A big part of the NASM OPT Model is identifying postural and muscle imbalances in clients, and I’m fairly certain that everyone suffers from some sort of imbalance. I was shocked by how many muscles were potentially out of balance when I did my first self assessment, but I’ve noticed a drastic change in my flexibility and range of motion (ROM) ever since working on fixing the imbalances.
There are a number of different postural distortions, and plenty of different movements to identify muscle imbalances, but we’re going to keep it simple today by looking at one postural distortion, what goes into muscle imbalances, and what it means to those who suffer from it:
Lower Crossed Syndrome. A surprisingly hard picture to find.
Lower Crossed Syndrome (LCS)
This is characterized by an anterior tilt to the pelvis from an excessively arched back. A way to spot this in the wild is by observing the waistband on one’s pants; If, from back to front, the line of the waistband makes diagonal line downward, chances are you’re observing some level of LCS. This is usually identified through a static postural assessment, where a trainer would look at your standing posture from the side. From this, we can identify what muscles are “underactive,” and which are “overactive.”
Underactive vs. Overactive Muscles
A muscle that is “Underactive” may also be referred to as “Lenghtened,” or “Functionally Weak.” These muscles allow the distortion (or compensation) to occur because they lack the strength necessary to keep your body in correct postural alignment. A example of this in someone with LCS is their transverse abdominis muscles. The tilt in the pelvis puts the abdominal complex in a continuously stretched position, creating a weak group of core muscles that don’t have the strength necessary to keep the lumbo-pelvic hip complex in a neutral position. Weakened abdominals also create a counterpart in their imbalance: A muscle that is “Overactive” can also be referred to as “Shortened,” or “Tight” muscles. These are the muscles that are continuously shortened / semi flexed, and lose a level of extensibility. To expand on our example, with the excessively arched back from LCS, the erector spinae (lower back muscles) are continuously shortened, which leads to inflexibility in the back, and eventually low back pain. It’s worth noting that these are two muscles mentioned as examples, but Lower Crossed Syndrome has an additional 5 overactive, and 5 underactive muscles. Overtime, LCS can lead to hamstring strain, knee pain, and low back pain.
What can you do to fix it?
First, have a trainer assess both static and dynamic posture to identify postural imbalances. Once you have your list of underactive and overactive muscles, you can do something about them! For our underactive muscles, we’ve learned that they’re weak, so we need to make them stronger! For the abdominal complex, great exercises would be planks and side planks to strengthen the core for posture. For our overactive muscles, we need them to calm down and regain their proper extensibility. Good flexibility training will take care of this; and by “good,” I mean smart. Start by foam rolling the overactive muscle to decrease muscle spindle activity, and be sure to hold on the tender area for at least 30 seconds. (I’ll write a post soon about proper self myofascial release technique) Then, static stretch the muscle for at least 30 seconds. To improve muscle extensibility, you should engage in flexibility training 4 – 7 days per week.
And there’s your brief primer on muscle imbalances! If you have any questions, be sure to post them or Email us!
Resources
http://www.physio-pedia.com/Lower_crossed_syndrome
http://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=52178
http://www.usapowerlifting.com/committees/sportsmedicine/hartle04.shtml
http://www.muscleimbalancesyndromes.com/janda-syndromes/lower-crossed-syndrome/