IN PRACTICE
Balance at the hip joint should also include the way this joint functions in sitting (Figure 1). Below the hip joints are our sit bones or rockers. When we sit, our weight delivers down the front of the lumbar spine, through the pelvic arch and to the rockers. With our weight forward and off our lower back we can easily rock our torso forward and back from this place. Also, because our hip joints are higher than our rockers, we can easily move our legs in many directions from a balanced sitting position. (Organists take note.)
Figure 1: Hip Joints and Sitting Bones
weight deliver down the front of the lumbar spine— behind your belly button! Refer to balance place number two on the balance mascot (Figure 2). You may feel like you are leaning forward now, but take a look in the mirror. Walking backward is another way to help you get familiar with this truth of weight delivery. Spend some time, days or weeks, getting comfortable with the new kinesthetic sensations you are experiencing by correcting your body map.
Tree: Balance at the Hip Joint
Body Mapping always refers to hip joints and not hips. Te hip joint is where the leg meets the pelvis. We move both our legs and our torso from the hip joints. Find your hip joint along your side seams; they are side-facing joints. Tis joint is often much lower than you think. Feel the movement there by marching the legs or swinging them from side to side. Tere is also a rotation of the leg, both internal and external, at the hip joint.
When mapping hip joints, we often have to counteract the idea of a waist. A waist exists only for our clothing. We can bend at the waist, but that is because our spines are mobile. Tere is no waist joint in the body.
Te coordination of the hip joints with balance over the front of the lumbar spine can have a profound impact on our balance and consequently our movement. If your back is sore from standing for long periods of time, inquire into your body map of these areas. If you are having trouble balancing over the front of the lumbar, you may need to clarify the map of your hip joint and first find easy movement there.
Four: Balance at the Knee
Many people do not have a problem locating their knee joint, but they will benefit from the realization that the movement occurs at the place where the femur meets the tibia, not at the kneecap. Te kneecap is closer to the femur and is nestled in the tendons of muscles that move the knee. Te knee is a gliding joint. If you need to remap this area, bend and unbend your knee while palpating it from the back of the joint.
Knees can be locked, balanced or bent. Knees lock in order to keep us from falling over. If we want to stand without locking our knees, we need to make adjustments elsewhere in the body. Usually these adjustments are at the hip joint and balance through the front of the lumbar vertebrae. Experiment with going in and out of balance at the lumbar spine and hip joint and notice what happens at the knee joint. When balanced, knees should feel buoyant and springy. Don't forget to check in with the balance of the head as well.
Five: Balance at the Ankle
Te ankle is where the two leg bones meet the top of the foot. Weight is delivered down the front of the leg, through the ankle, through the arches of the feet to the floor. An accurate map of the ankle and the movement there can be critical for those who pedal. A common mismapping is to map the weight delivery through the back of the leg and the movement of the ankle as happening at the heel. Discomfort in the leg while pedaling is often the result of an inaccurate map of the ankle joint.
38
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
