Too much forward tilt can cause a cranky low-back
75% of my clients experience occasional low-back tension
General low-back tension is quite common in our chair-loving culture.
What’s the connection between low-back tension and sitting in a chair?
We sit, putting our hip flexors in a shortened postion. And then we sit some more — at work, in our cars, on public transportation, watching television — the list goes on.
Eventually, as the muscle fibers shorten, they pull at the skeleton, tipping your pelvis forward. This forward tilt hits you with a double-whammy: it shortens the muscles in the low-back and causes compression of the discs in that same area. Adding insult to injury, this posture type can also make you look heavier than you are — see the pooch-y belly in that diagram?!
Many of my clients are able to address general tightness in this area and improve their posture with one simple exercise.
Toe Taps on the small ball release low-back tension, flatten the lower abdominals from belly button to public bone, and give you better posture. Before starting the movement, lay on your back with your knees bent and feet flat. Without adjusting anything, notice how much curve you have in your low back and where your low-back may be feeling cranky.
Comfort Option 1: use this smaller range of motion if your back is sensitive
Now lift your hips up on a small 9” ball or a rolled-up towel. The ball should be mid-way between your tailbone & your waistband. (That boney triangular piece above your tailbone is called the sacrum — that’s what should be on the ball.) Float your knees up, with your shins parallel to the floor.
Slowly lower one knee until your toes tap the floor, then float it back up. Switch legs. Move slowly, tapping one foot at a time. Slow is better than fast, as it’s the weight of your leg that is stretching your hip flexor in this position. This gristly muscle needs slow movement in order to get the stretch!
This is a good time to bring up one of the Rules of Ageless Pilates: One Thing Moves, Everything else Stays Still. This will focus the work of the movement into the right part of your body. In this case, avoid arching and flattening your back. Concentrate the movement right where your leg meets your body.
Comfort Option 2: choose a range of motion where your back remains stable
If your back feels comfortable while doing Toe Taps, you can increase your range of motion by extending your leg, and tapping the toes farther away from your body.
Continue alternating legs for about 2 minutes, then take the ball out.
How does your low-back feel now? If it feels closer to flat against the floor, you’ve released your hip flexors. Over time, this movement pattern will also tone your hip flexors, which leads to a flatter low-belly.
A word of warning: don’t go overboard, and jump right into 20 minutes of Toe Taps on the Small Ball. Working any muscle causes tiny tears that mend over the next 24 hours. Over-do this exercise too quickly, and you’ll feel very sore in the hip flexor area. Better to do 2 minutes everyday, than to load up all in one day.
Pilates
Smartroller
Great article, I think a lot of people can relate!
I tried it for myself this morning and loved it. Thanks for a great tip! I will continue doing my toe taps this way.
BTW – I use the Overball from OPTP. They offer a nice trainer discount, so I just keep a case available for my clients.
Very useful information.
I teach both Yamuna Body Rolling and classic Pilates. Both disciplines teach similar movement fundamentals as the toe taps. I would suggest holding the ball while its under the sacrum and firmly push it away from the top of the sacrum. This action gives a fuller body experience as well as helping decompress the spine and a sense of dynamic oppositional movement.
Good suggestion! I think this pushing the sacrum action works best with a firmer ball, like a YBR (a body rolling ball.) This style ball ‘catches’ the body better than the squishy-style Overball that I typically use in my Pilates classes. Both styles of ball can work well for Toe Taps, some people will strongly prefer one over the other. Hmmmm, maybe we’ll do a little test-run in class tonite, using the body rolling balls.
So, we did do a test-run in class of this ‘pushing the sacrum’ method. Most found the squishy ball more comfortable, BUT we all felt more open between L5 & the sacrum after the pushing method.
How squishy do you make the YBR ball when doing this move? (ours had some give, but we could have let more out)
Thank you, that was generous!
I was taught this method by Eric Franklin on a ‘psoas release’ course many years ago, and it always brings relief. I use two small spiky balls under the sacrum (they don’t slip)
Love the Franklin Method! I haven’t tried this move with the spikey balls — I wonder how it will feel with less lift of the hips.
so i was drawn to your blog by this post although i am not sharing it specifically, but i did link your site from mine since i really like your style
that said, this article makes me deeply hesitant, for the average healthy client i’m sold. for the majority of mine with their screwed up backs or bodies it seems like a bit much.
i would teach this at first with a step or a moon box or something under their feet to reduce the range, too many people would just dump it into their backs. your ‘one thing moves and the other stays still’ is phenomenal advice but i never teach counter gravity work involving “floating” as a first exercise. i find the bodies just aren’t smart enough yet.
this makes me wonder if we’re working with deeply different populations. are the majority of your clients “in shape” because the majority of mine are “broken”
either way, great post and i can think of a few clients who i should teach this to so thanks!
Ahhh, this is why I have a disclaimer statement at the bottom of the page
I’d always recommend beginning Pilates with a trained teacher who can assess & determine what’s appropriate for your body. I train 5 days a week at the Nike world Headquarters, where 75% of my clients are quite able-bodied, but just about all of them sit for many hours a day, causing tight/short hip flexor muscles. Toe taps are a great solution for that population. 25% have something amiss — overtraining, never workout, a bit overweight, joint replacement, hyper mobile joints, etc. For those in the 75% group, the ball alone works just fine — that’s a small enough range of motion to be appropriate. For those in the 25% group, some people may need a smaller range of motion, and the moon box (about the size of a thick shoe box) would be a great way to accomplish this.