hip-hinge

As we transition from the winter months into spring, many of us will search in our wardrobe for lighter weight clothing and perhaps some lighter colors. One thing we often overlook when it comes to choosing clothing is how it affects our posture—including whether it risks giving us back pain, or helps to resolve it.

In this blog post I would like to consider two main posture criteria when choosing pants: 

1. Do the pants allow healthy pelvic anteversion, or do they tuck your pelvis?
2. Do the pants allow healthy bending from the hips?

Tight-fitting jeans and pants may restrict the hips and tuck the pelvis. Pixabay

Do your pants allow for a healthy pelvic position, or tuck your pelvis?

Tucking the pelvis has been perpetuated by the fashion industry for over a century. Since the 1920s many modern clothes have been designed and modeled to reflect this fashionable pose, which has now become common in our culture. Unfortunately a tucked pelvis:

• Compresses your L5-S1 disc and nerves
• Compresses your pelvic organs
• Distorts your hip joints
• Rounds your upper body forward and/or sways your back

This French fashion magazine cover from the 1920s shows the new “relaxed” posture which translates as tucking the pelvis and slumping.

How fashion pants are cut to tuck

In the case of jeans and fitted pants, cutting them with less fabric in the rear means that the gluteal muscles don’t have enough room to settle naturally behind and the pelvis is forced into a tuck. With the glutes more underneath than behind (they are called your “behind” for good reason!), these muscles are mechanically disadvantaged. They will consequently work less well to propel you forward in walking, which causes a loss of muscle mass and a weaker, flatter butt. As clothing manufacturers then produce pants to fit this shape, the cycle is perpetuated.

Dress pants are usually designed to hang best on a tucked or retroverted pelvis, albeit less severely tucked than with tight jeans. They are usually tailored with a horizontal waistband. In the Gokhale Method® we teach that a naturally well-positioned pelvis is anteverted, which is best matched by a waistband that angles down slightly in the front, and a cut that is roomy behind.

Children, our ancestors, and people in traditional societies such as these Ubong tribesmen from Borneo, have the pelvic anteversion that is natural for our species—and report remarkably low levels of back pain. 

A tucked pelvis (a) compresses the front of the lower lumbar discs, and stretches the muscles and ligaments of the back. An anteverted pelvis (b) angles down at the front allowing the lower back to stack straight. This requires a healthy angle at the L5-S1 junction at the base of the spine.
Tilting the pelvis forward without a healthy L5-S1 (c) sways the back and compresses the back of the lumbar discs.

Choose pants that are designed to allow movement

In general, activewear such as pants for yoga, climbing, hiking, and horse riding will be better cut than fashion wear and allow for anteversion of the pelvis. Horse riding pants often have a generous amount of fabric in the seat as this sport generally encourages a high level of activity in the glutes and includes healthy instruction on pelvic position.

Two of Esther’s favorite pants are horse riding pants, manufactured by Horze. They are ideal for Gokhale Exercise sessions. (1-2-3 Move, Freedom in Clothing, September ‘22.)

Unfortunately, even clothing designed for exercise can reflect the same unhealthy form that dominates the fashion industry. Don’t assume that just because a pair of pants or leggings are sold for fitness and made from stretchy fabric that they won’t nudge you into a tuck.

We find many of our students have been misguidedly coached to maintain a tucked pelvis, especially in weight training and certain ab exercises. These students, eager to remain active but desiring to lose poor posture habits, respond especially enthusiastically to the cues we teach in our in-person Foundations course, one-day Pop-up course, and our online Elements course, and are able to maintain good posture habits in our Gokhale Exercise program.

Exercises done with a tucked pelvis and rounded back will reinforce poor postural habits and can damage the spinal discs and ligaments. Pexels

Do your pants pass the hip-hinge test?

Whenever you try a new pair of pants, give them the “hip-hinge test”. Hip-hinging is the way that you instinctively bent as a young child, and it is the way your ancestors bent. It continues to be used by people living in traditional societies around the world. Hip-hinging describes a forward bend that happens at the hips as the pelvis rotates on the thigh bones while the back remains straight, as opposed to a bend that happens in the spine and rounds the back. 

This painter is tucking his pelvis and rounding his back to bend. Pexels

This woman’s clothing allows her to externally rotate her legs, rotate her pelvis on her thigh bones, and keep her back straight. Drawing by Van Gogh, The Carrot Puller, 1885. Arctic

The major benefits of hip-hinging are that it preserves the spinal discs and nerves, mobilizes and lubricates the hip joint, and preserves natural hamstring length. By contrast, rounding the back damages the spinal discs, nerves, and ligaments, allows the hips to stiffen, and permits the hamstrings to adjust to a short resting length. 

In my field research and teaching, I see a strong correlation between those who bend well and those who live pain free well into old age, while those who round their backs often experience pain no matter how young they are. I’ve found that traditional and ancestral clothing tends to be looser to allow the freedom of movement needed to hip-hinge. 

These traditional hand embroidered Yao pants from the highlands of Thailand have a gusset in the center, allowing plenty of room for bending and stretching. (Alumni Live Chat, February ‘22.)

The hip-hinge test has two criteria—you want freedom of movement, plus you don’t want your intergluteal cleft (otherwise known as butt crack!) to be exposed.

It’s easy to spot when pants don’t allow enough room for bending and encourage the pelvis to tuck! Flikr

Having discovered the benefits of hip-hinging, many students find they no longer want to settle for restrictive pants or jeans. They usually consider getting rid of these items a good trade-off for the pain relief and increased function that comes with this change.

Are some brands better than others for healthy posture

It’s our company’s goal that one day unhealthily cut pants will not be viable in the marketplace—but we will need a few more years to get there! In the meantime, when you do find a really good fit, you might want to consider buying additional pairs to future-proof yourself against the vagaries of fashion. 

I generally steer clear of recommending brands because their styling can change. Also, what fits one person well may not work for another. That said, please comment below if you have a favorite brand or style that you have found to be posture-friendly.

Best next action steps for newcomers

If you would like insight on your posture, consider scheduling an Initial Consultation, online, or in person.

You can sign up below to join one of our upcoming FREE Online Workshops. . .

Having some asymmetry in our bodies is natural and by no means a problem… for example, the majority of us are either strongly right- or left-handed, and if we play soccer we soon discover that we have a preferred foot, too! This study shows that pelvic obliquity (often caused by legs of a slightly different length) is present in equal measure in people both with and without Lower Back Pain, and doesn’t seem to be a contributing factor to the problem of back pain.

A famous example of someone who had a big leg length discrepancy was Bruce Lee. It didn't hold him back very much! To quote him, "I became a martial artist in spite of my limitations. My left leg is almost one inch shorter than the right.  That fact dictated the best stance for me – my right foot leading. Then I found because the right leg was longer, I had an advantage with certain types of kicks, since the uneven stomp gave me greater impetus.”

Bruce Lee, who had almost a 1" leg length discrepancy, managed to go far nonetheless.

It is a good bet that having a dominant side is not a significant problem for humans, or we would likely have evolved to be more ambidextrous!

Pete Sampras showing great form. Playing tennis is a very asymmetric activity, but amateurs and professionals alike don't suffer from it in any obvious way.

As long as our bones and joints stay well aligned and our postural muscles are strong, moderate amounts of muscular asymmetry doesn’t seem to be problematic. However, if our posture and movement patterns have been poor, we are much more likely to develop shears or twists in our bodies, and suffer injury or uneven wear in the joints. Joints or muscles that remain unused because of pain or weakness can degenerate or atrophy, hindering the development of a strong postural base.

Because of this, it is worth observing our everyday movements. If you favor one side to the extent that one side of you becomes strong and the other noticeably weaker, or one side is flexible and the other stiff or uncomfortable, applying the Gokhale Method can help redress the balance:

Stretchlying on a Different Side
If it is suitable for your back, give a little more attention to stretchlying on your less favored side, where it is likely that your back muscles are tighter and shorter.

Stretchlying on your less favored side can help even your body out. 
 

Fine-tune Your Hiphinge

Make sure that:

1. Your weight is evenly distributed between your feet

2. Each knee is bent the same amount

3. Each thigh is externally rotated to the same degree

4. Most importantly, check that your pelvis and torso remain central and that you are not listing to one side.

Be sure that as you bend, your knees point in the same direction as the feet, and that you don't list to one side.

Glidewalking
When practicing your glute squeezes for glidewalking, usually by raising a leg behind you, it can be helpful to complete more reps on your weaker side. Same with the inchworm exercises for gaining foot strength.

Try to even out unevenness in the strength of your feet by doing more reps on the weak side.
 

Steps and Stairs
Make sure you do not always climb up steps and stairs with the same leg first. Alternate which leg you start with, and focus on pushing off from behind with the foot.

Alternating which leg you begin climbing stairs with helps eliminate a possible cause of muscle imbalance.

You may also notice that a movement flows well in one direction, and feels awkward in the other direction (for example, opening a door with your non-dominant hand). Practice switching sides from time to time. Beginning with a blank slate will help you reexamine and improve your movement pattern. Being somewhat ambidexterous can improve your overall muscular strength and be helpful in sports and everyday life; it can also help chart new and helpufl neural pathways in your brain.

Do you have activities in your life that are very asymmetric? Have they caused you problems or have you navigated them just fine?

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Find a Foundations Course in your area to get the full training on the Gokhale Method!  

We also offer in person or online Initial Consultations with any of our qualified Gokhale Method teachers.

Spring brings renewal. All around us the earth is alive with the sounds and smells of new life. As the weather grows more inviting, your yard and garden may be calling.  For many people, gardening and outdoor work are favorite pastimes, yet the fear of back pain can be inhibiting.  Let the Gokhale Method help you to thrive alongside your plants!

When planting flowers and digging in the dirt, use hip hinging to save your knees and lower back. Maintain your spinal shape as you bend from the hips. Take a wider stance to reach the ground more easily.  When you feel your hamstrings pulling, bend your knees to keep from tucking.  Check to see that your knees track over your feet and that your shoulders remain back for good blood flow to your arms and hands. Try resting one elbow or forearm on your thigh as the other hand performs your gardening tasks to reduce the demand on the muscles in your back.

 
Hip-hinging stretches the hamstring muscles, increasing their flexibility over time. 

Bend your knees as needed to accommodate tight hamstrings.

For pulling weeds or lifting anything heavy, engage your inner corset and take time to orient your body well. Stay close to the tool, flowerpot or stubborn weeds you are moving. When a task is within easy reach, you are more likely to use the deeper muscles in your back and abs and less likely to twist or distort your spine. For lifting very heavy items, bend your knees more and engage your gluteal and leg muscles. 

Pushing a heavy load is a great way to strengthen your gluteal muscles and improve your glidewalking form. When using a lawnmower or heavy wheelbarrow, squeeze your glutes extra hard to push your back leg into the ground and propel yourself forward. Earth is much more forgiving than pavement, giving you a chance to work on kidney bean shaping your feet and rolling the back foot from heel to toe as you push off.

This man maintains a J-spine shape and engages his gluteus muscles while pushing a heavy wheelbarrow. By doing so, he protects his spine and strengthens these key muscles.

If your knees are healthy, the “B” squat allows you to garden close to the ground while preserving a healthy back shape. Lift one heel off the ground, open your legs to help your pelvis antevert properly, and pivot from side to side so as not to fatigue the muscles of either leg. As with hiphinging, take care that your knees track over your feet. 

Gokhale Method teacher Charlene Hannibal keeps her shoulders back and her neck long as she practices a "B" squat, a healthy way of getting close to the ground.

If you are working on a stationary project, it may be useful to stacksit cross-legged with a wedge. Fold a blanket or mat to create the height that you need.  Sit on the edge of this “wedge” to maintain pelvic anteversion and stay upright and relaxed. Roll yours shoulder back, lengthen your neck and hip-hinge forward to tend to garden tasks.

In people who have tucked their pelvis for years, the surrounding tissues have adapted to this architecture. The muscles and ligaments in the groin, as well as the hamstrings, tend to be short and tight. A wedge compensates for this distorted baseline position and allows you to stack your spine effortlessly and comfortably on its base, and you can sit for extended periods in one position.

Check in periodically with your body. Often when we get involved with consuming activities, our bodies slip back into old habits.  Remember to open your chest and breathe deeply, so earth smells and oxygen flow freely into your system. Take time to enjoy your surroundings. After a day’s work you will feel renewed, refreshed and left with a “good” sore rather than laid up with an aching back!

Best,
Esther

Join us in an upcoming Free Workshop (online or in person).  

Find a Foundations Course in your area to get the full training on the Gokhale Method!  

We also offer in person or online Initial Consultations with any of our qualified Gokhale Method teachers.

A pain in the neck really can be a pain in the neck! Here are some tips on how to address this annoying problem:

1. Stretch it out.

• When you lie on your back, stretch the back of your neck out as you lay your head on the pillow. This way the pillow can help lengthen any tense muscles in your neck.
• When you drive, use the headrest to stretch the back of your neck out.

2. Know which way is up.

• Grasp a good-sized clump of hair at the base of your skull and gently pull back and up allowing your chin to angle downward in a relaxed way.
• Place a small pillow on the top of the head (on the slightly sensitive spot where your fontanel used to be) - this marks the axis along which to align your neck and back.

Notice the alignment of this girl's head with
her torso as she hip-hinges to pound her millet

3. Keep the spine aligned

• When sleeping on your side at night, use one large or two small pillows so your head does not flop too far out of alignment with the rest of the spine.
• When bending, do not lead with the head as this encourages a head-forward baseline position.

4. Check your base.

The root of many neck problems is in the pelvis, the foundation for your entire spine.

• Sit with your tail out behind you instead of under you.
• Stand with your tail behind you instead of between your legs. 

5. Roll your shoulders back.

Periodically throughout the day, and as preparation for driving and keyboarding, roll your shoulders back into a healthy position. Having your shoulders back and down helps your trapezius muscle keep a healthy baseline, which helps your neck. (Click here for a free download on how to do a shoulder roll from my book 8 Steps to a Pain Free Back)

6. Use your muscles, spare your joints.

• When walking, engage your buttock (gluteus) muscles to soften your landing. You don’t want your neck (or any of your weight-bearing structures) to experience an earthquake with every step you take. Bonus: making every step a rep will give you a well-toned behind and will make your walk more graceful.
• If you are jogging or riding in a bumpy bus, imagine you are carrying a significant weight on your head and push up against it. You will be engaging your longus colli muscle and sparing your neck discs and nerves unnecessary wear and tear.

Here's to a healthy neck!
Esther

Join us in an upcoming Free Workshop (online or in person).  

Find a Foundations Course in your area to get the full training on the Gokhale Method!  

We also offer in person or online Initial Consultations with any of our qualified Gokhale Method teachers.

I'm reaching out to pregnant women today, because I've been reflecting on a clinical study that captures the scope of the problem of lower back (lumbar) pain in expectant mothers and because I have all too vivid memories of how lower back and sciatic pain affected me when I was nine-months pregnant with my first child. This crippling pain continued for a year, at which point I had back surgery that provided only temporary relief. This painful chapter in my life is what started me on my path to understanding the causes and treatments for back pain.

Lower back pain and pregnancy--it's a problem!

If you're pregnant and have lower back pain, you're not alone. A 2004 study (Low back pain during pregnancy: prevalence, risk factors, and outcomes) published by Yale researchers in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology found that nearly 70% of the 645 pregnant women responding to a 36-question survey reported lower back pain during their current pregnancy. The researchers also found that:

• Pregnant women who have experienced lower back pain prior to their current pregnancy (e.g., during their periods, during a previous pregnancy, prior to ever becoming pregnant) are particularly susceptible to lower back pain
• Lower back pain disturbed the sleep of 58% of study respondents
• Lower back pain negatively impacted the daily lives of 57% of the women surveyed
• Two-thirds of women surveyed in this study did not share back-pain problems with their pre-natal caregivers and--if and when they did--only one-quarter of  these caregivers recommended any kind of treatment

Because I know that lower back pain in pregnancy is a manageable and in most instances a preventable problem, it's of course best if women who plan to become pregnant prepare their bodies for the dramatic physical, musculoskeletal, and hormonal changes that lie ahead. This, as the study confirms, is especially important for women with a history of back pain. But because so many expectant mothers are--at this very minute!--experiencing lower back pain and, in many instances, not seeking or receiving help, this is the topic I'll focus on for now.

The lumbar spine is the region of the spine between the rib cage and the pelvis

Body stressors during pregnancy

I'll start by stating the obvious: During pregnancy a woman's body undergoes a number of changes, many that are inherently stressful. These of course include:

• Extra weight
• A shift in the center of gravity
• The impact of of the hormone relaxin on ligaments

If, as we consider the lumbar region of the body, we reference the very pregnant Mandy in the photo just below, we can begin to imagine why lower back pain can be a problem for some 70% of expectant mothers.

Mandy at 39 weeks + 4 days

By allowing the weight in her expanded belly to pull her lumbar spine into an exaggerated arch, Mandy is shifting her center of gravity forward, with the result that not only is there too much arch in her spine, there's too much weight on the front of her feet. To counter the arching of her spine and to lengthen and flatten the lumbar region, Mandy would need to use her internal oblique muscles to rotate her ribcage forward. This action, which is vital to proper alignment of the spine and good posture, is what I call "anchoring" the ribs. (Rib anchoring is discussed in greater detail and demonstrated in the video, below.)

What's healthy about Mandy's posture is that she is anteverting, or tilting forward, her pelvis. An anteverted pelvis helps prevent lower back pain because it allows for a natural stacking of the vertebrae, as well as a healthy alignment of the spine over the legs.

Extra weight

Where Does the Extra Weight Go During Pregnancy? (WebMD helpfully breaks this down.)

• Baby: 8 pounds
• Placenta: 2-3 pounds
• Amniotic fluid: 2-3 pounds
• Breast tissue: 2-3 pounds
• Blood supply: 4 pounds
• Larger uterus: 2-5 pounds
• Stored fat for delivery and breastfeeding: 5-9 pounds

   Total: 25-35 pounds

Extra weight and foot structure. I've know for a long time that weight gain from pregnancy (in concert with the effects of the hormone relaxin) impact the feet and can increase a woman's shoe size by half a size or more, so it was interesting to review results of a study published in the March 2013 issue of the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. The study, Pregnancy leads to lasting changes in foot structure, reports that for 60% to 70% of the 49 participants, their feet became longer and wider and, on average, the height and rigidity of their arches significantly decreased. Study authors also observed that the loss of arch height seems to be permanent, and that the first pregnancy may have the most significant impact on the feet.

Center of gravity

With pregnancy comes a shift in the center of gravity that can be compensated for with good movement patterns and by engaging the internal oblique muscles, which run along the side of the abdomen at about the level of the waist. These muscles can be used to flex the thorax forward and prevent the lower back from arching.  (The thorax is the part of the body between between the neck and the abdomen.) By rotating the ribcage forward and, once again, lengthening and flattening the lower back to "anchor" the ribs, even women well advanced in their pregnancy can maintain a comfortable center of gravity. Shifting the weight back solidly on the heels is also a good thing, because it counters distortion in alignment, while also offering the advantage of not overspreading the feet, which can result in loss of structure.

Relaxin

Pregnant women need to take especially good care of their ligaments because the hormone relaxin, which is produced by the ovaries and the placenta and which helps prepare the expectant mother's pelvis for delivery, also works to remodel other soft tissues, cartilage, and ligaments in the body. As a result, pregnant women are at risk of losing structure--for example (and as described above), in the feet.

The seated woman has made room for her belly, but by leaning so far back she strains her neck and her back. Visual cueing for poor posture surrounds this woman--as it surrounds us all!

Lower back pain and pregnancy--some solutions!

Authors of the "Low back pain in pregnancy" study, cited above, also make the point that lower back pain can start at any point during pregnancy. This means that whether a woman is one-month pregnant or on the cusp of giving birth, she may be experiencing pain in her lower back pain--pain the Gokhale Method helps address.

Healthy spinal curvature, as shown here, can be maintained throughout a pregnancy.

The good news is that by making adjustments women at every stage of pregnancy can prevent lower back pain from occurring, or--if pain is already an issue--take real steps to manage this pain.

Six tips

1. Anchor your ribs
2. Engage your inner corset
3. Hinge your hips when you bend
4. Stack your weight over your heels
5. Engage your gluteus medias muscles when you walk
6. Stretchlie on your side with supportive pillow

While the suggestions I outline in this post can begin to make a difference, much more can be gained from enrolling in the Gokhale Method Foundations Course, watching the DVD Back Pain: The Primal Posture Solution, and reading (and repeatedly referencing) 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back. ('Where to learn more' details are provided at the bottom of this post.)

1. Anchor your ribs

With regard to the rib anchor, it's important to know that the ever-growing baby is potentially pulling the mother's back into an arch. An expectant mother who gives in to this pull will be increasingly swaying her back, which can cause lower back pain and other problems. Anchoring the ribs involves keeping the lower border of the rib cage flush with the abdomen. This lengthens the back and helps to frame and lengthen the lumbar spine. By engaging internal oblique muscles as the baby gets bigger, the expectant mother not only reduces the risk for lower back pain, she also gets very valuable abdominal muscle exercise during pregnancy. This not only negates the problem of lower back pain, it makes pregnancy an opportunity to strengthen abdominal muscles, rather than a liability to lose muscle tone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLrBJzrMTxA

Keeping abdominal muscles nicely toned before during and after pregnancy perhaps even more ties in with engaging the inner corset, which is at the core of Tip Number 2.

2. Engage your inner corset 

Anchoring the ribs and periodically engaging the inner corset--that is, contracting the deep muscles in the abdomen and back to lengthen and support the spine--is the ticket to well-toned abdominal muscles before, during, and after pregnancy. No matter how pregnant a woman is, these muscles can be entirely engaged, which is especially beneficial, given that the usual abdominal exercises--for example, lying on the back and doing crunches--are not recommended.

© Gokhale Method: Inner-corset muscles should not be engaged all the time, however. Instead, pregnant women (and everyone else!) will benefit from contracting deep back and abdominal muscles, off and on, over the course of the day.

3. Hinge your hips when you bend

Everybody needs to hip-hinge when they bend, but this is especially important for pregnant women. This is because lowering the body by bending with the knees and curving the back (as is so common in our culture) puts added stress on the spinal discs at a time when the discs are already being challenged by the additional weight of the pregnancy.  Keep in mind that the front of each disc in the curve being formed when the back is bent is compressed, pushing the contents of the discs backward, toward the spinal nerves. All authorities agree that this is a risky direction to distort the spine. The features of hip-hinging especially important for pregnant women are to get the legs externally rotated and set apart in a wide stance, so that when they hinge forward, there's room for the belly to settle between the legs. In other words, the legs have to be out of the way, so that the belly can settle between them. If the the knees are not externally rotated, but facing in, then the thighbones will interfere with the torso settling.

Janine Farzin, soon-to-be Gokhale-Method teacher-in-training, hiphinges in Chicago

Because so much bending is involved in motherhood, a very good time to master hiphinging is before and during pregnancy. Doing so will prepare the expectant mother for all the bending that is to come.

4. Stack your weight over your heels

Positioning the pelvis so that it's slightly tipped forward (anteverted) allows for a natural stacking of vertebrae without muscle strain. Vertebral stacking is important for everyone, but a for a pregnant woman carrying extra weight and with an altered center of gravity, it's really essential. Not only does healthy stacking yield good posture that leaves spinal discs decompressed, it also protects ligamental integrity. Ligaments already loosened by the hormone relaxin are less likely to be taxed when bones are correctly stacked. This will also help protect the feet, which--as noted above--are at risk of losing structure.

5. Engage your gluteus medias muscles when you walk

Engaging the gluteus medius, the muscle located in the upper, outer quadrant of the buttocks, helps prevent lower back pain[/caption] Our "glutes," or buttocks, are made up of three major muscles: the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus. Located in the upper, outer quadrant of the buttocks, the gluteus medius is the "middle" muscle, the one that moves the leg to the side and rotates the thigh. Gluteus medius weakness--a study. Because engagement of the gluteus medius plays such an essential role in a healthy kind of walking I have dubbed 'glidewalking,' and because this muscle also plays an essential role in healthy, pain-free posture, I was very interested to learn that researchers at the University of Iowa Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation conducted a study that found a strong correlation between lower back pain in pregnant women and weakness of the gluteus medius. Specifically their 2009 pilot study, Association between gluteus medias weakness and low back pain during pregnancy, found that "pregnant women with gluteus medius weakness were roughly 6 to 8 times more likely to have low back pain than those without weakness." The findings confirm what I have long known from my own research and practice--that strengthening and regularly engaging the gluteus medius is really key.

6. Stretchlie on your side with supportive pillow

Stretchlying on the side--that is, lying with a lengthened back, anteverted pelvis, and knees slightly bent--represents an opportunity to restore healthy architecture during sleep and reinforce the neural pathways that will help create muscle memory for a healthy J-shaped spine (as opposed to a curved C-shaped spine or an over-arched S-shaped spine). Not only does stretchling on the side decompress discs and improve circulation when the expectant mother is at rest or asleep, it also helps create muscle memory for an anterverted pelvis and lengthened spine when she's up and about. For women unaccustomed to what good posture feels like, healthy muscle memory can be hugely helpful. Because the extra weight in the belly tends to pull the expectant mother's spine out of alignment, tucking a soft pillow in under the belly will help her resist the pull of gravity and maintain a neutral position. During pregnancy, anything that spares pull on the skin, muscles, flesh, ligaments, and spine, is a very good thing.

When pregnant and stretchlying on the side, it's important to tuck a soft pillow in under the belly

Model this!

Pregnant women experiencing lower back pain might help themselves by taking posture cues from these illustrations:

This very pregnant figure models very nearly perfect posture[/caption] The image above captures very nice pregnant posture. The woman's back is not significantly arched, her spine is more or less J-shaped, and her shoulders are rolled back.

This French anatomical drawing from 1925 depicts a healthy neutral spine

The illustration just above provides another excellent model for how a pregnant woman can stand without arching her back. Plucked from a 1925 French anatomy book, this image lets me know that the French at that time had right idea about healthy curvature of the spine!

Where to learn more?

The six-session Gokhale Method Foundations Course helps people, including pregnant women, improve their structure and function as they engage in everyday activities.  While my book,  8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back, is most helpful when it's read in its entirety, the following pages expand on the tips outlined in this post:

• Rib Anchor: 39, 84, 140, 198
• Inner Corset: 110,-127, 144, 153, 162-163, 190
• Hiphinging: 150-167
• Stack your weight over your heels:46-47, 138, 142
• Engage gluteus medius muscles when you walk: 168-194
• Stretchlie on your side with supportive pillow: 94-109

The DVD Back Pain: The Primal Posture Solution also features relevant training, including segments on:

• Stretchsitting: Use the back of your chair to decompress your spinal discs and transform sitting into a healthy, therapeutic activity
• Inner Corset: Learn to engage your deep back and abdominal muscles to protect your spine
• Hip-hinging: Protect your spine and knees by learning to bend at the hips
• Stacksitting: Learn how to sit anywhere without slouching, pain or tension
• Tallstanding: Stack your bones well and prevent wear and tear
• Stretchlying: Decompress your spinal discs and nerves while you sleep
• Glidewalking: Learn to walk in a controlled series of forward propulsions that spares the joints

Photo and Video Credits:

The Happy Mother: Johann Anton de Peters, Wikimedia Commons Lumbar Region of the Human Skeleton: Wikimedia Commons Female Back Nude: oil on canvas: Jozsef Rippi-Ronai, Public Domain Mandy at 39 weeks + 4 days: Danielle deLeon, Wikimedia Commons Janine hip hinging: Courtesy of Janine Farzan, Chicago Equadorian figure of a pregnant woman: Walkers Art Museum, Wikimedia Commons Pregnant woman seated on bench: Peter va der Sluijs, Wikimedia Commons Healthy Spinal Curvature Throughout Pregnancy: Public Domain Gokhale Moment, Rib Anchor: © Gokhale Method Gluteus Medius: Creative Commons Model Maria Pesotskaya resting on her side: Anna Kosali, www.annakosali.com, Wikimedia Commons Pregnant Woman Facing Right: Public Domain French Anatomical Drawing, 1925: Public Domain