Learn to Touch your Toes! - BY TACKLING UPPER BODy/PELVIC DYSFUNCTION
“How can I touch my toes?” is one of THE most commonly asked postural questions that come my way.
I am not sure why but, along with an ability to perform a deep squat, bending forwards to touch our toes seems to be one of the biggest markers as to whether or not we deem ourself mobile or have ‘good posture’.
The ability to touch your toes goes both ways.
Just because you CAN touch your toes, it doesn’t mean you are mobile or have ‘good posture’ (it just tells you that you’re ok at pelvic extension, hip flexion and ankle dorsiflexion – which are just a couple of the hundreds of different ranges of motion we have available to us at our joints). And vice versa, just because you CAN’T touch your toes, it doesn’t mean you are immobile or have ‘bad posture’ (it just tells you that you struggle with pelvic extension, hip flexion and/or ankle dorsiflexion – you may have lots of other ranges of motion you can do perfectly well!).
As with anything, one posture move like touching your toes tells you something about what is not moving and working well in your body.
Often, the blame gets attributed to the hamstrings.
“My hamstrings are so tight!” the person grimaces as they try bending forwards to touch their toes. This person may have also spent lots of time in fitness and yoga classes pulling their legs around trying to passively stretch out their hamstrings using force (NB – this doesn’t work).
The confusing thing is that you might feel STRAIN/tension in the hamstrings as you bend forwards, but it doesn’t mean the hamstrings are the issue. To attribute blame to the hamstrings and the hamstrings alone, does not look at how the body and the joints move as a connected unit.
What are the hamstrings connected to? The lower leg (also connected to the ankle and foot), the pelvis (connected to the spine and hip) and the femur (connected to the pelvis and lower leg). So whilst the hamstring will have a bearing on all the aforementioned body parts, the opposite is also the case. The pelvis, femur or lower leg not moving properly will also have a bearing on the hamstrings.
I find, one of the biggest contributors to an inability to bend forwards and touch the toes, is actually an inability (dysfunction) of the pelvis to roll forwards anteriorly over the head of the femur.
Why is this such a common problem? Check out the picture of the skeleton at the top … does that ring any bells for you? I don’t suppose you spend quite a long time sat still like this with a tucked pelvis and rounded spine? What this tucked seated position does is freeze our pelvis into a posterior/flexed position and means we don’t have the hip strength required to pull the pelvis forwards over the heads of the femurs.
When the pelvis can’t pivot forwards properly and feels ‘stuck’, it means the upper body stays quite high (whilst trying to bend forwards) and the pull is felt along the hamstrings. Often the person will have a very rounded/flexed spine desperately trying to bounce their upper body closer to the wall through momentum/force. This is compensation.
You can stretch your hamstrings out until the cows come home but, until you have removed compensation from the upper body and improved the function of the pelvis to rolls forwards anteriorly, you’ll not get very far at all.
In my Youtube video below, I share 4 exercises with you that should help to a) remove compensation in the upper body b) teach your pelvis to pivot over the head of your femurs. Pay close attention to how much closer you get towards the floor by practising a touch toe before and after the routine. You’ll hopefully notice it change either during the exercise itself OR over time with repetition of the routine.
If you DON’T feel any different as you reach forwards to touch your toes (no closer to the ground), it’s likely a sign that your upper body and/or pelvis is not the factor stopping you from touching your toes … it’s most likely an ankle and foot dysfunction. Read my other blog post and watch the other posture routine I made to try the ‘Touch your Toes – Foot Dysfunction’ test!
As with all of my videos/exercises, please be your own boss and stop any exercises that aggravate normal symptoms of pain/tension for you. As your pelvis and spine move differently, you may notice hard work or a new sensation of discomfort, but this is a good thing as your body is literally re-aligning your bones and changing your posture.
Aggravation of your normal symptoms of pain means that your body is compensating, it’s unhappy and it doesn’t want you doing the exercise. So please have the wherewithal to stop!
If you watched the video and really felt a difference … why not pursue this a little further? Improving your balance and your posture is genuinely one of the easiest ways to feel amazing quite quickly. It can help alleviate symptoms of pain and tension from all over your body. Please have a look at My Services if you’d like to learn more!