AlexanderEgebak

From a lifetime of swimming against the current of my true self, metaphorically speaking.

So, an update is in order. On a general note my pelvis feels less rigid, and I suspect that it might have shifted "into a less tension generating position". This is expressed through the hip flexor/RF stretches where I experience less of a block and more of a stretch, though the tension still varies notably compared to the left side. I have also experienced improvement in my Bulgarian split squats. I had, and still have, a tendency to internally rotate my hips, shift weight bearing medially, do a small arch and side bent. As a result of addressing this I am gradually targeting the evasive right gluteus medius while also having a more pronounced posterior pelvic tilt and control of the movement. In my pancake stretches the pattern of internal rotation is also present, in addition to some degree of adduction of the hip and lateral shifting/glide of the bottom vertebrae. My primary focus is to force external rotation of th hips and maintain firm contact to the floor with the glutes. This results in cramping of gluteus medius as well as a strong sensation of stretch-related tension at the estimated site of the origin of gracillis. A pleasant sensation though its painful. Any specific comments or suggestions to the above? You suggest I may be carrying a lot of tension which is absolutely true in my opinion! Even though I have become very flexible by the standards of most people, with the exception of a few specific sticking points, I still have a lot of tension which may not just be genetic, but also emotional/mental. I am addressing these separately but seeing how I responded to the singing exercise I may focus more on somatic emotional release.

I see the problem! Pushing then comes from the abs, especially the lower sections were targeted specifically in my case. Does this clear the confusion?

So... Progress comes with the least expected interventions. I am attending singing lessons and one focus we recently had is diaphragmic activation, stretching through load and static compression to support vocalization. One exercise we had recently was announced to be a brutal one; to potentially be able to elicit emotional responses, hypothesized being due to a physical release of tension, the brain associating said tension and the loss there of with emotions. The exercise was to inhale with resistance by biting over a ball and then readjusting to completely block the air track afterwards. Now one needs to push with the diaphragm with 100% force, focusing on relaxing the neck, strongly posterior tilting of the pelvis and engaging the lower portions of the core muscles and then holding for a while. We did this 10x 30 seconds of the exercise in total. Then went on to singing. I already felt weird after the lesson. And the next hours going into the next 2-3 days I was extremely anxious, full of physical and mental unrest and being unable to recollect my self and bridge the gap between my emotions and thoughts. Anxiety is not new to me but this didnt have a specific internal trigger, leading me to believe that this happened through the diaphragm exercise. The following days I also noticed an ease with which I could tilt my pelvis, less lower back tension, easier to rest without twisting in seated positions, less soreness from lying down in bed... Its now a week ago so Im positive this had a specific lasting effect. The only symptom that did NOT change to the better is the numbness following the pattern of the sciatic nerve where I still feel unrest from the back of the pelvis through the glutes and reaching downwards to my heel and toes. My thoughts are that my biomechanics changed a bit for the better, though Im still feeling "uneven". The nerve might still be irritated (no pain though, only unrest) and possibly impinged, through either muscle tension or biomechanics, and giving time and progress these kind of symptoms might change. I have not yet attempted the exercise in question again because I want to feel comfortable being able to deal with a renewed emotional release since it likely may happen again.

If that is true, I am simply not commited to the entirity of the process of establishing a regular habit of mindfullness practice. Regardless of it being true or not (I feel its a bit black and white), my stance is that I need a better starting point with energy and confidence to stay persistent. And exactly that may be part of the journey towards actually attempting to establish a habit. I think you are misunderstanding me. Grinding out means, to me, just putting in the work - before evaluation the effects of the stretches and strength exercises with the starting point. I am evaluating my body all the time during training, but I am not evaluating in the context of seeing long term/permanent results. To me, stretching is all about feeling, as you say. And to let yourself be guided by "positive" sensations of stretch and tension related pains. In the light of strength work, I always watch my form and in this case I am "grinding" my form to a perfect. Right side is the longer leg with experienced glute weakness. I have yet noticed a significant difference in hamstring/quad strength. I have also starting doing SI-joint tractions lying supine in a doorway with one foot up on the frame which creates a vertical pulling force. This relieves some of the tightness around the right hip temporarily

Thank you for your kind words and for talking into some of my situation. I understand your points. I want to set myself up for success. Creating new habits have always been difficult for me, and now especially, unless I really felt the urge and meaning before even starting it up. Even so, this sometimes come on the expense of either existing habits or the new habit failing due to a lack of motivation. I know that meditation can provide what is claimed by you, Kit and Olivia. It comes down to managing my priorities because failing to establish the habit will worsen the conditions of restarting and retrying. I have managed to integrate stretching protocols and unilateral leg strength work. I can feel that, especially on the right side, something is happening to the pelvis. I am not exactly experiencing a stretch on the right side around the psoas and rectus femoris. I am moreso experiencing a release of tightness around the pelvis and then feeling lighter at the end of the session. Being only 1 month in to the stretching its too early to comment on its effectiveness for now. But the sensation of pain during and the relief/calm after seem positive. I am, however, experiencing increasing numbness in the heel, sensations to my toes and tension in my lower back. This increasing numbness is not directly affected by either exercising or not. I am suspecting that blood flow or nerves are being compressed, perhaps due to pelvic movement which may be facilitated by the new stretching and strengtening protocols. For strength training I am doing both single leg squats and bulgarian split squats and closing in to RPE 7-8. I feel weak on my right side, especially the glutes, and noticed I am attempting compensation from twisting the movement which Im aware of. I am expecting just to grind these out for a few months while focusing on form before I can evaluate them properly. Are the unilateral exercises sufficient, or should I add or change the exercises?

Thank you both for your inputs. Olivia, thank you for chiming in. You stress the importance of balancing out the asymmetry that accumulates in your body throughout the years, especially if you are performing load bearing activities that force physical adaptations. I appreciate that you elaborate on Kit's point about needing unilateral strength work which (lower body work in general) is something I have been shoving away for a very long time. Lots of things are requiring my attention in my life currently which means that establishing new habits are currently very demanding to me, exhausting so to say. The low hanging fruits to me seem like incorporating the psoas stretching in my already existing stretching routine and adding 1-2 unilateral loaded exercises, perhaps split squats and single leg deadlifts. And then, as things become habit, I can climb further up the tree and follow those of your recommendations that I perceive as more demanding to integrate.

Thank you for taking your time to write such a detailed response! - Regarding the relaxation practice: This is another argument that piles up to begin relaxation practice. At some point I know I will budge once energy and time allows for creating some lasting habits with regards to this. Your arguments makes sense and learning to relax and let go of tension may reduce irritability and heighten awareness towards a relaxed posture and sense of comfort within my body. - Regarding the stretching advice: When I am doing the combined hip flexor stretch, I notice difficulty reaching the point of the psoas being stretched. What I think is happening is that as I am stretching my right front side, my spine arches and tilts to compensate and the posterior tilt is disallowed. The posterior tilt is easier to perform on the left side but feels blocked and tense on the right side. Of course, I will experiment on this further but I am worried that this stretching might worsen the scoliosis. When I am doing my singing practice this is exactly also what I am experiencing trying to posteriorly tilt: Experienced tightness and stiffness on the right side; left side nothing. The explanation makes sense, also with regards to the tightness and rigidity of the pelvis and hips and why I sometimes feel imbalance, fragility and a lack of stability. However, this feeling has persisted for as long as I remember. All the way back to when I was 3-5 years old and was learning to swim; kicking unevenly with my legs during breaststroking. I cant help but feel as if another component might also have driven the development of what I am experiencing today. - Regarding heel elevation: I rarely train in shoes and rarely do lower body strength exercises as my focus is primarily on calisthenics and upper body strength training. Lower body development mostly comes from stretching, handstand work and general sports activities I casually engage in. I will look into a sole for elevation. - Regarding lower body unilateral training: Seeing that I dont engage in lower body strengthening exercises would you still recommend unilateral strength training? My go-to exercise regiment right now are weighted pull ups, weighted dips, seated dumbell overhead press, bent over front rows, standing biceps curls coupled with handstand and gymnastics related mobility work. - Further findings I wanted to elaborate: Numbness and discomfort felt in the right heel, tingling sensations down my leg to my toes. Right side spinal stiffness probably going all the way up to the neck. Tense right side buttock muscles which are slightly atrophied compared to left side; less tight, more mass. Tendency to want to lean on my left leg. Stiffness in the spine from standing or walking as early as after 30 minutes. Tendency to always change posture, assymmetrical sleeping, sitting and standing postures.

I have given this some thought and tried the test. I also had a chiropractor do standardized standing and seated hip flexion tests to measure leg length difference. The result: The chiropractor suggests a 1cm leg length difference. He also noticed sacroilliac "rigidity" and stiffness. The test at hand: Doing the weight shifts I feel more comfortable on the left side and unstable, tense and out of place on the right side. The instability persists even through a very slight elevation corresponding to the assumed leg length difference. The heavy weight bearing argument makes sense seeing how Im still lifting heavy weights. Also realizing that through hip rotation stretches like the tailor pose variations I may inadvertedly have pushed for spinal scoliosis rather than hip rotation flexibility. I would also underline the fact that my hip has always felt a bit "out of place"; since forever. I feel as if it has been exaggerated through these last 10 years though, unfortunately.

I am a qualified physiotherapist /even though Im not practicing anymore), and I am updated on some of their perspectives, but not all. I noticed that I have a tendency to lean to the left and feel a bit unstable if I even I am resting evenly on both feet. The "raised hip" is a feeling I have, as if something is twisted, raised, rotated out of place. The closest I get to a regular relaxation practice is posture and breath work I do in between singing lessons

Hello everybody. I used to be active here some 5-7 years ago and remember how helpful people were back then. I have had some trouble navigating my appearance in online communities so here I am trying to find my balance. The last years I have been going heavy with focus on strength training while flexibility while also maintaining my flexibility. The last few years though I have noticed an increased irritability in my body. Particularly related to spinal issues/Hip/SI-joint imbalances. I have spent a great deal analyzing the issue (and being practically in paralysis by my analysis - former physiotherapist nerding it out) so I figured maybe some of you could kick some cold logic through my thick head so say. Most important physical findings: - functional scoliosis to the right side with obliques and q. lumborum pulling ribs lower and maybe raising hip slightly - mobilizations, manipulations and massage temporarely reduce tension and adjust posture - muscle strength tests at various muscle lengths show no nervous inhibition - stretching feels "stiff" and relieves tension to allow more range of motion. it is not a stretching sensation but rather a sense of stiffness leaving the body - right hip locked solid during attempts internally rotate hips. it has always done this. as a child I remember kicking unevenly with my legs while swimming. Flexibility: - Close to a full pancake and full pike when warmed up - Bridge is decent after warmup though spinal tension holds me back rather than a lack of flexibility - Split when fully warmed up is 30cm from the floor with my thighs - Most difficult positions are inner thigh and piriformis stretches. movement is mostly in the spine which makes me hesitant to pursue in order to not stretch myself further into a scoliosis - front split also not too great and also feels very different side to side due to inherently differently felt biomechanics. I think that is the most important information. Some health care professionals have hinted at the issues stemming from some kind of auto-immune reaction. That only partly makes sense to me is not too helpful. So in essence, while my puzzle to me is unsolvable, and it might be for you too, maybe you could help me with exercise selection based on the above information?

I agree that there is too much emphasis on the physical mechanisms of what exactly is going on. The clinical phenomenon of a 'release' is real, of course, you only need to see a few examples of it happening. As you have done. However, what is seen by eyes, felt by hands and experienced via perception is not evidence to what is actually going on beneath your hands; in the skin, muscles, fascia, bones and the nervous system. The inherint risk of a post hoc, ergo prompter hoc-fallacy is even higher through a confirmation bias where many instances of the same phenomenon is happening and the same conclusion is being drawn. The burden of proof lies with the ones claiming that fascial release is happening through a mechanical mechanism. And given the force needed to seperate fascia, I believe it is an extraordinary claim to say that hands can mechanically seperate fascia when 1) hands are not able to produce much force, and 2) the force is being applied to and absorbed by many of the underlying structures. Extraordinary require extraordinary evidence, and I will refer to Hitchen's Razor: 'What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence'. I find the neurobiological explanation much more plausible with the absence of any actual evidence @Jim Pickles I am not being entirely dismissive about the point about seperation vs elongation of fascia. But I still see it as unlikely. It could be interesting to have an ultrasound device scanning mid-release although that does not do much to confirm the hypothesis anyway, I guess.

On the topic of dropping strength training sessions I feel like I need to drop an entire strength/hypertrophy cycle before I can make progress with stretching. My usual work goes on the lines of 4 months of hypertrophy --> 3 months strength --> 3 months skill. During hypertrophy I can maintain flexibility easily with minimal time investment but I cannot make any progress. During strength I can make a little progress in selected focus areas. During skill I can make 3x the progress of a strength cycle; my body simply is not battered and broken every day which is the natural response to high volume intensity training. Time is not the issue here but the level of mental fatigue and inflammation of the body certainly is for me. At least that is what I am thinking.

As a physiotherapist? I am not working full time yet because I still attend education but other than that I love it! Physiotherapy school is in Denmark not that up to date with research and physiology but we learn decent hands on skills and people skills which I utilize in my work. Luckily, with this profession there is a multitude of ways you can go - you can draw from psychology, medical education, personal training, coaching and massage therapy to make up your own practice. You are not bound by what you learn in school - and thank god for that! What I loved during the introductory course which was basically a standard massage school certificate was the exploration of touch. It may sound wrong but if you are a very physical and touchy person you can share that interest with other through examination and treatment relevant to massage studies. We quickly moved onwards from that though.

I practice massage so I guess I am I am also studying physiotherapy and have a keen interest in pain science.