is what I commonly observe in many Pilates clients. Look at the postures above again. B, C, and D show the misalignment of the relationship between the rib cage and pelvis. Equally important is the stacking of your skeleton: head directly over shoulders; rib cage directly centered over pelvis; neutral pelvis centered over femurs (thigh bones); femurs centered on tops of knees; knee alignment sufficient for body weight to be primarily supported on back of foot. Imagine all the stress and strain that is placed on ligaments, tendons, fascia, and muscles when one of these stacks (head, shoulders, rib cage, pelvis) is out of place. That pulling on the bones out of alignment occurs all the way down the entire chain - neck to ankles. It’s anyone’s guess where and when (and if) any pain will arise.

You may be asking, how did I get this way?

Did you ever twist your ankle and walk with a boot for 3 months? Break your arm? Get in a car accident and suffer whiplash? Having an accident resulting in an injury of some sort without then correcting the new way your body moves can contribute to unpredictable issues later on. You twisted your ankle when you were 29, healed, and moved on, forgetting all about it. You go about your life but now you’re not loading into that ankle the way it was designed, in effect, turning off activation of muscle groups all the way up that leg. Now your other ankle and leg have to compensate, your pelvis now has a slight tilt which pulls on small spinal muscles- strengthening some and weakening others. And you don’t even realize you’re doing it. 10 years later, your back hurts and you wonder why. For 10 years, you were walking, running, and exercising in misalignment, creating new habits and imbalances. Your body compensated for the injury.

Or, the reason is as simple as it was the way you were born!

Can you fix misaligned posture? No, you cannot ‘fix’ it. Bs, Cs, and Ds will never be A’s. Your age has a huge say-so in how successful you’ll be. Injuries aside, you may be fighting 60 years of plain, run-of-the-mill poor postural habits. But, and that’s a big BUT, you can lessen the stress and strain you place on the joints, ligaments, etc. by retraining your body to move in the direction of an A. This also takes massive amounts - gobs, truck loads full - of mind power, will, and determination. Consult movement experts such as chiropractors, physical therapists, or orthopedists to get the underlying bone structure moving towards proper alignment. Kinesio tape has become very popular to align and support proper bone structure. Awareness, discipline, and the desire to support the strength and stability of your skeleton must be a priority.

If it’s not, all the Pilates in the world won’t give you a sure-fire fix! In fact, exercising out of alignment will HURT you. Yes, you could cause injury, maybe not right away, but over time, it is a possibility. If you run while out of alignment, do squats out of alignment, swim out of alignment, you may be causing more harm than good. In particular, sitting out of alignment is extremely bad for your spine. It’s not just about how long you sit, but actually how you sit that matters just as much. Pilates instructors everywhere say it’s your form not the number of reps you do that is important.

Pilates focuses on lining everything up for your body as best it can. It doesn’t happen overnight and it requires a commitment from you to take your Pilates concepts home with you.

All this sounds well and good, right? Makes sense, you can see your own patterns and how they contribute to what aches and pains you might have. Sure. Then why do some people go their entire lives without any issues at all? No pain whatsoever! Maybe they had knee replacement replacement surgery at age 55 and here they are, 73 and as good as new! What is going on with people like that? How did they get so lucky?

I have no idea. :) And like the crack in the Liberty Bell, experts probably can’t come up with an answer either.

BTW, that above story about the twisted ankle and 10 years later back pain appears, that’s me. And I consulted whomever I could to help me get to the bottom of my issue. Just like doctors, Pilates Instructors cannot diagnose themselves. Our subjective point of view blinds us to what’s really going on. It takes an objective outside expert to put the pieces together. For me, it took 7 people. SEVEN. Chiropractors, kinesiologists, massage therapists, and a physical therapist. One piece at a time from each expert helped the last expert, a movement specialist, Sandi Karafa, to pull it all together and say, hey, it’s your ankle, let’s fix that!