I have to take a pause on my alignment series as we work up the body from the feet because every day I'm seeing the effects of all of us doing more sitting. The pandemic has caused people to sit more. Think about this for a moment with me... Let's take people who work at a desk for a living. Before the pandemic and working from home more, they got up to go to the bathroom (stay with me) and on the way back they would stop at a colleague's desk and talk for a few minutes. Or, they had to get up from their desk to WALK to another room for a meeting. Right? Now, we don't need to 'get up' and 'walk' to a meeting because it is on our screen. We don't stop, 'stand', and talk to a colleague because we 'sit' and talk on our computers. This is leading to so much more sitting and so much less standing and walking (moving). And hey, maybe you are sitting at your desk with posture that would make me cry happy tears. Yes!!! BUT, you are still sitting my loves. And let's not forget that people are often working more now because it is so darn convenient. While my example is for people that work at a desk this would also apply to people who are in their cars a lot, sit in a recliner or on a couch a lot, etc.

There are quite a few repercussions for doing so much sitting. Of course, everyone's body is different, but often people's muscles and our joints will respond similarly. When we sit, we often don't have our feet flat on the floor in alignment with our knees and hips, so we aren't getting the support of our legs to sit properly in the chair. When we sit, our pelvic floor is relaxed. Is anyone taking more trips to the bathroom in between calls and meetings? If so, it's because your pelvic floor is getting weak/relaxed from all the sitting and you can't hold your bladder for as long. If you look sideways in a mirror, are you a little hinged forward from the hips? Our hip flexors, in the front of our hips, are constantly contracted or shortened in the sitting position, so they are getting tight and starting to pull you forward. After sitting so much all day, as you grow tired, are your shoulders starting to curve inward, and are you starting to sit with a curve in your back/spine? Which then affects your neck. I can keep going here... I know you get the point. So much sitting is hard on our muscles, joints, alignment, and posture.

So what can you do you say? Stand up. Move. If you have a standing desk, use it. Sit AND stand throughout the day. No worries, if you don't have a standing desk. Everyone needs to get up from their desk every hour. Let's stretch the front of your hip also called your hip flexors. First, stand with your legs straight, 6" apart, and with 1 leg around 18" in front of the other. Bend the front knee just a bit. Squeeze your butt muscles (glutes) on the back leg and push the front of that hip gently forward. This is how you stretch the hip flexors that have been shortened while sitting. After that stretch, walk to the kitchen in your home or office and get some more water. Walk around the kitchen island or a table or some of the cubicles if you are at the office. Take a stroll - stand up nice and tall, make sure you push through your back leg as you walk, and roll through your feet. Take 60 seconds more to do a few shoulders shrugs and shoulder rolls to open up your collar bone and take out a little tension in order to sit with your shoulders resting down your back.

When you do sit, have your feet flat on the floor, hip joint/sit bone width apart, or on a footrest. No crossing your ankles, or your legs! Your hips should be at a 90-degree angle and parallel to the floor. You don't want to be sitting with your hips lower than your knees. Please don't let your knees bow in and touch for long periods of time or have your knees wide apart for lengths of time either. This is a big one for my male clients! The picture below gives a great example.

All the same alignment principles are used for sitting on a couch or any kind of chair. Have your feet flat on the floor - they don't touch? Get a footrest or something to put underneath them to have your hips at 90-degrees. Then your back doesn't touch and that's not relaxing? Put a few pillows behind you in order to make yourself comfortable. You can also put your legs up on an ottoman. If you do that, make sure you aren't locking out at the knees (a little dimple in the top of your knee). If you tend to lock out the knees, add a small pillow, like a lumbar pillow, underneath them.

We can't stop sitting especially if we need to for work. So, let's take care of our bodies so that sitting so much doesn't cause harm to our bodies. Sound good? Want more help with your posture or alignment? Pilates is so so good for both of those things!!! Write a comment below or send me an email. I would love to hear from you!

I really hope this helps you!

Joyfully,
Jenny