Comment équilibrer les déséquilibres de votre corps
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We all have imbalances in the patterns of muscle tension between our right and left sides; that’s because of how we use the dominant side of our body differently than our non-dominant side. These imbalanced muscular patterns begin in childhood. As we get older, we can develop habits of using the right and left sides of our body so differently that our patterns of muscle tension actually pull our skeleton out of alignment. This can cause chronic pain and even damage to the structure of our body. In this article, I’m going talk about strategies to fix your imbalances so that you can use your body in a more balanced way and get out of pain.
Pourquoi devriez-vous équilibrer votre tension musculaire
Imaginez que les tas de sable sur la photo ci-dessus représentent la quantité de tension musculaire dans les côtés droit et gauche de votre corps. Si vous pratiquez Somatiques Cliniques exercez-vous de manière égale avec les deux côtés de votre corps, vous réduirez votre tension musculaire globale et ces deux piles deviendront progressivement plus petites. Mais le déséquilibre sera toujours là, et vous pouvez continuer à ressentir votre douleur ou votre problème parce que vous êtes toujours désaligné.
You can use the same analogy for the front and back sides of your body. Imagine that there is more muscle tension in the muscles on the front of your body than the back; you’ll be pulled forward into rounded posture or forward head posture. If there’s more tension in the muscles on the back of your body, your back will be arched and you’ll have disc problems, sciatica, or plantar fasciitis.
This concept can be applied to smaller, specific areas of the body too. For example, the hip rotators: If you have more muscle tension in your external rotators than your internal rotators, then you might stand with your toes pointing outward. Your gluteal muscles might feel tight and sore, and you’ll be at increased risk for hip, knee, and ankle problems because your legs are out of alignment.
As you practice your Somatics exercises every day and become more aware of how you use your body in your daily life, I want you to start paying attention to the imbalances in your muscle tension and posture. Then you can start tailoring your daily practice to address those imbalances.
COMMENT FONCTIONNE LA PANDICULATION : approfondissez votre motif, puis relâchez-le lentement
If you’re already practicing Clinical Somatics exercises, then you’re familiar with pandiculation. Pandiculation is our nervous system’s innate response to the buildup of muscle tension, and it’s the movement technique that makes Clinical Somatics exercises so effective.
Pandiculation works by contracting the chronically tight muscles even more than they’re already contracted, and then releasing extremely slowly and consciously out of that contraction. This conscious contraction and release sends accurate biofeedback to the nervous system about the level of tension in the muscles, and it reduces the baseline level of tension being set by the nervous system.
So let’s talk about how to tailor your daily practice to address your imbalances. For right now, just pick one imbalance in your body to think about. To release the tight muscles that are causing that imbalance, you need go deeper into that pattern, contracting the tight muscles even more, and then release slowly out of it. So to start with, you need to think about which Clinical Somatics exercises bring you deeper into your pattern.
Voici quelques exemples courants :
A tight, arched lower back. Which exercises contract the lower back muscles even more, and then slowly release them? The Arch & Flatten, Back Lift, Arch & Curl and its variations, Lower Back Release, Standing Hamstring Release, Seated Hamstring Release, Head & Knee Lifts.
Rounded posture or forward head posture. Which exercises contract and release the muscles that are pulling you forward (your abdominals)? The Arch & Flatten, Arch & Curl and its variations, Head Lifts, Diagonal Curl.
Functional leg length discrepancy. Which exercises hike your higher hip up even higher? The Side Curl, Hip Slides, Big X, Proprioceptive Exercise 2, Hip Directions.
A scoliotic curve. Which exercises bring you deeper into that curve, and then slowly release out of it? The Side Curl, Hip Slides, Big X, Proprioceptive Exercises 2, 3, & 4, Hip Directions.
Vous pouvez également déterminer sur quels exercices vous concentrer :
- Regardez en haut de chaque page d'exercice dans les cours en ligne ; le premier paragraphe énumère les conditions pour lesquelles cet exercice est généralement le plus utile.
- Check my blog—I’ve written posts on a number of conditions that will help guide you.
- Basez-vous sur ce que vous ressentez. Au fur et à mesure que vous apprenez chaque exercice, ressentez intérieurement ceux qui sont les plus utiles pour libérer votre tension ou votre douleur. C'est LE meilleur moyen de déterminer quels exercices faire le plus souvent !
Strategies to even out your imbalances
Work more with your tighter side: One way to even out the imbalances in your muscle tension is to start by spending more time and doing more repetitions with your tighter side or with the tighter areas of your body. Working more with your tighter areas will allow you to gradually even out the imbalance in muscle tension—so, imagine that bigger pile of sand gradually getting smaller so that eventually they’re the same size.
For example, if muscles on the right side of your waist are tight, hiking up your right hip, then you should do the Side Curl more with your right side (curling up to the right side, contracting the tight muscles and then slowly releasing them). Some days, you can try doing the Side Curl only with your right side.
Alternate your focus: If you have an imbalance like this between the right and left sides of your body, you will need to go back and forth, alternating your focus. You should start by focusing your practice on working more with releasing your tighter or more problematic side. When you start feeling like you’re making some progress in releasing those muscles, then spend some time working with your looser or better side. We all have patterns of chronic muscle tension on both sides of our bodies, and they’re typically different—sometimes very different. Both sides of the body need to be released and retrained in order to fix pain and postural issues. The nervous system is best able to integrate changes in posture when you focus more on one side at a time. If you work equally with both sides of your body, you’ll gradually reduce your overall muscle tension, but you may still be out of alignment.
Focus on quality, not quantity: Don’t get caught up in the exact number of repetitions you’re doing or the end goal of releasing your tension; this will make you rush through the exercises and you will not get the benefit of the exercises. These movements are about quality, not quantity. You’ll get more benefit from doing one repetition extremely slowly and consciously than doing several repetitions more quickly. The nervous system learns more effectively the more slowly and consciously you move. So, when thinking about practicing the exercises more with one side, remember that “more” includes more focus and more slowly.
Learn from your “better” side: Another way to even out your imbalances is to learn from your more coordinated side. Do the exercise first with your “good” side, noticing how it feels and how you engage your muscles. Then do the exercise with your not-so-good side, and try to mimic that sensation and muscular control. You can learn infinite things about your body by going back and forth like this.
Proprioception
Au fur et à mesure que vous relâchez les zones tendues de votre corps, votre proprioception s'ajustera progressivement. Mais cet ajustement ne se produit pas immédiatement. Ainsi, lorsque vous vous levez après votre pratique, vous pouvez parfois vous sentir déséquilibré ou avoir une posture incorrecte. Votre proprioception est votre perception interne de votre posture, créée par les informations envoyées par les propriocepteurs (récepteurs sensoriels) de vos muscles et articulations. Le système nerveux central intègre les informations de vos systèmes proprioceptif, visuel et vestibulaire pour vous donner une idée de la position de votre corps dans l'espace.
Your proprioception has adapted to the muscular imbalances in your body, and as you release them, it will take time for your new posture to feel right. Don’t let this bother you—it’s just part of the process of changing your habitual patterns. Comparing how you feel internally to what you look like in a mirror (the proprioceptive exercises in Level Two and the Scoliosis Course) will help you to retrain your proprioception.
Éplucher l'oignon
Si vous ne savez toujours pas par où commencer, ne vous inquiétez pas. Si vous pratiquez les exercices tous les jours et restez très conscient de ce que vous ressentez dans votre corps pendant que vous les faites, votre conscience interne s'améliorera rapidement. Vous prendrez conscience de certaines zones de votre corps où vous vous sentez tendu. Commencez par vous concentrer sur ces zones. Après quelques jours, vous pourriez sentir que ces zones deviennent plus lâches et plus détendues, et vous pourriez prendre conscience d'autres zones de votre corps qui nécessitent une attention particulière. Prenez quelques jours (ou plus ou moins, selon ce que vous ressentez) pour vous concentrer sur ces domaines.
Ce processus peut se poursuivre indéfiniment ; c'est pourquoi je le compare à éplucher un oignon. Vous relâcherez une zone de votre corps ou un schéma de tension, puis vous prendrez conscience de la suivante, et de la suivante. Ainsi, une séquence d'exercices ne répondra pas éternellement à vos besoins ; vous devrez laisser votre pratique quotidienne évoluer au fur et à mesure que vous démêlerez vos schémas de tension.
Pandiculate patterns of tension, and don’t get caught up with specific muscles
I encourage you to pandiculate patterns of tension, and don’t get caught up with focusing on specific muscles. This concept is easier to understand if you’ve been practicing the exercises for a while and you’ve become aware of your full-body patterns of tension. One tight muscle is never the sole cause of a pain or problem. You might be feeling tightness or pain in just one muscle or one small area of your body, but I promise, there’s always a larger pattern of tension present. You probably won’t make lasting progress until you address that entire, full-body pattern of tension.
What if I hit a plateau in my progress?
Si votre pratique quotidienne de Somatiques Cliniques les exercices ne se sentent plus aussi efficaces qu'auparavant, ou si vous êtes bloqué et que vous n'arrivez pas à comprendre quelque chose, essayez ces trois choses :
1. Do different exercises. Practice and explore exercises that you learned in the courses and then forgot about, or ones that you thought weren’t helpful for you. You might be amazed at what you feel and learn from the exercises that you don’t do very often. They might become part of your regular practice, or they might make you aware of somewhere in your body that you’re holding tension. Remember, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So if you’re stuck, try something new!
2. Do the same exercises but more slowly. I cannot stress enough how important it is to release extremely slowly out of each contraction. Stay engaged and release as slowly as you can up until the very end of the movement. If you’ve stopped feeling benefit from a particular exercise, try doing it more slowly.
3. Notice what you’re doing in your daily life that could be keeping you stuck in patterns of tension. Is it how you use your body when you’re exercising? Is it how you sit at your desk or on the couch, or the position you sleep in? If you practice the exercises for 30 minutes a day, you’re spending the other 23 and a half hours reinforcing habitual patterns. Integrating what you’ve learned from your Clinical Somatics practice into your daily life is critical if you want to make lasting changes.
Ne vous précipitez pas !
Lorsque vous commencez à apprendre Somatiques Cliniques exercices, il est facile de se sentir axé sur les objectifs du processus. Quand sortirez-vous de la douleur ou quand votre posture deviendra-t-elle parfaitement droite ? Les modèles musculaires de chaque personne sont uniques, il n'y a donc aucun moyen de prédire combien de temps cela prendra. Ce qui importe le plus, c'est que vous vous dirigez dans la bonne direction. Une fois que vous ralentissez et que vous vous concentrez sur le processus d'apprentissage exploratoire plutôt que sur l'objectif final, relâcher des schémas de tension musculaire complexes et de longue date est en fait très amusant !
N'essayez pas de précipiter le processus ou de forcer quelque chose à changer, cela ne fonctionne pas. Vous devez vous détendre, rester conscient et permettre au changement de se produire. Explorez les exercices chaque jour comme si c'était la première fois que vous les faisiez ; cela vous permet d'apprendre quelque chose de nouveau à chaque fois que vous pratiquez.
Lecture recommandée:
The Pain Relief Secret: How to Retrain Your Nervous System, Heal Your Body, and Overcome Chronic Pain by Sarah Warren, CSE
Somatics: Reawakening the Mind’s Control of Movement, Flexibility and Health by Thomas Hanna
