Calling people who are better at fitness than I am

[resonant]

The more I swim, the stronger I get in previously neglected muscles. Which, OK, yay for strong, of course, but it also means that I've got some tightness that isn't touched by any of the stretches I know.

Eventually, after some weeks of increasing discomfort, I did figure out how to stretch my trapezius (and will share, if anybody's having the same problem), but I've got two lower-body areas left that I can't get at.

So if I describe where it hurts, could those of you who are good at this kind of stuff -- particularly swimmers -- describe or link to suggested stretches?

[editing to add: I'm quite belly-enhanced, so anything that requires me to fold right in half with both legs at once is going to be incompatible with breathing.]

The first stiff area sits right on top of my hipbones. Leaning over sideways doesn't do anything for it, nor does lying on my back and pointing my knees in various directions or kneeling and pointing my butt in various directions.

The second one is in the lowest possible part of my lower back, like right over my tailbone. Toe touches help a little but not much.

Anybody have any suggestions? I'd be eternally grateful and sleep a lot better at night.

Comments

[cesperanza]

Oh share for the love of god--that's my trouble area, the trapezius.

[resonant]

It really makes you understand why people say something is a pain in the neck, doesn't it?

To stretch your left trapezius:

1. Sit up straight in an armless chair*.

2. Reach down with your left hand and grab the under the seat of the chair -- what you want is for that arm to be stretched out as straight as possible.

3. Point your chin roughly toward your right nipple, and use your right hand to gently pull your head further down in that direction.

You may need to move your chin somewhat left or right. If you're doing it right, you will know.

* I've been known to do this stretch on the toilet, but you have to be comfortable reaching down and touching the outside of your toilet bowl, which means either your bowl has to be very clean or your standards have to be very low. Guess which one's me?

[shinetheway]

For the area on your hipbones, if it's the spot I'm thinking of, try laying on a bed and letting your legs hang off? You can modify the angle that you lay and the degree to which your legs are hanging off to get the right angle (and if you need extra leverage, a pillow under your hips to add height will help) but it's a great low-stress stretch I use when I feel stiff.

And, if anything, it's going to expand your ribcage rather than contracting it, so breathing should be easy.

[resonant]

Lying on your back, you mean, or on your side? I just tried both on the ottoman (which is lower than my bed), and they seem promising; will have to try them on the actual bed when I go upstairs.

[foursweatervests]

For the lower back, I'd suggest more toe touches, but you might try spreading your legs about shoulder-width apart, and going for it. Touch as far down as you can for a count of ten, then when at ten, breathe out a little more. This will collapse your stomach and back down, and you should be able to push down about another inch. Hold for another count of ten. Do with both legs even, then cross one leg over the other while keeping right next to each other, and try again. Repeat with the opposite leg crossed over the first.

For an additional stretch, you could try wrapping your arms around the back of your calves (but only while standing firmly on both feet. Don't do this with one leg crossed over the other). I've got a "belly-enhancement" (I like that. I'm using that from now on) too, and I promise this is actually accomplishable if you breathe shallowly and through your nose.

From any of these positions, remember to "roll up" from your core, don't shoot straight back up. This can cause lightheadedness and isn't actually good for your back. Keep your chin tucked as you roll up, and breathe in slowly. It should take to about a count of 4 or 5 to get all the way back up.

If this doesn't help, or you're already doing this, try lying on your back, curling up like a shrimp and basically throwing (but very slowly) your legs over your shoulders. Hold that for a while. That one is my least favorite because it's really uncomfortable, but it's great on lower-middle back pain. You can also try a variety of stretches to strengthen your lower back - because it sounds like that might be the problem - but they will mainly involve sitting with your legs akimbo and in a swastika-reminiscent shape on the ground and turning to one side, and holding that position.

Any basic yoga dvd should give you some stretches that help with back soreness. Feel free to message me if you have any questions about what I said. Good luck!

[resonant]

The arms-around-calves one (well, I could only get my HANDS around my calves) stretched some spots on my obliques that I hadn't even realized were tight.

The shrimp one (great image!) sounds like the Plow in yoga? Think I'll wait till the kidlet's awake and can give me a shove if I need one.

You know what -- yoga classes are included in my gym membership. What I should do is go to one and ask the instructor for advice.

[fox]

For the hip thing: how about putting your hands on your hips (for a bit of balance) and leaning backwards? If balance is more of an issue, maybe putting one knee on a chair or something and leaning back over that leg.

For the back thing: I get kinked up in the lumbar area sometimes too, and what fixes it is bending over my knees - like you're saying about a toe-touch - but then trying to push up toward the ceiling with my butt while I'm bent over like that. On me, that makes a popping sound when it's kinked up enough to need it.

[resonant]

Leaning backwards feels good on the front part of my hip, but this is literally precisely on the outside of the hip.

Huh -- when I tried the butt-to-the-ceiling thing, I got a nice stretch in my hamstrings but nothing else. Possibly I need to loosen up my hamstrings before I can tackle anything else?

[panisdead]

If you haven't already tried this one, I like it for hip tightness (although I think asking a yoga teacher would be a great move): lie on your back, knees up, feet on the floor. Bring your right ankle up to rest on your left knee and press out on your right knee. Now, keeping your shoulders flat to the floor, tip your left knee/right foot to the left until your right foot is on the floor (basically wrapped around your body). Repeat on the other side.

There's also a similar yoga pose where you start from knees up feet on the floor, tip your knees all the way over to the left, then put your left foot on top of your right knee. Turn your head to look away to the right. Switch, repeat.

[resonant]

I love that stretch and sometimes also do it in the pool (back against the side, using both arms to pull my bent leg toward the surface of the water).

[sara]

Yeah, I was going to recommend the similar thing where you lie on your back, knees up, shins parallel with the floor, and roll your knees to either side without moving your back.

*does bad ASCII art* Like this! As viewed from the side, if the colon is your knees.

o__:---

and then you go

o[--[___ in which you are viewing your supine form from above, and the second square bracket is your backside. And you have no arms. And also it is 1992 and we are illustrating things in motherfucking ASCII.

[fanofall]

These are two of my all-time favorite yoga stretches. Such a good stretch, in the spine and the hips.

[florahart]

If you figure out how to loosen up that tailbone thing, please say--I have been sore right on the tailbone (like, it's muscular, not bone or joint I think, and it's the muscles that surround and attach to the tailbone riiiight at the top of the buttcrack) most of the time since roughly 1997, despite many iterations of having PTs and yoga people and etc poke and prod and suggest. It hurts when I get up, and it hurts when I sit down (doesn't keep hurting, generally, just the settling or unsettling of weight on mah butt). I would like it to stop ANY TIME NOW.

*uses icon which has a tailbonal area present and showing* :D

[rydra_wong]

Has anyone mentioned the words "sacroiliac joint", by any chance?

[schemingreader]

I changed my stroke with this book, Total Immersion Swimming. I wrote about it a lot on my DW. I stopped having muscle spasms of any kind.

To deal with the stiffness right away, I would say Downward Facing Dog and Janu shirshasana yoga poses. Also heat. When I was in serious pain from my back and shoulders, people on LJ/DW said heat pads from the drug store. Miraculous.

[resonant]

I'm not familiar with Total Immersion Swimming, but I've put it on hold at the library.

The last time I tried downward dog, it killed me -- I mean, I sweated, I shook -- but I'm a lot stronger now, thanks to 13 months of swimming.

The other one I didn't know by name -- and one of the things I love about yoga is the folded blanket under the butt and the optional folded blanket under the knee if it doesn't lie flat -- the way it understands that some human bodies just can't do certain things without help!

[lim]

I'm a huge fan of pilates (I'm a manual labourer). My favourite tape is Darcy Busell

Suggest child pose for your lower back. And some hip hitches: Lie on your back with your pelvis in the neutral position, arms by your sides. Slowly hitch up one hip and at the same time, point the other toe straight towards the wall. Come back to the starting position and repeat on the other side. You should feel a stretch across your hips and a pull on your spine.

Oh, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZopL5-P8zgs

[resonant]

That woman is unbelievably precise. She's like geometry.

[laurajv]

re: the lower back -- have you tried tucking your butt? Only, not using the butt muscles. Let me see if I can explain.

Stand w. feet hip-width apart. Tuck your pelvis up/butt under, but from the front, not from the butt -- pulling it up, not pushing it down, if that makes sense. You will probably need to bend your knees softly to do this.

I find that often, when I feel like I need to push my butt *up* to make my lower back unkink, that is completely the wrong move -- like how I often feel I should point my toe to make a charlie horse in my calf go away (when in fact that will make it worse).

[resonant]

I tried this a couple of times, and it feels nice but I'm not feeling like it's doing much. Possibly my abs aren't strong enough. Hm, that makes me wonder whether I might be able to do something similar lying on my face.

[sypher798]

When I started getting back in shape, I had the same problem. The best remedy was yoga. I never was into yoga before and when the instructor would say things like "feel your breath in your knees" I would mentally roll my eyes. But after the classes I felt better. Muscles in my back and shoulders were so relaxed after being tense for _weeks_ --But if you've never yoga-ed before go to a class where the instructor can assist your stretching so you don't injure yourself. I have a stomach in the way too,so just ignore those contortionist chicks wrapping a leg around their necks and go at your own pace.

It helped me a lot. Good luck!

[resonant]

My gym has a beginner's yoga class that's very good as far as instructor help -- except that it's embarrassing to see eighty-year-old women breezing through poses that I can't hold because I don't have enough muscle!

[lee_rowan]

For the tailbone/sacrum: lie on a floor (or a bed that does not roll) with the NON-PAINFUL side next to the wall. Bend that leg (just one) to a 90-degree angle and press against the wall (only 10-20 seconds, no more than a minute). This should help the low-back pain and possibly the top-of-hip pains too--what it does is tighten the muscle on one side of the sacrum to stretch the other side, where it's stuck and painful.

Also, stand about a foot away from a (STRONGLY ATTACHED) door, put your feet on either side of the door, shoulder-width apart, and hold the doorknobs, then slowly lower yourself down to stretch the low back. You can do this on a kitchen sink counter, too, but that's usually a little higher.

For the hip-ache, you might try a fencing lunge, in slow-motion. Back foot at right angles to front foot, slowly lean into it and then ease back.

And make sure you get enough calcium, potassium, and magnesium--deficits can cause muscle spasms...

[resonant]

Interesting about the minerals. I'm already trying to beef up my potassium intake. Yum, dried apricots ...

I'm confused about "the non-painful side," though, because what I'm experiencing is precisely in the middle.

[moireach.livejournal.com]

I have to stretch my hip flexors all the time or I end up in agony: these are from my physical therapist:

- put your right foot quite far forward and slightly sideways and lunge until your left (rear) heel comes off the floor. Then push that heel down and hold for 30 seconds. Repeat on the other side. [This is good for stretching the front of your hips.]

- put your left leg behind your right leg, so your feet are next-ish to each other. Bend sideways, away from the left, hold for 30 seconds, repeat on the other side. [This is good for stretching the side of your hips.]

- This is the gentlest, but good when I'm too tight/in too much pain to progress to the other ones yet: lying on the edge of a bed, let your knees dangle off the side and push your heels toward the floor. This also targets the front of your hips.

[resonant]

The second one is exactly the one james recommended above that absolutely solved my hip problem!

[wrabbit]

Re: The lumbar area

My physical therapist would actually have me lean backwards, not forwards. She started me with lying on my stomach and bracing my hands below me as if to do a pushup, but instead just pressing up to curve my spine backwards with my hips and belly still on the floor/bed. Then at home I would do that when I was really sore, otherwise I could stand up with my hands on my hips and lean backwards to look at the ceiling. Half of my problem at the time was sciatica and opening up my lumbar curve to take pressure of the nerve, but I also do it when my back gets stiff from sitting all day or sleeping weird.

[resonant]

It's counterintuitive to bend my spine in that direction instead of in the other direction, but I'm going to try it as soon as I can make myself get up out of this chair ...

[shayheyred]

Unfortunately I am the queen of lower back pain. Try looking at this youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGBAcwbZqf4

[resonant]

Oh, I've done that one! Actually that's the new pain that I noticed as soon as the outer-hip one was taken care of.

I've found the Sports Injury Clinic very useful -- they isolate each muscle and illustrate one or two stretches for it.

Physio and coaching

[cricketk.livejournal.com]

I would also recommend seeing a physio and secondarily a swimming coach.

It sounds like your ITB/TFL is tightening up and it's usually because the ITB is trying to do the job of one of the muscles. For me, it's been medial glutes and VMO that have needed strengthening. The bonus side-effect of that is that my perpetually tight hip flexors are now also starting to ease off, as they've been trying to do the work of other muscles as well.

Depending on how weak things have gotten, you may also want to look at some training in recognising how and when to use the correct muscles as well. A good physio will be able to give you some exercises for that too.

ITB is a rotter - hard to stretch, hard to feel it stretching and easy to overdo it.

And a swim coach (or a good DVD) might be able to help you find the parts of your stroke that have caused the wonkiness in the first place.

Good luck!

Re: Physio and coaching

[resonant]

Physical therapy is a good idea, but I can't get an appointment without a recommendation from a doctor, and nobody ever seems to be able to tell me with any certainty whether or not my insurance will pay for it. I wonder whether paying a personal trainer would help at all?

Your abbreviations are defeating me, but I'll do some research and see what I can find out.