Got a Tight Posterior?

One of the most common mobility issues I see is an excessively tight Posterior chain of the lower body .... glutes, hamstrings, and calves.

Can't touch your toes without bending your knees and rounding your back?  Is that a "bad" thing?  Wonder how you got that way and how to fix it?

Whether you are active or not , a tight lower posterior chain is absolutely a bad thing and sets you up for pain and injury.  At the very least, this issue is the main cause of lower back pain.  If that chain is tight, it will be pulling and straining the lower back 24 hours a day.  No wonder it hurts when you try to bend over to pick something up!

For highly active people, that tight chain is like operating your vehicle with the handbrake on.  You may be able to run and jump, but your performance will be reduced and you are slowly burning out the chain.  Your car's handbrake can easily be repaired, but your body is not so lucky.

Where did this tightness come from?  Mostly by sitting on your butt!  For most people, there are 16 hours each day to move.  How are those hours mostly spent?  Sitting at the breakfast table, sitting in the car to get to work, sitting at a desk, sitting in the car to get home, sitting at the dinner table, sitting on the couch to watch television and sitting at the (home) computer.  The body simply adapts to all those hours spent with bent knees and bad posture.

For more active people, most of the movement they DO participate in causes the posterior chain to stiffen up due to overuse.  Either way, very little time is spent offsetting the daily habits that cause the problem to begin with.

Think the answer is to stretch for 10 minutes a couple times a week?  Really?  There are 10,080 minutes in a week.  Do you suppose 20  minutes a week is going to offset what you do in the other 10,060 minutes?  What about spending 60 minutes, twice per week, stretching or doing something like Yoga?  That would certainly be better, but still not the appropriate solution.

Our body adapts to the daily stimulus we provide it.  It adapts far more quickly to regular stimuli throughout the day than it does to the occasional stimulus a couple times per week.  What is required to reverse the problem and prevent it from happening again is to change daily habits.

Move more regularly, change body position, sit less.  When you do sit, don't always sit in a chair.  Sit in a squat or sit with your legs straight out in front or in a straddle position (with a straight back).  Spend some time EVERY day moving with straight legs and with your hands on the floor (i.e. Bear Walk, Inch Worm, Dive Bomber).  Spend some time EVERY day stretching that posterior chain (i.e. Downward Dog, Seated Straddle, Standing Pike).  It doesn't have to be for 60 minutes at a time.  10 minutes, 2 or 3 times a day working on your mobility will go a long way to making a big difference!