https://www.facebook.com/776546529081098/

Karen Kay Corrective Exercise, 24 Birch Road, Deerfield, NH (2026)

05/25/2022

The rhomboids and serratus anterior muscles should work together to stabilize the shoulders on the back.

04/05/2022

Psoas Stretch vs Psoas Release?

A psoas stretch is part of almost any yoga pose.

The psoas muscle connects the upper and lower body as one of three muscles connecting the legs to the spine.

It lies deep in the core and any movement involving the pelvis involves the psoas.

It works a lot. 24/7 even.

So I teach something referred to as release work.

Release work is pretty simple. It is the opposite of stretching. All it means to do is put the body into a state of relaxation. Of not working.

And for the psoas that is a true gift.

As a yoga teacher, it is my job to stretch people. But it wasn’t long before I came across people who didn’t seem to be served by stretching.

They would come to class regularly, and put in the work. But their hips or hamstrings, or whatever they hoped to lengthen, never seemed to actually lengthen.

I came to realize that a muscle that is full of tension cannot be stretched free of that tension.

And from my perspective, it is the psoas muscle that carries or holds onto that tension.

What a conundrum. So many exercises we do involve a psoas stretch and I am saying I don’t think stretching the psoas serves everyone.

Especially if you are in chronic pain.

In certain cases, we must learn to relax, or release, the tension from a muscle. Only that way can we get back to the point where we can stretch it effectively.

In the case of the psoas, my take is pretty simple. If you have no pain in the lower back, hips, or groin, you should do psoas stretches to your heart’s content.

While relaxing the psoas would also be great, I can see why there wouldn’t be a great incentive to lay around for 45 minutes not doing much.

If you are in pain, suffering from tight hips, lower back pain, groin pain, etc, then psoas release work is an essential option.

Always with the idea that when you are ready you return to deeper psoas stretches.

Psoas release work is about relaxing. But it is also about exploring your psoas and your pelvis, and your body’s alignment.

Healing begins with awareness.

Psoas releases are about stepping back a little to listen to your body and come to a better understanding of how your body works.

Dysfunction in the nervous system usually comes down to the imbalance of excitation and relaxation.

Psoas release work attempts to influence that imbalance.

Sometimes a psoas stretch is exactly what you need for physical and emotional well-being. As someone who is not currently in pain, stretching my psoas brings me joy and happiness.

But when you suffer from chronic pain as a result of an accident, injury, or trauma, letting go can unlock a lot of tension.

Learning to relax and release chronic tension from the psoas is a gift everyone needs.

Release work is a beautiful way to heal the body and/or complement a rigorous training program.

04/02/2022

Is One Leg Shorter Than the Other? Ask the Psoas.

The human body is amazing in so many ways.

One of the more interesting things going on in the body is symmetry versus asymmetry.

Our skeleton is profoundly symmetrical.

Our skeletal structure is the same on both sides of the body with the corresponding bones all being the same size and shape.

There is one exception and that is when we get to the toes. For whatever reason, symmetry goes out the window and the toes are free to move in different directions.

Do you think you have one leg shorter than the other?

In truth, one in a million people might have one leg shorter than the other due to one of the bones being shorter on one side but it is very rare.

Like I said our skeleton is very symmetrical. But when it comes to the organs things are quite different inside.

It should seem pretty obvious that we can’t change the shape of our bones. But when it comes to leg length discrepancy, we often fail to take our muscles into account.

Often the reason for skeletal imbalance is the different tone of the musculature on both sides of the body.

Our muscles are different side to side in that we all have a dominant side. We are always going to be stronger on one side of the body than the other.

This strength manifests in size. Stronger muscles tend to be larger than weaker ones.

A number of years ago when I went to the Bodies exhibit in NYC’s South Street Seaport.

The aspect of the show that struck me most was viewing the same muscle on both sides of the body.

Very often you would have a strong solid muscle on the right side that looks like it was straight out of an anatomy book.

And then the muscle on the other side there would be this limp and flaccid excuse for a muscle that barely existed.

So why then is one leg is shorter than the other?

Most often it is because of the tightness of my favorite muscle, the psoas major.

Everyone’s side-to-side imbalance varies for different reasons but my take is that leg length discrepancy is mainly due to the psoas muscle.

The psoas connects at the base of the rib cage, all along the lumbar spine and then down and back to the back half of the femur, or leg, bone.

When the psoas is tight it pulls the affected leg up into the hip socket and often pulls the hip up towards the rib cage and the rib cage down towards the hip.

That is just one of the ways a tight psoas can manifest.

But the shortening or pulling up of the leg into the hip socket is usually the first response to any tightening in the psoas muscles.

And this leads to one leg being shorter than the other.

03/30/2022

Piriformis syndrome and sitting in chairs.

Piriformis syndrome is a pain in the butt caused by the piriformis muscle pressing against the sciatic nerve.

The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in the body and it passes the piriformis muscle on its way down the leg.

Piriformis syndrome differs from sciatica in that sciatica manifests as pain that originates in the lumbar spine. It often radiates down the leg in a similar fashion to piriformis syndrome but it starts in the lower back.

Piriformis syndrome and sitting are a problem because it is literally impossible to avoid this muscle when seated.

If you know from yoga poses the piriformis is the muscle that gets stretched in pigeon pose.

If you drive a car the piriformis is at work when you lift and move your leg to get in or out of a car.

The piriformis is a small triangular muscle that connects the leg to the sacrum.

Among its roles are stabilizing the pelvis and externally rotating the leg.

If you tend to stand or walk with your feet turned out it is likely that your piriformis is short. And it is probably weaker than you would like.

But these two factors by themselves don’t create piriformis syndrome.

Most of the world stands and walks like a duck but only a small percentage suffer from piriformis syndrome.

For whatever reasons many people get away with poor movement and posture problems for long periods before things go south.

And some people get away with it forever but it is not something I would bank on.

I took the pictures in this post on a beautiful afternoon in Union Square while sitting in one of the horrible folding chairs that they are kind enough to provide.

As I sat my upper back leaned against the top of the chair while my lower back rounds backward.

My pelvis is tucked under, shortening and crunching the piriformis muscle.

The pictures in the post are a random sampling but they show how everyone around me was reposed.

Everyone in the pictures is sitting in the same way.

Piriformis syndrome and sitting in this position and not compatible.

Sitting in a park for a little while won’t bother most people. But what if you are a desk jockey and sit for eight hours a day. Give or take a couple of hours.

How are you sitting as you read this?

Is your pelvis tucked under or in a neutral position?

Are your feet flat on the floor so your pelvis is balanced?

Are you sitting in a way that is good for the long-term health of your body and spine?

Piriformis syndrome and sitting don’t get along. But you can improve this relationship by sitting with better posture.

Piriformis syndrome and sciatica are only two of the many issues that arise from poor movement patterns and posture.

Try to check in with how you are sitting a couple of times during the day and honestly assess how you treat your spine.

A healthy and pain-free life is available to everyone who wants to learn about how the body is supposed to work.

Learning to sit correctly can decrease the odds of getting piriformis syndrome exponentially.

While piriformis syndrome and sitting in chairs will never be compatible, sitting well can mitigate some of the negative effects.

03/03/2022

Standing with a neutral pelvis.

Posture is the position in which you hold your body while standing, sitting, or lying down.

For me, the idea of good posture starts with a neutral pelvis. From there the pelvis can move in multiple directions but we want to start from neutral.

This is because standing successfully with a neutral pelvis makes initiating efficient movement patterns much more likely.

So what is a neutral pelvis? There are a lot of different cues that I use to help people feel when they are standing with a neutral pelvis.

-Relax Your butt
-Give your butt a room of its own
-Do a proper pelvic lift.

Those are three ways to feel when you have a well-aligned pelvis when standing still.

Not that we stand still all that much. We are dynamic creatures that are always moving– as long as the heart beats– but we have to start somewhere.

Anatomically, having a neutral pelvis means the ball at the top of the leg bone (femur) aligns well into the cup of the hip (acetabulum).

Aligning well means that it is neither externally rotated nor internally rotated.

It finds a happy medium.

As soon as we move in any way we leave the neutral pelvis behind… but only momentarily.

For the rest of this post, I am going to stick with looking at standing. This is where I start with all of my classes and clients.

It is a rare day that I don’t see someone standing and telling them to stop tucking their pelvis under. But that doesn’t mean that the pelvis shouldn’t ever tuck under.

Every successful step we take involves the tilting and rotating of the pelvis. This means the pelvis tucks and untucks with every step.

But the key part of this is that the pelvis has to move through a neutral position while it tucks and untucks with each step.

The question is how your pelvis is aligned when standing?
If you can answer this question you will also know what your pelvis is doing when walking. This is because your walking patterns follow your standing patterns.

If you are someone that is habitually tucking the pelvis under, your femur heads are not going to be able to find a happy medium. Instead, they will always be slightly externally rotated (not neutral).

And not everyone tucks under. Some people stick their butts out too much into an anterior tilt. Those people are going through life with the femur heads too internally rotated.

The benefits of standing with a neutral pelvis are all about successful weight transfer through our bones.

You can read many of my other posts about walking— where the pelvis is constantly moving — but when it comes to standing we want to align the bones so they can best bear and transfer weight through the skeleton.

We bear and transfer weight best when standing with a neutral pelvis

And we owe it to ourselves to understand the alignment of the pelvis and develop ways to feel when it is well situated.

02/22/2022

Understanding Your Groin and Hip Pain

The body is like a machine… sort of.

It is designed to work in a specific way. And when it doesn’t work the way it is designed, it begins to break down.

Much like a car or any machine that requires upkeep.

If you know how your body works, it is much easier to prevent it from breaking down. It will also be easier to minimize general wear and tear.

One way to start learning about your body is to identify your pains.

Once you do that, you can figure out why they are there, and what started the problem.

Groin and hip pain are two very common types of pain that occur in the body.

Hip pain can be caused by a number of factors. Most involve fascia (a connective tissue), muscle imbalance, and often, muscle weakness.

Your hip is a large bone making up one-third of the pelvis. The pelvis is the two hip bones with the sacrum in between.

When you are born the hip is made up of three separate bones.

These are the ilium, ischium, and p***s. These three bones will fuse into one when you start to stand up and walk.

The three bones fuse together, creating a cup that the leg bone sits into. This cup is the acetabulum.

Hip pain is often connected to a long tract of connective tissue called the iliotibial band, or IT band.

Think of all the soft bits in the body as connective tissues. And different types of connective tissues have different levels of elasticity.

Fascia is a very strong connective tissue with little give.

In this way, it is much less accommodating of bad posture than muscle.

Muscle is happy to move with you into bad patterns. Connective tissue is not so forgiving.

To me, most poor posture manifests with the thighs leaning forward.

This essential misalignment messes with the fascia of the IT Band more than the muscles that surround it.

If the thighs lean forward, the IT band gets pulled backward. Again, the muscles are happy to go forward with the bones.

But the tight connective tissue of the IT Band can’t make that accommodation and gets pulled backward.

Groin and hip pain are often associated with running and the IT band is one of the main culprits.

Running correctly is a great way to reinforce correct habits.

I recommend it as an excellent way to learn new patterns and retrain your body successfully.

But, and the but is massive…

… If the IT band is forever pulling back when it is supposed to wrap forwards it will suffer in the long run.

There is no guarantee that your hip pain is from the IT band but it is a good place to start your exploration.

Here is a possible reason for having groin pain.

To start it is important to know that a groin is an area of the body as opposed to a particular muscle.

When we refer to a pulled groin we are often but not always referring to a muscle of the inner thigh (adductor).

The groin is the area of the pelvis where the leg meets the hip.

There should always be a soft pocket in the groin when standing.

Groin pain often manifests in an odd wrapping sensation. This is a pain that goes from the p***s (part of the hip bone) and moves up and around towards the lower back.

This pain is related to the psoas muscle, a key factor in most groin and hip pain.

There is a ligament that connects from the p***c bone to the outer hip called the inguinal ligament. It is essentially strapping the psoas muscle down onto the p***c bone.

When the psoas is tight or inflamed it can push on this ligament. Which in turn causes the wrapping sensation that you might feel as groin pain.

These are just two possible causes of your groin and hip pain.

Unfortunately, there are numerous others.

That is why I believe you can’t know too much about how your body works.

You can’t spend too much time trying to figure out why you feel the way you do.

And when it comes to groin and hip pain, the more you know the more likely you are to heal.

02/09/2022

IT Band Problems: “Why Does My Hip Hurt?”

I am asked this question over and over again.

Hip pain is a fairly common reason people come to see me and sign up for the CoreWalking Program.

Sadly, there are too many people who suffer mild to severe hip pain and don’t really do anything about it. The thinking goes that a hip that hurts is simply a part of their life.

“It’s not that bad, I can deal with it.”

There are many different reasons why our hips hurt and I promise you they don’t have to.

My favorite muscle the psoas is often, if not always, involved in hip pain.

The next-door neighbor of the psoas, the quadratus lumborum, usually has a role to play as well.

Let’s add gluteus maximus and piriformis to the mix and a picture begins to form.

When your hip hurts it can be any or all of these muscles.

But for today’s discussion, we will cover the IT band and the tensor fasciae latae as reasons why your hip might hurt.

But if you have a problem with one of the muscles I listed, they are probably all involved.

Because things in the body don’t work in isolation. Even though I encourage students to engage certain muscles when we exercise, that is merely an image.

Muscles work in a chain and they all work with the help of other muscles.

So when it comes to answering the question, why does my hip hurt, I start with standing posture.

Poor standing posture which also usually translates into bad walking, running, and sitting form, is a main culprit.

And it always impacts the IT Band. Most people align the IT band incorrectly when standing.

And this misalignment carries over to all of our actions.

Our amazing body fascinates me to no end. Within its very specific design are some curveballs.

Things that occur in the body only once such as the hyoid– the only truly floating bone in the body. It is the only bone that doesn’t move in concert with other bones.

The IT Band is another interesting anomaly in the body. It is designed so that a muscle embedded within it, helps it to act.

Muscles move us. That’s the way the body works. Muscles contract and the bones move.

But It is important to understand that muscles can’t work effectively if they are too long and lack skeletal support.

There are a number of situations like this in the body.

When the body requires muscles that are too long to accomplish things they shouldn’t be able to, it provides assistance.

That assistance takes different forms. In the thigh muscles, we have the kneecap embedded into the quadriceps.

This bone, the patella, protects the knee joint. But it also provides essential support to the quadriceps muscle as it extends the knee.

The quadriceps is too long to do this without the help of the kneecap.

Now think about your six-pack abs. Or any six-pack if you don’t have one to show off (I don’t).

The muscle is called the re**us abdominis and it runs from the base of the ribcage to the pelvis.

In a similar way to the quadriceps, the re**us abdominis is simply too long to do its job. That job is to bring the pelvis and ribcage closer together.

In order for the re**us abdominis to do this, there are tendons inserted in between the series of muscles. So it isn’t really one long muscle.

It is a series of muscles that couldn’t accomplish their task otherwise.

What about the IT Band?

The IT band, or iliotibial band, is a long tract of connective tissue. It runs from the ilium of the pelvis to the tibia of the shin.

The body is basically made up of bones and connective tissue. Muscles, ligaments, fascia, tendons; are all connective tissues with varying degrees of elasticity.

Fascia is a connective tissue that encases the whole body.

The fasciae latae is the deep fascia of the leg, enclosing the thigh muscles. The IT Band is fascia that is a part of the fasciae latae.

The IT Band functions to stabilize the knee when it is in extension especially for walking.

Because it is connective tissue rather than muscle, it can accomplish this action over the long distance between the pelvis and the shin.

It also works to extend and abduct the hip.

The tensor fasciae latae is a small muscle that runs through it, situated towards the outer hip.

The tensor fasciae latae does what it sounds like. Latae means broad and the tensor fasciae latae acts as a tensor of the outer fascia. The IT band is a part of the fasciae latae.

It also works with a number of the above-mentioned muscles to flex, abduct, and internally rotate the leg.

But here is the rub…

Because the IT Band is fascia, as opposed to muscle, it is much less forgiving when it comes to poor postural alignment.

Thighs that lean forward of the pelvis, a common posture problem, pull the IT band out-of-place creating the environment for the hip to hurt.

From my perspective, a majority of people lean their thighs forward of the pelvis. Just start looking around when you are with people to see if you agree.

If the thigh are forward, the IT band tends to get pulled back towards the butt.

The gluteus maximus, our big butt muscle, connects to both the back of the thigh bone and the It band.

In general, we are tight assed people, and our tight butts will also be pulling the IT band backward.

These dual forces—thighs forward and a tight butt—put a great deal of strain on the IT band.

If it were a muscle it would simply be pulled out of alignment.

But, because it is connective tissue it has way less give. And postural misalignment affects it more than most soft tissue structures in the body.

Here is a very simple and unscientific way to feel what I am talking about.

In the picture above the IT Band in the man on the left aligns along the outer thigh as it should.

The guy on the right has thighs that lean forward which pulls the IT Band backward.

To be clear though, the IT Band doesn’t move because it is too strong and solid. So it stays where it is when your posture is bad. And this causes problems in many ways.

-Stand up and put your hands on your outer hips. Place the heel of the palm at the hip with the fingers pointing down the leg. Your hand is basically covering the IT Band.

-Lean backward and let your thighs sink forward. Feel your hands, and IT Band pull backward.

-Shift your trunk forward and take your thighs back. Now you should feel the IT Band wrap forward.

What you should feel is while the bones and the muscles will move, the taut, strong IT band will not.

The illustration above is an example of this. The IT band maintains its position as the bones shift theirs.

So today's answer to the question, why does my hip hurt, is poor posture puts a large amount of torque on the IT band. This affects the hip and knee in equal measures.

Get your thighs back under your pelvis. If you do this there will be a lot more room for the IT band to live happily.

And there will be much less stress and pressure on the hip, leg, and knee.

02/09/2022

Today on the podcast, is a lecture that I gave to all of the College Gymnastics Coaches last year when our research paper on Achilles studies, Achilles tears, and NCAA gymnastics was being published. Before COVID in 2018, there were about 20 Achilles tears in the first couple of months of the season...

02/06/2022

The Psoas and Diaphragm: Building the Abdominal Box

The psoas and diaphragm are partners in walking and breathing and we need them to work together.

I’ll get to walking but first…

We can look at the trunk as a rectangular box with four sides. The abdominal box.

-The top is the diaphragm.
-The bottom is the levator ani, or pelvic floor.
-The back of the box is the psoas muscle.
-The front of the box is the re**us abdominis and other abdominal muscles.

Let’s explore the walls of the box.

The diaphragm, a dome-shaped muscle at the bottom of the ribcage, is the most important muscle of breathing.

With every breath we take the diaphragm should descend. This tones and massages the contents of the trunk between the base of the ribs and the top of the pelvis.

The psoas muscle is a key factor in every successful step we take. The psoas muscle originates on the bottom vertebrae of the thoracic spine and on the top four vertebrae of the lumbar spine.

It moves down across the front rim of the pelvis and then moves back to insert onto the back half of the inner thigh.

As one of the body’s main flexors, and one of only three muscles that connect the lower and upper body, the psoas is largely responsible for initiating each successful step we take.

At the base of the pelvis, the levator ani supports the weight of the organs and helps control elimination.

The re**us abdominis runs from the front of the pelvis to the rib cage and sternum directly across from the psoas.

These four sets of muscles essentially house the contents of the abdomen.

Their placement and tone go a long way to determining the efficacy of many of our essential functions.

All of these structures need to work in harmony for the body to work best.

There are an endless array of reciprocal relationships in the body.

Some muscles oppose each other in order to act. As an example, for the bicep to lengthen, the tricep has to shorten.

Other muscles seem to act in concert.

The pelvic floor and the diaphragm have one of these relationships.

With good posture, these two structures are level and move in a similar way.

On each inhalation, the diaphragm and pelvic floor should lower, and with each exhalation, they rise back up.

You can feel that though it can be very subtle. In fact, you can use that feeling to find your best posture.

-Stand up with your eyes closed and your feet fairly close together.
-Assume what you think is good posture.
-Feel what happens internally when you breathe.

If you don’t sense the diaphragm and pelvic floor moving together try changing your posture until you do.

When you do sense the diaphragm and pelvic floor moving together, that is an improvement in your current posture. I promise you.

This balance is countered by the front and back relationship of the psoas and the re**us abdominis.

When the diaphragm drops as it should on the inhale, there is less space in the abdominal box.

To compensate for this the psoas settles backward into the bowl of the pelvis, and the abdominal muscles move forward. Exhaling brings everything back to where it began.

If all of this happens– every breath we take tones, massages, and stimulates everything between the diaphragm and the base of the pelvis.

Which is a great thing.

Your kidneys live on either side of the psoas. The abdominal aorta (blood flow) moves through the diaphragm and splits into two arteries that follow the path of the psoas into the leg.

The bladder and reproductive organs sit in front of the psoas and the stomach and intestines plug into the middle of all this.

The large intestine wraps around the small intestine, under the diaphragm, and in front of the psoas, along the path of the side body.

And when you walk well all of this comes together.

With every step you take, a whole host of muscles spring into action.

The psoas is drawn down and back through the inner thigh. As that leg extends backward the pelvis tilts back and the lumbar spine is pulled forward.

Your re**us abdominis counters that while other abdominal muscles get involved to aid in the natural rotation that moves naturally up through the spine.

As you switch legs the same thing happens on the other side of the body creating a continual rotation through the spine initiated by the psoas.

Imagine a washing machine and how it wrings dirt out of your clothes as it works through the wash cycle.

When the legs, pelvis, and spine move in harmony with your core muscles, this same action is created in your trunk.

The organs all move and a healthy tone settles into organs that are never stagnant.

The body is meant to be a self-healing machine. The relationship of the psoas and diaphragm is key to making that happen.

The psoas is the walking muscle and the diaphragm is the breathing muscle but…

When things are going well every step you take is connected to the diaphragm. And every breath you take is connected to the psoas.

Putting all of this together with good posture and movement patterns are some of the many keys to aging gracefully.

02/04/2022

How do your shoes wear out?

You can get a lot of information about the way you walk from the way your shoes wear out.

Most people are wearing their shoes out on the outside, from the outer heel through the outer foot.

This is not optimal but happens because we tend to walk with our feet turned out slightly. We tend to lean backward when we walk which messes up the way weight transfers from the shin to the foot.

A thick pad of fascia and skin makes up the inside of the heel, while a small projection of bone on the outer heel exists as a landing pad for each step.

This spot on the outer heel is where each step should begin.

Take a look at the calluses on your feet. They are a pure indication of where you bear weight in your foot.

Ideally, calluses should form on the outer heel, and on the inner and outer ball of the foot.

That would indicate a good footfall.

These three points are where the foot’s main weight-bearing takes place, with an emphasis on the big toe.

A happy footfall should encompass all three of these points. We want to roll from the outer heel to the inner foot, finishing on the big toe before launching into the next step.

Finishing on the big toe creates a reciprocal response in the inner upper thigh. The inner spiral of the leg sets the psoas muscle back at its base which is very important.

It provides for the magical lift in the spine that elevates us energetically.

As you walk, note the way your foot lands on the floor. Where does its action start and finish?

What do you feel in your inner thigh as you land and push off?

Try a new way.

Start to walk, making sure to begin each step on the outer heel.
Try to sense the transfer of energy from the outer heel to the inner foot.
Feel for a gentle engagement in your inner thigh as each step falls through the inner foot. You can also initiate this action from the inner thigh.
Stick your butt out slightly, setting your inner thighs back. Feel how this action takes you through the inner foot.

The whole foot should be in play with each step.

Pushing off through the big toe should send the body forward.

Finishing each step through the big toe allows you to stack your bones to create an effective plumb line.

Performed correctly, these actions should put the proper spring in your step.

Karen Kay Corrective Exercise

05/25/2022

04/05/2022

04/02/2022

03/30/2022

03/03/2022

02/22/2022

02/09/2022

02/09/2022

02/06/2022

02/04/2022

Address

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share

Category