I sometimes go to Yoga classes, but I don’t really do any of the poses. It looks like this.
But definitely, not this.
or even this.
Truly, I am there for the music, relaxation, and positive vibes. Once the yoga teacher asked, “Why I don’t try harder.” I responded, ”I live and die off tension.” She laughed courteously and made some sort of off handed joke as this ideology was completely foreign to her. Like it or not, as a weightlifter or just a human being you are a huge network of length tension relationships. Perhaps, the best example for this is the pelvis – which is three bones fused together, without muscles, ligaments, and fascia it would just float around somewhere in our midsection. Luckily not many of us are balls of jello with bones like mandarin oranges.
To keep things simple, let’s think of the pelvis as the mast of a ship. What keeps that mast from buckling to one side or the other – equal tension from each direction. On the front of your pelvis you have the hip flexors (again oversimplifying here). On the back you have the hamstrings. If the hamstrings get too loose (past 90 degrees in a straight leg raise) your pelvis will tip forward (anterior pelvis tilt) and give the hip flexors leverage. They will pull you farther into this anterior pelvis tile or extension, your breathing patterns will or were all effed up and this will keep pulling you forward. You could also be a person where both sides of this mast are too tight and now there is just too much tension and you are probably very fragile – in this case specific yoga movements may be a great idea for you (to a point) because you are a walking, talking ball of knotted up nastiness that needs some body work and a lot of foam rolling and pointed mobility work.
Back to the yoga teacher who had zero hamstring tension…zilch.
Feet to head, yet she didn’t even feel this was enough and she is not alone. She was asking me about a pain in her Left Hip which was directly caused by a lack of bilateral hamstring tension and thus a pelvis that was pitched forward (and oriented to the right) and creating a host of problems down the chain – the hip and ankle primarily.
This idea is so foreign to her that it may never take hold. Wait I need tension?
Yup!
Now yoga is not alone in this land of overstretching – if you eval any female gymnast you will find the same thing and if you are really interested in this topic check out this post from Steve Cuddy which was in last month’s issue of Austin Fit. Now these overstretched anterior pelvic tilt humans/athletes may not become pathological (have problems or pain) for a quite a while AKA they can live in this over extended position for a long long time and not see ramifications.
Kelly Starrett built an entire platform on seeking out and destroying tension (naughty bits), but if you go see him in person I can guarantee that he is more after you clearing your tissue than just making everything loose – there is a very big difference. He did an amazing job of making mobility work digestible, accessible, and general (like this post), this inevitably means that things will be left out. An important point here is that it is much harder to get unloose than it is to gain mobility. So be careful and don’t automatically think you need to stretch something, especially if it is tight. Tight muscles that are locked long are a recipe for a catastrophic blow out.
Now to the real debacle that gets many people’s panties in a bunch - mobility is highly regulated by the Central Nervous System. This is why if someone gets put under general anesthesia they immediately get way more range of motion. Now here is where we get into the mobility stability continuum and we really get into breathing patterns and mechanics which regulate the CNS. There is the potential to go down a rabbit hole here and thus, I always try to keep the answer as simple as possible by asking, “What is the least I can do for the greatest benefit?” Could I stretch someone’s hamstring and/or hip flexors for 20 minutes or spend two minutes in a breathing drill that “resets” mobility and then have them move in that new ROM in a stable, safe fashion. They likely will not keep all of this new movement, but they will keep some and this is when we talk about moving 3 steps forward and two steps back. Will they need mobility work and stretching – Likely. Will they need breathing work and help getting out of sympathetic dominance – Yes. The mobility stability question is always a process and as a coach, bodyworker, or client you are continuously fighting resting tension, breathing patterns, and habits. Yet, the key to fixing people long term is education and awareness, not just a lacrosse ball and all the stretching.
By Ben House Ph.D. Candidate, FDN, fNMT
*A side note - Yoga is powerful and I believe a yoga practice can be incredibly healing. My wife is a yoga teacher and has a very anatomy and science focused brain which runs circles around mine and is adds great balance to go with her Yoga education. She is also competitive and very adept at being upside down. She knows that sometimes what she does may not be the best for her positions long term and it may have side effects, yet this is what she loves and she will continue to get better and work through problems as they come. She also doesn’t load up her body with hundred of pounds which is helpful for her longevity. Additionally, yogis are some of the nicest and kindest people I have ever met. This post is not a slight against that at all. It is just a discussion of themes that seem to be pervasive in both fitness and yoga.
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