PROBLEM ALIGNMENT:     

SLUMP “SITTING” IN STANDING

  • Your knees and ankles are bent excessively as if you’re getting ready to sit down.
  • Your pelvis is tipped back so that your tail is under you.
  • Your chest wall is slumped, “sitting” on your abdomen,
  • Your head and neck are dropped down and forward, following your chest.

ADJUSTMENT EXERCISE: straighten the legs, head/chest float 

  • Imagine a string attached to the top of your head; allow it to pull your head up all over your chest.
  • Allow the chest to lift up and to expand when you inhale; allow it to float up off the pelvis as you exhale 
  • Push your knees straighter, but not locked, and exaggerate a long, straight leg and trunk position-think tall.

MORE GOOD MOVES TO STAND BY PROP, SHIFT, AND SWAY

  • Propping one foot up (inside a cabinet, on a box, on your other foot, etc) and propping through your arms will help to level your pelvis and decrease strain on the spine.
  • Leaning on walls, counters, poles, etc., will assist in supporting and decompressing the spine.
  • Weight shifting and sway: high-rise buildings have a sway factor built in to allow the building to dissipate strain from external forces such as wind and gravity. 

Your approach to standing should also incorporate this basic concept.Subtle, slow, and small-range sway is a good way to relieve some of the cumulative strain for standing. Use of sway also assists in calming down the electrical system so that the muscles become less tense and the nerves are not excitable.The patterns of sway are limitless. 

Do what feels most comfortable for you and be sure to stay in upright, relaxed alignments as you sway. 

Use any of the following sway patterns when you have to stand in place

  • sway from side to  side
  • sway from front to back; rock back on heels/forward on toes.