Watch (or read) how I coach Chris on how to leverage his daily movements towards enhancing lifelong flexibility.

Transcription:

Dr. Kim:
Hi, everybody. This is Chris, my friend Chris. 

Chris:
Hello.

Dr. Kim:
So now I got someone tall and with a long torso. And so I see that these have some problems later in life that we can try to help prevent for Chris, if he’s so motivated. 

Alright so now Chris we met on the tennis court, so he’s quite an athlete. I remember that you taught yourself to play tennis, and that you are a rock climbing instructor, as well as of course you’re avid at it right, and then other sports?

Chris:
That’s the most recent. There was a time I was a free runner, so I have that in my history too.

Dr. Kim:
That’s the one where you see them like…?

Chris: 
Jumping across rooftops?

Dr. Kim: 
Yes.

Chris: 
That one, yeah.

Dr. Kim:
Where you run up and do a flip as you go run on a wall and then do that.

Chris:
Yes! That’s my favorite. Just like the Matrix.

Dr. Kim:
Okay, so yeah, so Chris basically, he can make his body do anything, very coordinated. I met Chris a couple of years ago, and I was like, “Chris you know, maybe, you should start doing blah blah blah, so that you won’t have problems later?” ’cause I just saw how athletically talented he was. Do you remember the kinds of stuff I suggested?

Chris: 
You suggested manual massaging. So definitely rolling out the front and the sides of my thighs. 

Dr. Kim:
Yes, foam rolling. 

Chris:
Which is something I was not routinely doing. And I’ve just incorporated more stretching throughout my years, ’cause when I was a kid, I never thought warming up was important, or stretching was important, but now I value that.

Dr. Kim:
Oh sure, well welcome to being 30-plus or whatever. 

Let’s turn you to the side and see what I would see this way. So we come over here. Now this is interesting because this is better than he was a couple of years ago, ’cause I think before, there was a big sway here. 

Chris:
Yes, yeah.

Dr. Kim: 
Right, there was. But anyway, there was a big sway over here. So whatever is happening, with his mechanics, he’s doing much better. So this is good, and I suggested that he foam roll before, so that this would be stretching out right as you play.

So we decided to take off the sweatshirt to see if we can see better. You wanna relax your arms here at the side and then we’ll see what’s going on. So let’s change your weight so that you’re over your heels. Yeah, here you are when you’re over your heels, the reason why I wanna do that is that when you do this, there’s a lot of tension that happens here, so can you put your hand, the back of your hand, this hand back here so you can feel it up here. So then you’re here, ’cause you’re trying to arch back, so let’s put you over your heels right here. Just by putting you over your heels, do you feel that it’s a little less?

Chris:
Yes.

Dr. Kim:
You’re not fighting as hard. So anyway, so that’s my point to people is that, we want to help you stand, so that you are in a stack. Because when you’re better in a stack and you’re not like this. This way, he immediately starts firing all these other muscles and this might be why people don’t feel as comfortable after standing a while, ’cause their back hurts, ’cause they’re doing this problem back here. Shift of weight.

Okay, so let’s look at how he sits. 

Okay, when does someone need help, who’s like a little frail? They do not need help when they’re already standing or already sitting.

Chris:
Right.

Dr. Kim: 
They need the help in between.

Chris: 
The transition.

Dr. Kim:
Right. So that’s when you’re using all your muscle strength. So my point is, is that everybody I’m working with, I try to get into their head as much as if you were like at the level of potty training. Because potty training at first was a pain, but you eventually got it. And you can do it all the time without thinking really hard. 

So this is what I’m trying to do is get people to think about their heels. If you think about your heels at the time of standing and sitting this then, will follow you no matter what you’re doing. Well, now you got a home and you’re about ready to do a ton of work moving stuff. 

Chris:
Oh yeah.

Dr. Kim:
Right, so here I am I was like “Iet’s have you come before the move”, because I was like “let’s get it done”, cause of everything that you’re gonna lift now, it’ll be changed because I’m gonna be in your head and you’ll be like, “I gotta use my heels!” See what I mean? So there was a plan that I had for you. 

So alright, let’s have you sit down here in your regular way that you would sit. So that’s good. So he sits a little bit on his pockets. Hold on right here. That’s pretty good. Alright, so there’s a little bit of rotation backwards on him, so let’s see if we can check.

Oh, could you give me that clipboard behind you? No, not that one. The orange one. Thank you.

Alright, so let’s see what’s happening, so this is how we’re gonna check about his pelvis, so you see how pelvis tips a little bit backward, whereas for mine, when I put it right here, it’s supposed to be forward. 

So our goal is that your leg bone is so free to move inside. Did you see that it’s freely moving and at what I call my true hip right here? 

Chris:
Mhmm.

Dr. Kim:
That the bowl does not tip at all. But when you start to have trouble with tightness because your bowl starts to tip backwards, do you understand what’s happening right there? 

Chris:
Mhmm.

Dr. Kim: 
So this part, it can be a little hard, so what happens is that it’s tipped backward, so we’re gonna see if you can help you roll, roll it, so that you can roll like you’re a duck, like try to get your butt up there like a duck.

Can you try? Can you see if you can feel it roll? Yes, there you go. There you go more, Uh huh, there you go, like this, ’cause you’re supposed to try to hit the sit-bones here instead of sitting on the back of your pelvis there. Okay, does that make sense? 

Chris:
Mhmm.

Dr. Kim:
So where are your hip bones now? Sorry, your side hip. 

Chris:
Now, they’re here.

Dr. Kim:
Yeah, yes. And they feel like they’re facing a little more up instead of more to the back.

Chris:
Mhmm.

Dr. Kim:
Can you tell the difference?

Chris:
Yes, yeah, definitely. From here to there.

Dr. Kim:
That’s right, and he is kind of mild, but we’re catching him… Well, I have seen 18-year-olds where their pelvis is like all the way back, and basically you’re like, “Wow, your spine is coming out of there and turning like this”, so you want your, tailbone has just a little curve on it, so you wanna be sitting so it’s already doing the curve for you, so that you don’t have your back doing it higher. Does that make sense? 

Chris:
It does.

Dr. Kim:
Yeah, so anyway, so what I would do to help you activate, so that you can feel your quads more, is that when you get up from a chair, I would have you, what I had Bella do is, I have you kegel push on your heels and no hands, ’cause you aint old.

Chris:
Okay.

Dr. Kim: 
And that will help get you used to feeling these to do the work. Does that make sense? 

Chris:
Okay.

Dr. Kim:
So kegel, push on your heels and stand up.

Chris:
Just stand up?

Dr. Kim:
Yeah, there you go, push, push, push, push, push. There, do you feel that? It was different than the way you… 

Chris:
Ordinarily. 

Dr. Kim:
Yes, exactly. So this made you use this, right?

Chris:
Yeah.

Dr. Kim: 
So now when you sit down. The same thing, I’m gonna have you do this and sit your butt backward, back, back, back, back, back, back, back. Did you feel a stretch happened right here on the lower part of your hammies?  

Chris:
Yeah.

Dr. Kim:
That’s right. That’s what you wanna do, okay? So what I’m trying to explain is that what happens when we’re using these modern chairs, is that you keep using your ankles. 

So when you do this and you’re actually getting up, you’re using your ankles and right here, you don’t see anything stretching. So I’m not really stretching these. So then you sit down, use your ankles and then you sit your butt under and turn this under, and now you just use that to shorten up see all this wrinkling? You did that to shorten your hamstrings. Then that’s gonna make you feel really tight. 

Chris:
Okay.

Dr. Kim:
Now what happens is it as you walk, you’re gonna be tight and short through there because all you’re standing and sitting, you kept doing that, right? So now as you walk, you’re gonna go like this and you’re gonna go like this. So now you’re gonna reinforce the tightening of your hamstring ’cause these are already tight and then you will just turn it under more.

This is why men get this disappearing butt, as they get older.

Chris:
(laughs)

Dr. Kim:
Right, the bottom part of your jeans, like they get all loose and all of that, you’re just more and more and more and more, it just gets worse and worse, this and this long torso, does that make sense? 

Chris:
Yes

Dr. Kim:
So can you imagine now, just pretend you’re on a table or a dinner table or something like that, or eating or whatever, so let’s have you sag a little under more like, yes. Because that helps you hit it at the right place, so a lot of long torso guys, even who aren’t as tall as you, but let’s say they have a long torso, they end up sitting way under, ’cause I think it might be because that’ll help them hit the table at the right place. So you can think about whether or not it’s partly to accommodate the height of a table or desk, don’t know if you thought about that before?

Chris: 
Thankfully, my desk moves. 

Dr. Kim: 
It does? 

Chris: 
Yes.

Dr. Kim: 
Is it a standing sit kind of one? 

Chris: 
Yes.

Dr. Kim: 
Oh okay, so you move around during the day, so now when you’re in the standing mode, you might consider paying attention to…

Chris: 
Definitely being on my heels.

Dr. Kim: 
Yes, your heels! Heels and then that will activate these more because when, so right there, ’cause I had Bella do this, put your hands on your thighs right about here. Yep, push on your heels.

Chris: 
And come up?

Dr. Kim: 
Nope, just stay there and push on… See all that robustness of that full contraction and all, right? 

Chris: 
Yes.

Dr. Kim: 
Now I’ll push on the forefoot the way you were standing before, switch it, so they don’t get all big and all, they just get stiff. 

Chris: 
Mmhm.

Dr. Kim: 
So what happens when you just keep, so when you get up from a chair and you do this, you only make these stiff, you don’t make them like [gestures] you see what I’m saying?

Yeah, so the other thing I wanted to explain is that back before we had modern chairs right? Or when you can imagine when you have to sit or squat, a person would be doing that, and they go all the way. I don’t know if I can do it without warming up at all, but we’ll try.

So let’s say a person has to squat like that, so they’re gonna go and they’re gonna squat all the way down like this. Okay, now on the way up, they’re in their heels, so on the way up, you’re gonna do this all the way up, no one is gonna go like this and then go like that, and then finish, but that is the way everyone gets up out of a chair, so, right? So people are getting out of a chair by pushing your knees back a little bit, and bracing with their knees and finishing. This is stiffening up the entire thigh. 

Chris: 
Wow.

Dr. Kim: 
Does that make sense? So what I explain to people is – the fountain of youth is in your thighs.

Chris and Dr. Kim: 
(laughs) 

Chris: 
Right here.

Dr. Kim: 
It’s right here! That’s what I was trying to help you with a couple of years ago, ’cause when patients are older, what do I have to prescribe for them? I’ve had to prescribe them toilet seat risers because they cannot get their butt down low enough because their knees hurt so bad or they’re back, ’cause this will not stretch enough. Do you see what I’m saying? 

Okay, so let’s see if you can try to get up. Push down, yep, push down and bend it more, try to think about bending at your true hip. There you go. Push, push, push, push, push. Did you feel that differently? 

Chris: 
Yeah, oh yeah. 

Dr. Kim: 
Okay, so what do you feel that’s different?

Chris: 
So definitely more activation here, than being on the front of my feet. 

Dr. Kim: 
Yes, that’s right. And then the key is, is that now we activated this, so now you’re really making your front thigh more elastic, which is the “fountain of youth” part. And then it also helps that’s the “fountain of youth” strength part, the stretchy part happens on the sitting down, because if you’ve ever sat down something heavy and fragile, which you’re probably gonna do a lot during this move, is that hoisting it up was not as hard as like trying to, your sweating, to try to let it down easy.

Chris: 
Right, right, right.

Dr. Kim: 
Right. So you are trying to let your butt down go easy. 

Chris: 
Okay, 

Dr. Kim: 
So that’s how it takes so much more strength in a way, that’s why for free weights, they’d always be like “don’t drop it”, you should…

Chris: 
Resist it. 

Dr. Kim: 
This is what you’re doing. So what everyone has done for chair mechanics is they’ve all made it jointed, they cheated a little, and so they’re like, “I’ll use my ankle, i’ll lock my knee backward, I’ll do all of that”, and everything is short and stiffening, but when I just showed you about sitting, sitting was fluidly all the way down, and especially to push all the way up, there was no time to lock first and finish. So that makes you more elastic overall. Make sense? 

Chris: 
Yeah. 

Dr. Kim: 
Alright, so, fountain of youth let’s go. Don’t move your knees, ’cause watch what happens when I move, because the hamstring attaches here and it attaches here, right. ‘Cause that’s what does this. So this is the distance for that, so if I bend and eventually start to do this, this means I’m not lengthening my hamstrings. So bend at your true hip, put your finger like this to help you. 

There you go. So there, bend, bend, bend, bend, bend. Yes, did you see a drop at the end? That’s because of the stiffness. It won’t let you go on all the way. Did you feel that it’s like a . . . ?

Chris: 
A struggle. 

Dr. Kim: 
Yes, a struggle. Let’s take a break right here because I’m gonna try and do a release on you, so then you’ll see it’s different.

Chris: 
Okay.

Dr. Kim:
Okay, cool.

Dr. Kim: 
Alright, so we finished a little bit of treatment where I released his TFL, the tensor fascia lata here, I did some active release on that, so that then he could let his femur descend a little bit, just a little bit more so that he can get more movement at his true hip here without hoisting this and turning this under, which I’m exaggerating, but that’s what he’s been doing. 

Okay, so let’s see what that looks like. Ready, he pushes on his heel, he’s gonna try to bend at his true hip. Yes, so he’s more of a hinge like that, that’s good, and then when he sits back, he’s gonna really try to get the bottom part of this stretching, ’cause he never did that before. Yes! That was your best one. That was your best one. 

So how about that was really good, but all I’m asking is to make use of the modern chair in a way that promotes more stretching in the way that we lost when we switched from just no chair sitting, to adapting to this, ’cause your legs are long, you probably need to sit in a chair that’s even higher.

Chris:
Yeah

Dr. Kim:
So this is part of the problem about why you end up rolling under is because you’re trying to hit it just right. If this chair were higher for you then, but what are we gonna do? Have 20 height-chairs? Right, so this is why I’m trying to get everyone… It doesn’t matter how high the chair is or how low the chair is, just the act of trying will get you stretching that part underneath. 

Chris: 
So interesting.

Dr. Kim: 
Cool, right? Hey thanks so much for coming in today.

Chris: 
Thank you Dr. Kim.

Dr. Kim: 
You’re a great sport. 

Dr. Kim and Chris: 
(laughter)

Dr. Kim: 
Okay, so Chris asked a really great question, which I answer and I coach on also, because you’re doing this many times a day also, how are you gonna get out of a car? So in the cars, they have you a little bit posterior rotated in a bucket kind of seat usually, and so you’re basically trying to get out of the hole. People tend to move . . . because we’re not as active, like not everybody’s riding horses and people aren’t really climbing up hills and having to go over bushes, we’re kind of in this modern society, so we are missing all these chances to be stretching completely around.

So what I say is, when you’re gonna leave your car, let’s pretend you’re in England, because this is the way we’re facing. Okay, so you’re driving in England, so you just finished driving in England, and then you’re opening the door, so what you would do is you would kegel and to put one leg out at a time. So kegel, put this out because this is gonna let you stretch. 

Chris:
Okay

Dr. Kim:
Do you see what I mean? Kegel and do the other one, now you’re turned around, you see that? You can even kegel and do it a little bit more so that you’re officially turned around, there. Then in this way, try to do your duck-butt, right, we’re gonna bend here, you aren’t gonna do a hybrid curve all the way, which is what you’ve been used to. I want you to try to use this to stretch this more, ready, so now to get up out of your car in England. Push, push, push, push, yes! Without locking your knee first, bracing that, which stiffens this all. Cool, I wanted you to try to sit back like you’re getting into your car. Pretend you’re in England and you’re getting into your car.

Kegel, kegel, kegel, there. So what I wanna know is the old way you got out, remember that muscle that’s really tight right here, remember I said that when you do that first, like that stiffens your thigh and the fountain of youth is in your thighs, so can you try and stand up like we did before, and the way you would have done, which would probably lock your knees first on the way up, can you feel these, not these, these up here, remember the ones that I thought were restricting you, like right around here. So try and feel those when you stand up.

Chris: 
As I normally would have?

Dr. Kim: 
Yes, as you would have. You would have done that and gone like that. Yes. Do you feel that these all stiffen up? 

Chris:
Yeah.

Dr. Kim:
Yes, so these mechanics of this cheaty kind of mechanic for this half-way squatting down, this is stiffening this up. Does that make sense?

Chris: 
Yeah.

Dr. Kim: 
Good question, good question. 

Chris: 
Very cool. 

Dr. Kim: 
Alright.