Your job requires you to sit in a chair all day, probably stare at a computer screen, or maybe talk on the phone for extended periods of time. You might get up, go to a meeting, take the elevator down to grab some food and then position your butt right back in that great groove you've worked so hard on. You then get up after an 8-hour day (if you're lucky) and sit in your car on the 45 minute commute home.
Is this you? If it is, I bet you complain of aching hips and tight hamstrings and here's why.
In order to sit down in a chair, your hamstrings must shorten in length. Even when sitting with good posture (shoulders back, head up) your hamstrings remain in this shortened position. In a day when professionals are sitting at their desks for hour on end, this can lead to chronic tight hamstrings.
In this sitting position, the hip flexors remain in a flexed position – causing associated problems as well. A hip that is constantly flexed, and hamstring that is constantly shortened can lead to all sorts of problems, and the one that you feel most – which is pain and lack of range of motion.
The main extensor of the hip is the gluteus muscles, the strongest muscle in the body. Weak glutes cause the secondary mover, the hamstrings to become the prime mover of the hips. Here is where the problem lies, as the already tight hamstrings are not designed to perform this load of work leading to more problems.
Ways to counteract these muscle imbalances:
· Strength training
· Stretching
· Frequent moving and
· changing positions when sitting
Going for a short walk throughout the day
· Doing anything that builds strength:
- stairs instead of elevator
- walk instead of drive
Contact me if you would
like more information
Alli Cain, B.A.Kin, C.K.
Personal Trainer
www.ACAINtraining.com
905-806-7198
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