Day 3 - Activate and stabilize trunk flexion

Welcome to day three of seven days to becoming pain-free in your body!

If you feel inspired, go back and repeat the exercise from Day 1 + 2, and then continue with Day 3. 

If not, no worries. Practice each day until you get the hang of it. There is no rush, and steady + consistent wins the race.

Do not take shortcuts. Do the exercises correctly, as explained in the videos. If you do the work, you will reap the rewards of having a more energetic, stable, and resilient body. 

In the introduction video, we talked about why we have pain. One of the reasons is because frequently specific muscles are not working effectively in the body.

Often, when a person bends over, their backs will seize up. 

Why? Why do people's backs go out so quickly, especially when they bend over to do something as simple as picking up something from the floor?

Why?

If we think about the biomechanics of when we fold forward, what needs to happen is all these muscles in the front body need to shorten.

If they are not shortening correctly, other muscles will get recruited to do their job. Furthermore, if the muscles getting recruited are stressed or not working either, the back will seize up. 

The longest muscle that is responsible for trunk flexion is called the psoas minor.

The psoas minor runs from the pubis up into the lumbar spine (specifically T12 and L1. 

Watch the video now. 

In this specific exercise, the essential thing to anteriorly tilt the pelvis inward. 

After finishing, stand up. What does your body feel like?

Has anything changed?

Is the core more stable? Strong?  Perhaps there is more movement?

Fold forward or bend forward to pick something up. Is it much easier? 

If the answer is yes, it is because those front muscles are starting

to contract properly. 

See you tomorrow for day 4!

See below for the Psoas Minor!