Reduce Knee Pain – Do You Squat or Plop When You SIt? Pilates Fitness Tips
In this Video Aliesa George will share how to properly sit down and do it well… The aim is to help you reduce knee pain and strengthen your hips and legs.
During many daily life activities we can practice our Pilates exercise principles, and execute our movements with proper muscle action. In fact one of the great benefits of Pilates training is learning how to use the body well and transfer what we do during our exercise workouts back to our everyday tasks, to reinforce our good new wellness habits.
So heres todays question Do You Squat or Plop when you sit down?
By my definition squatting is using the muscles of the hips and legs to control your bodys rate of decent when sitting down in a chair, on the couch, or even the toilet! And plopping means that you might have started with control, but at some point gravity wins and youre basically falling out of control until your butt lands on the surface you intended.
I kind of messed up my knee a few weeks ago took a hard fall on my inline skates, and its had me hobbling around a bit, and working on retraining and re-strengthening all the muscles around my knee especially my glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings. AND it got me thinking about the concept of Squatting versus Plopping, since I found myself doing the latter to avoid using the muscles around my knee. Use this poor plopping habit long enough and it becomes accepted as THE way to sit which is definitely NOT what I want to happen.
So heres a rundown of what I believe the ploppers of the world need to practice to switch that not-so-good muscle habit to the improved technique of squatting to sit, and do it well:
As you sit plant your feet firmly and be sure that you have equal weight on both legs.
Think about the muscles on the back of the thigh (the hamstrings) doing the work to bend the knees. The sitz bones should reach towards your heels, which will lower your hips and butt to sit.
Be sure that the knees stay lined up over the toes to reduce strain on the joints while they are moving.
If you tuck the pelvis as you sit, there is actually more stress and pressure placed on the knees. Be sure to keep a neutral pelvis position which means the tailbone is poked out behind you a bit and the lower back is in its normal arched position.
Keep the lower abdominal muscles lifting up and your body is going down to help support and control the lowering action. Occasionally spot check your technique and body control. At different points along the way from standing to sitting, you should be able to stop and hold your position if you are using your leg muscles with good control.
Its every bit as important to pay attention to the muscles you are using to stand back up too! If you only think about straightening your knees to stand, the quadriceps muscles along the front of the thighs will do most of the work, and this places a lot more stress on the knees.
So here are a few tips to get you back on your feet to a good standing position:
** Plant your feet firmly and be sure the weight is evenly distributed on both legs, with the knees staying lined up over the toes.
** Connect the sole of your feet to the floor, then contract the muscles of your butt to extend the thighs bringing them from a parallel seated position to vertical standing position.
** Keep the abdominals lifting in and up while you are lifting the whole body up. Tighter is lighter.
** The quadriceps muscles along the front of the thighs assist to straighten the knees as you rise.
Im sure you have lots of great opportunities throughout the day to practice good squatting technique! Even if youre not a snowboard fanatic! And the better your technique, the stronger your body will be, and the less risk of injury or chronic knee issues.
You should at least be able to squat comfortably to 90 degrees, or perhaps a bit lower than that. If you have knee issues, check with your doctor first, then start in a short range of motion, listen to your body, and progress slowly. Good technique shouldnt just happen when were exercising. Take that technique out of your exercise program and into your daily life activities.
Remember, our muscles only get stronger in the range of motion we are working in, and there are times in daily life where we need to actually do a full squat to get down to the floor. Its important that we are strong, and flexible enough to get down with good control, AND be able to easily get back up again! Check out more Pilates, Health, and Wellness resources on my website at
http://www.Centerworks.com Aliesa George, Pilates and Wellness Resources for Whole Body Health
Duration : 0:6:39
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