Yep, actually just got off the phone with him. After pictures and videos, he said its an overly extended back/flat back that won’t turn off from that cocking phase of swinging for a volleyball. Mentioned breathing mechanics like the ones you mentioned about not being able to fully exhale. He said my rectus abdominal muscles need to be relaxed while I turn on and strengthen my transverse abdominis and external obliques. He gave me advice of stretching my lats, pecs, and hip flexors/ or foam rolling, and he gave me that same exercise like the one you gave a few weeks back for getting that transverse and learning how to exhale properly again.
I’m gonna follow this routine to a science and really try reversing this posture as quick as possible and any other advice you have is very very welcomed ha. Thanks for all you’ve helped me with so far, he mentioned this posture is basically the default posture that upper ended athletes all share and he has helped people with this posture before so I’m really hoping this is the base problem in the kinetic chain!
[quote]TrevorLPT wrote:
That’s great to hear. I hope this turns out to be a solution for you. [/quote]
Here’s the link to what he summarized I have going on and it makes sense and correlates with your input.
Another question for you if you don’t mind, do you know of any article links that talk about the side effects of this like you mentioned (breathing, sleep, recovery, all that fun stuff) anywhere?
If I were a betting man, I’d guess that somewhere deep down at the root of your posture is an asymmetrical pelvic positioning (but that’s neither here nor there).
It all comes down to the way your posture effects the position and function of your diaphragm. If you lose the relationship between your pelvic floor, diaphragm, and rib cage, your body can’t breath well. When you can’t breath well, bad things happen. Not “bad” like cancer or AIDs, but still bad.
[quote]TrevorLPT wrote:
If I were a betting man, I’d guess that somewhere deep down at the root of your posture is an asymmetrical pelvic positioning (but that’s neither here nor there).
It all comes down to the way your posture effects the position and function of your diaphragm. If you lose the relationship between your pelvic floor, diaphragm, and rib cage, your body can’t breath well. When you can’t breath well, bad things happen. Not “bad” like cancer or AIDs, but still bad. [/quote]
My right glute seems inhibited and when the symptoms were just starting a few years ago I had awful pain in my right hip flexors compared to my left but I’m gonna hope a lot of that is being caused from a pelvic tilt.
You still have to play your sport and jump all over the place. Glute isn’t contributing like it should be.
Hip flexor and mid-back tighten up to pick up the slack.
Glute gets sleepier.
Everything else gets tighter. Until you get twisted. Now the opposite side begins to get jacked up too.
Break the cycle! Activate the glutes. Do single leg and single side assistance moves.
I’ve started skipping in my back yard. Dynamic, 1 sided, cyclic, alternated.
Next I’m going to do 1 arm farmer’s walks, alternating sides between sets of skips.
[quote]TrevorLPT wrote:
If I were a betting man, I’d guess that somewhere deep down at the root of your posture is an asymmetrical pelvic positioning (but that’s neither here nor there).
It all comes down to the way your posture effects the position and function of your diaphragm. If you lose the relationship between your pelvic floor, diaphragm, and rib cage, your body can’t breath well. When you can’t breath well, bad things happen. Not “bad” like cancer or AIDs, but still bad. [/quote]
My right glute seems inhibited and when the symptoms were just starting a few years ago I had awful pain in my right hip flexors compared to my left but I’m gonna hope a lot of that is being caused from a pelvic tilt.[/quote]
It looks like my response has been edited by the moderators. I included a link to an article that responded to your questions about the effects of breathing mechanics, but it was a link to a “competitor’s” website and was rightully deleted. My mistake. Google “Trevor Thieme, Breathing” to find what you’re looking for. (I hope this does not violate forum rules.)
Was it pain in your hip flexors or was it impingement pain at the top of your hip socket near your groin? Did it occur all the time, or only during certain movements? (particularly while flexing and abducting your left femur – ie the bottom of a squat).
@NTVolleyball: I have had a similar issue with my scapula. I tried chiropractic adjustments, physical therapy, practically invented corrective exercises, pretty much everything.
I would recommend getting adjusted, but here’s what I think the root cause of your problem is assuming that your scapular issues don’t clear up with in 3 months of physical therapy. I would notice knots in my muscles that would not go away, and always come back. I would go get Muscle Activation Technique. Basically the connection between some of your muscles and your brain isn’t functioning properly due to stress, drama, injury, inflammation, etc… When you have muscles that don’t fire properly you compensate and then you start to have problems. Just google muscle activation technique and find someone in your area. It’s an expensive treatment, but it works. Once you get your muscles firing right again you can do the physical therapy & corrective exercises and your scapula will go back in.
Woah there’s a second page, I was wondering why no one was responding haha #noobstatus… Ya it was/ is hip flexor pain when symptoms seem rough… When things seem to fire more correctly they relax and I feel much more stable so I’m really thinking the root cause is just a very developed erector and weak as hell transverse abdominis, does that seem rational? It appears I’m stuck in this inhaled position which I guess has a shit ton of effects and that leads me to really think it’s my transverse since its directly correlated with exhalation… I’m no scientist but know some basic anatomy from being in PE, does all this seem rational/ likely?
Thanks for all your input guys, much appreciated.
[quote]TrevorLPT wrote:
If I were a betting man, I’d guess that somewhere deep down at the root of your posture is an asymmetrical pelvic positioning (but that’s neither here nor there).
It all comes down to the way your posture effects the position and function of your diaphragm. If you lose the relationship between your pelvic floor, diaphragm, and rib cage, your body can’t breath well. When you can’t breath well, bad things happen. Not “bad” like cancer or AIDs, but still bad. [/quote]
Any other suggestions to get out of this extension? I’ve been doing the belly breathing and seeing some results but
My right glute seems inhibited and when the symptoms were just starting a few years ago I had awful pain in my right hip flexors compared to my left but I’m gonna hope a lot of that is being caused from a p
It looks like my response has been edited by the moderators. I included a link to an article that responded to your questions about the effects of breathing mechanics, but it was a link to a “competitor’s” website and was rightully deleted. My mistake. Google “Trevor Thieme, Breathing” to find what you’re looking for. (I hope this does not violate forum rules.)
Was it pain in your hip flexors or was it impingement pain at the top of your hip socket near your groin? Did it occur all the time, or only during certain movements? (particularly while flexing and abducting your left femur – ie the bottom of a squat).
[/quote]
Any other suggestions to get out of this extension? Been doing the breathing exercise and seeing some results.
What exercises have you been doing and what changes have you seen? Consistency is important with this stuff. Been doing the breathing 2x per day every day?
[quote]TrevorLPT wrote:
What exercises have you been doing and what changes have you seen? Consistency is important with this stuff. Been doing the breathing 2x per day every day?[/quote]
I’ve been doing that breathing exercise two times a day, foam rolling basically everything before. Then I’ll go to the gym and do straight arm pull downs trying to really get the core involved rather than back. Then I’ll do some modified versions of planks and things like inchworms to get the core going even more… My problem is my superficial layer is so strong compared to that of my transverse so I’m really trying to vacuum in to hit my “lower” abs and there’s good days and so so days… Improvements are happening, but still a bit of improvement to make.
[quote]TrevorLPT wrote:
What exercises have you been doing and what changes have you seen? Consistency is important with this stuff. Been doing the breathing 2x per day every day?[/quote]
I’ve been doing that breathing exercise two times a day, foam rolling basically everything before. Then I’ll go to the gym and do straight arm pull downs trying to really get the core involved rather than back. Then I’ll do some modified versions of planks and things like inchworms to get the core going even more… My problem is my superficial layer is so strong compared to that of my transverse so I’m really trying to vacuum in to hit my “lower” abs and there’s good days and so so days… Improvements are happening, but still a bit of improvement to make.[/quote]
What exercises did Lance give you to do?
Here are some things I would prioritize:
Push ups as your primary upper body pressing. Serratus anterior development is going to be key for you. Make sure you really REACH at the top of each rep to engage serratus and keep your abs on. Better yet, use this technique: Breathing Push up - YouTube
[quote]TrevorLPT wrote:
What exercises have you been doing and what changes have you seen? Consistency is important with this stuff. Been doing the breathing 2x per day every day?[/quote]
I’ve been doing that breathing exercise two times a day, foam rolling basically everything before. Then I’ll go to the gym and do straight arm pull downs trying to really get the core involved rather than back. Then I’ll do some modified versions of planks and things like inchworms to get the core going even more… My problem is my superficial layer is so strong compared to that of my transverse so I’m really trying to vacuum in to hit my “lower” abs and there’s good days and so so days… Improvements are happening, but still a bit of improvement to make.[/quote]
What exercises did Lance give you to do?
Here are some things I would prioritize:
Push ups as your primary upper body pressing. Serratus anterior development is going to be key for you. Make sure you really REACH at the top of each rep to engage serratus and keep your abs on. Better yet, use this technique: Breathing Push up - YouTube
Do not use the draw-in technique to engage your TA. Use a posterior pelvic tilt.
Integrated knee-flexion exercises. This is a great one: Ball leg curls.mov - YouTube. Keep your abs on and don’t let your lower back arch.
Do this warm-up after your foam rolling and breathing exercises:
Band-assisted straight leg lowering
Bretzel
Scap Pushups (REACH!)
Active Rectus Femorus Stretch
Glute Bridge W/ Marching
3-Month Breathing W/ Band
Turkish get up
For sets and reps, just do some for a few. Quality over quantity.
[/quote]
Hey question for you! (Thanks for everything so far). Does my lack of kyphosis in my thoracic spine lead to hyperlordosis of lumbar or is it the opposite?
Yes, another question and observation I’ve had… Is it possible that when all this happened I had awful kyphosis Of thoracic spine and my lumbar is the one compensating for that? Like I said I went to two good people when this stuff started happening and they said it was an imbalance from strong chest and weak upper back. I notice it’s very hard to extend my thoracic spine, isn’t lumbar extension a substitute for this?
[quote]Ntvolleyball16 wrote:
Yes, another question and observation I’ve had… Is it possible that when all this happened I had awful kyphosis Of thoracic spine and my lumbar is the one compensating for that? Like I said I went to two good people when this stuff started happening and they said it was an imbalance from strong chest and weak upper back. I notice it’s very hard to extend my thoracic spine, isn’t lumbar extension a substitute for this? [/quote]
Excessive kyphosis and a tight chest/ weak back are not the same thing.
“Traditional wisdom” amongst lifters and some PTs for the last decade or so has been that most people present with an exaggerated kyphosis and lordosis, and this is what causes many of these issues. What many people are realizing now, however, is that what looks like an exaggerated kyphosis may actually be a flat and extended thoracic spine coupled with an inability to fill one or both chest walls with air. Again, respiration is key here.
[quote]Ntvolleyball16 wrote:
Yes, another question and observation I’ve had… Is it possible that when all this happened I had awful kyphosis Of thoracic spine and my lumbar is the one compensating for that? Like I said I went to two good people when this stuff started happening and they said it was an imbalance from strong chest and weak upper back. I notice it’s very hard to extend my thoracic spine, isn’t lumbar extension a substitute for this? [/quote]
Excessive kyphosis and a tight chest/ weak back are not the same thing.
“Traditional wisdom” amongst lifters and some PTs for the last decade or so has been that most people present with an exaggerated kyphosis and lordosis, and this is what causes many of these issues. What many people are realizing now, however, is that what looks like an exaggerated kyphosis may actually be a flat and extended thoracic spine coupled with an inability to fill one or both chest walls with air. Again, respiration is key here. [/quote]
So is there a muscle imbalance at all then technically? Or did my body just forget to learn how to breath? What’s a cause of this then?
There may be muscular imbalances present, along with a positional problem being caused by respiratory mechanics. These issues are common and rooted in natural, normal patterns present in all humans.
If you are still struggling with these issues, I suggest finding a Postural Restoration Institute certified physical therapist to assess and help you in person. There is a directory on their website.
