The Function and Importance of the Posterior Chain

 What is the posterior chain? The posterior chain is simply the backside of your body and its primary muscles include the lower back, gluteus maximus (glutes), hamstrings, and calves. This area is often neglected and misunderstood. There are two main reasons why. The first reason is many people sit 8-10+ hours per day. Because of the seated position the quadriceps/psoas become adaptively short and tight, further inhibiting the glutes. The glutes then suffer amnesia to their primary role as hip stabilizer and extensor. The second reason the posterior chain is neglected is that none of these muscles are seen in the mirror. Out of sight out of mind, we only seem to notice when we are trying on jeans or the dreaded swimsuit. May be you do strength training, yoga, or running, etc …but the glutes are not reflecting all the hard work; so the question is…are you really working them?

Although the posterior chain consists of the low back, glutes, hamstrings and calves, the focus here will be on the function and importance of the glutes. When the glutes become inhibited the posterior chain is not functioning properly. The low back and the hamstrings then have to take on the work of the glutes, and along with these muscles being overworked the IT Band, TFL plus the piriformis also take on an additional load, leading to a whole cascade of low back, hip, knee, ankle, and foot problems.  Although yoga feels good when stretching the excessively used low back and hamstrings, the majority of poses that are used in class will over stretch the posterior chain and over work the anterior chain, exacerbating the problem the people deal with all day. This is not exclusive to yoga, there other workout programs in gyms that can be just as unbalanced. This article is going to look at the many roles of the glutes.

Functional Anatomy of the Squat and Yoga

This is a continuation of my first article Functional Anatomy of the Lumbar Spine and Yoga; I related it mostly to the asana Utkatasana. In previous article I discussed the implications of the lumbar spine and squatting; in this article I’m going to address the implications on the knees. There are other asanas in yoga that are squat patterns which this will apply to as well, and not saying that any of these asanas are bad, but when the partial depth is done to the exclusion of other depths it then a problem arises. I believe if you are teaching people how to move whether it be as a personal trainer or as a yoga instructor you should know the science behind the squat, and how to perform it properly. The squat is one of the seven primal movement patterns for our survival and it is also the most poorly understood movement amongst fitness professionals. A correct squat balances all the forces around the knees, hips, postural muscles of  lower back, upper back, abdominals, lateral muscles, costal muscles, shoulders and the arms are used isometrically. I’m only going to discuss the squat, because adding the overhead movement of the arms, adds to the complexity of mobility of joints and muscles involved.

The squat is a full body exercise and involves the use of many muscles, this is why it is so misunderstood, with the core being at the center and the body begins to recruit muscles in a particular order. Balance is provided by the interaction of the postural muscles w/hips and legs, starting from the ground up, providing there is full ankle mobility in the talocrural joint allowing for dorsi-flexion. Restricted ankle mobility will dictate what the squat looks like and if you know what you are looking for, both a hip break squat and an ass-to-grass squat are correct.  Not only is the core strengthened, the squat can strengthen you in the context of physical, mental, emotional experience when done correctly (1-7 chakras), there is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine that produces the level of CNS activity, improved balance and coordination, skeletal loading and bone density enhancement, muscular stimulation and growth, connective tissue stress and strength, psychological demand and toughness and overall systemic conditioning that the correctly performed full squat. When an exercise is this misunderstood, it is most likely to be done improperly and difficult to appreciate the true nature of the movement and the interaction of all the muscles working. My classes have a new appreciation for a deep squat done properly after having experienced it firsthand. They are stronger, the looks of their legs have improved and their knees and backs feel better! In the absence of injury that prevents them being performed at all, everyone that poops/pees sitting down should learn to squat correctly!

Squat depth is a controversial subject....

Shoulder Pain and Down Dog

Down dog is a pose that I consistently see people having trouble with and/or painful. The client’s posture speaks volumes why they would have trouble with the asana. Forward head posture, rounded upper back (thoracic kyphosis), rounded shoulders are common place and leads to many dysfunctions from headaches, neck/shoulder pain, loss of lung capacity and even gastrointestinal agitation. They come to class hoping to correct the postural dysfunction or at least relieve the pain that has been created by the long hours of sitting in front of a computer. But instead of relieving pain it creates pain, specifically in the shoulder. So let’s back up and look at posture and what is happening. Yoga styles using physical postures for the practice is in its essence is a strength and conditioning class. We migrate to our strengths, whether it be in the right position or not and yoga is no different. When people get into down dog they migrate to their strength right away, rounded back, rounded shoulders, forward head posture and they place a majority of their body weight into their shoulders. There is a lot happening in the body and yoga instructors do their best to realign the body.
 

In my opinion down dog is a posture that when corrected, the strength created carries over to our upright posture. Here are just a few of  cues I give to realign down dog both for posture and to see if their shoulders are even suppose to be loaded from an overhead position. I ask them to bend the knees which will help them find length in the spine or come out of a rounded spine; it will help stretch upper hamstring attachment at the pelvis. When the upper hamstrings become tight they will begin to pull the pelvis into a posterior pelvic tilt (rounded low back). This also helps them shift more body weight to the legs. I then ask them to slide the shoulders down and away from the ears. This will action helps engage upper back muscles and create integrity in shoulder girdle.  I have the client begin to pull the ears back over the shoulders, just like we would in Tadasana. This encourages the long cervical extensors f the neck to start to work to pull the head back in an optimal posture position and stabilize the neck, instead of letting it act as a weight; this just continues to encourage a dysfunctional postural problem and the head is hanging off of passives structures.

What is the Core?

 

The word ‘core ‘is a buzz word and almost every trainer, instructor, client and doctor out there is saying the core needs to be worked/strengthened to get rid of the pain or for aesthetics. There are many who talk about the core but not having any idea what it truly is let alone how it works. If we weren’t using the core we wouldn’t be able to stand up, so the question is “What is the Core? And how does it work? Most people will start and end with abdominals as the core. There is more to it, the core muscles in the body: multifidus, pelvic floor, transverse abdominis, internal oblique and diaphragm known as the inner unit. The muscles of the inner unit are all on the same neurological loop, critical information to know and understand. This means if one is not working properly then none of them are and the diaphragm is chief. If the inner unit muscles are working and coming on when they are suppose to then the spine is decompressed and compression, shearing and torsion of the lower back can be prevented when you move. How do you activate the core?

Did you know that the way you hold yourself affects the way you breathe? Most of us can see that rounded shoulders, rounded upper back (kyphosis), forward head posture plus a distended abdominal wall is poor posture and thus disrupts breathing patterns. While consciously over correcting your posture can do the same thing, these people will hold the abdominal wall tight as if it were armor or trying to look thin.

 

The common dysfunctional breathing patterns that are found with both posture holding patterns is chest/mouth breathing or an inverted breathing pattern. Posture is not the only factor that affects breathing; stress, an unbalanced workout program, lack of sleep, eating processed, pesticide laden foods, being dehydrated will also affect the way you breathe.

What are Chakras?

How many of you have been in yoga classes or meditations and the instructor starts talking about chakras? We get a little information about its translation, colors, body part or region it governs and sometimes the life experience associated to the chakra. What is the potential meaning behind these energy bundles that are apart of us? Most people are familiar with the main 7 but

I’m going to expand and discuss a 12 chakra system, and go into depth on each one.  Let’s start with the most obvious question---What is a Chakra?

The Sanskrit meaning of the word chakra is “Wheel of Light” and most researchers believe that this esoteric anatomy system began in India outlining the various subtle energy bodies and channels that affect the human body, our material world and spiritual universe. Einstein said, “Energy cannot be destroyed; it can only change form.” These subtle energies act as collection & transmission centers for both the subtle energy and the biophysical energy. The main seven chakras are located at the main branching of the nervous system and align with the spine.

Chakras are thought to be either circular, or when emerging from the body envisioned as vortices that are conical in shape. According to metaphysics, a circle holds the meaning of ‘wholeness’ and when altered causes hurt, injury, damage or separation. The lower six are usually two-sided, spinning out the front and the back of the body. The front side governs everyday behavior and regulates our relationship with the physically based world. The back side responds to our own unconscious programs and manages our relationship with the less tangible world. The right side deals with male energy oriented issues and the left side deals with female energy oriented issues.