Following on from my blog Flexibility… This is Week 4 of my 6 week Pilates challenge! Now we need to look at “Stability”. We will start with looking at the pelvic floor muscles and the transverse abdominus muscle in terms of their ability to stabilise the body during movement. We can assess this stability using movements such as a single leg squat or a step forward lunge, or more specifically with either an active straight leg raise (ASLR) or a specific pelvic stability test.
Here is a simple way of assessing your own pelvic and core stability:
Start by lying on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Your feet should be in line with your hips and parallel, arms relaxed down by your side.
As you are doing the movements from Level’s 1 to 6 below, your aim is to avoid any pelvic rotation, doming of your abdominals, tension through the neck and shoulders, and arching of the lower back. (It might help to have a buddy there watching some of these points!)
Level 1: Slide one leg away, keeping the heel in contact with the floor.
Level 2: Slide one leg away, hovering the heel one inch of the floor.
Level 3: Lift one leg into table top, then slide the other leg away keeping the heel in contact on the floor.
Level 4: Lift 2 legs, one at a time into a bent knee position (tabletop).
Level 5: With both legs in tabletop, slide one leg away.
Level 6: Starting with both legs in tabletop, stretch both legs away.
These are all great starting points, whether you find yourself at level 2 or level 5, you can keep coming back to these markers and reassess to see your own progress. If you have any questions book into our Sydney CBD clinic and see a Bend + Mend Physio to help get you started!
