To Hinge or not to hinge, that is the question.......

Michael Sutton works for Pure Yoga Singapore

If we hang some rope lights, we will quickly notice that the middle droops or sags due to the  earth’s gravity constantly pushing down upon it.  You can also observe that it always hangs it a natural uniform way.  If we pulled the rope lights in two opposite directions then the rope would become more taught the more force that is exerted upon it.  The spinal column has the same effect as the rope, so when doing asana practice we need to make sure our muscles are active in supporting the spine at all times to prevent the spine from collapsing on to itself and alleviating compression.  Sometimes damage to the spinal discs also begins to occur when too much force is placed on a particular area due to conscious or unconscious relaxed muscular states, or a chain of restrictions in the muscles and fascia that prevent our movement. The body then tries to make various corrections in order to get us in to the pose the best it can.

Let me explain…….

Figure 2 Demonstrates two different people showing the same pose, but how they both achieve the pose is very different.

Global extension curve vs a Lumbo-sacral hinge 

Clearly the man in the photo below on the left has a substantial amount of hinge at the lumbo-sacral joint just above the buttocks. The man on the right however, shows a good example of a uniform extension curve through his lower back as well as his upper back.

Figure 2

Much like the rope light that hangs in a uniform manner, we are much less likely to get injured if we do not have a hyper mobile segment in the spine, as the load/pressure is spread over more segments instead of isolating just one. This segment over time becomes highly unstable and as a result causes back pain due to muscular spasm, bulging disc or a slipped disc.

Figure 3 Demonstrates two different people showing the same pose again, but how they both achieve the pose is again very different.  Looking at the arrow pointing up you can see the compensation of the spine by way of a hyper mobile segment. This compensation give the appearance that she has achieved the pose. This compensation is the end result from a series of chain reactions. Her thigh muscles are being held at her highest point, the angle of the red line through the legs show she has short thigh muscles which restricts any further movement higher. This restriction then holds the pelvis in an anterior tilt which is shown by the upward sloping line.  This then has another chain reaction causing a hyper mobile segment of the spine.

Figure 3

Figure 4 again demonstrates a lumbo-sacral hinge and a hypermobile segment of the spine which is caused this time through completely relaxing the spine and surrounding muscles allowing it to hang, droop and sag towards the floor.  This area is felt as a compression sensation on the lower back instead of actually feeling the stretch sensation through the front of the torso at the abdomen.  This ill effect is  corrected by activation of the transverse abdominis muscle which we will discuss in the next article.

Figure 4

All pictures and reference material is for non-judgemental, demonstration, educational and for evaluational purposes only.

Namaste,

With Metta,

Michael