Hello, this is Naudi Aguilar at Functional Patterns, and for today’s video tutorial, I’m going to show you guys how to attack a lower back problem.

In general, you’ll find the tendencies of a person having an anterior pelvic shift on a routine basis, and the tissues that we’re going to focus on are the ones that orient that anterior pelvic shift, which are going to orient along the posterior chain on multiple different facets, but the one that we’re really going to attack today is going to be at the plantar fascia.

The way that we’re going to go about it is pretty unique, so be sure you tune in to the very end of this video so you can catch that technique in its totality.

Shortening Of The Backside

I’ll have you guys follow me to check it out.

First and foremost, I just want you guys to think that any time you have a shortening of the backside, and keep in mind I’m talking about it being a shortening to simplify.

It’s way more complicated than just a tissue shortening or lengthening.

It’s about the direction of its orientation, so when I say shortening, just keep in mind that I’m trying to keep this as simple as possible so you guys can digest the technique and employ it easier into your life.

But at a basic level, just assume that any time you’re dealing with a shortening on the backside, you’re going to tend to find the hips or the knees, or whatever it may be, or the upper body might even go …

Forward Shift Of Your Body

Any time that you have a shortening on the back side, you’re going to have forward shift of your body, and a very common one that I’ll find with people in our modern culture is that when that tissue is really, really shortened on the back side or excessively shortened, the hips tend to drop forward into this position.

As a consequence, this can lead to a lot of problems in the lumbar spine just simply because you’re taking your lumbar spine out of a position of adaptability.

So if your hips are too far forward, you’re not going to be very adaptable.

If your hips are somewhat back in this fashion, you’re going to have much more adaptability, and you’re going to have access to these muscles called your obliques that are going to be really important for things like lateral movement and lateral stability.

Getting yourself into that position of adaptability will be crucial if you want to address your lower back issues over the course of the long term.

Two Lacrosse Balls

Now, the tools that we’re going to use right here are going to be two lacrosse balls, and the reason I’m going to use two lacrosse balls is so you can’t cheat your way out of this technique, not doing it the way that you’re supposed to.

I know most of you guys have probably already gotten a golf ball or a tennis ball, even a lacrosse ball yourselves, and you’ve put your foot on top of the lacrosse ball, and you’ve rolled around on top of it, and tried to emphasize that release on the bottom of your foot.

But it’s really easy to cheat that.

This is one thing that I found with my clients when I’m working with them is that when I teach them this, they’ll be like, “Oh yeah, I release the bottom of my foot all the time.”

So then I was like, “Okay, let’s see how well you release the bottom of your foot.

Let’s take your other foot, and let’s put your other foot on top of that lacrosse ball and see if you can cheat that.”

And as soon as I’d put anybody on top of it with two lacrosse balls, you’re going to almost scream because the pain is so intense.

It’s not necessarily that it’s always a good thing that the pain is that intense.

Sometimes you may have to start with just one foot on the ball to ensure that you’re not going to have an extreme pain, but once you’ve made an adaptation, eventually you’re probably going to want to carry more of your body weight onto that ball.

Kahuna Sticks

One thing I like to use, I have these things, they’re called kahuna sticks, and I use these to help stabilize me for where I’m at, and that can help me take pressure off if I need to.

But in general, for myself, I like to get my entire body weight onto these two lacrosse balls like this.

What this is going to promote is a mobilization and a hydration of the plantar fascia, which in general on most people is very dehydrated.

Now, it can be dehydrated for an assortment of different reasons, and I’m not going to get into that right now, but just realize these tissues right here in general, for most people, do tend to carry a severe amount of dehydration.

Right now what we’re doing is slowly moving the tissues around so fluid can get in there and we get some of that hydration going.

Let The Blood Flow

You’re going to step off, let the blood flow, get back in there, get the fluids to go back into that plantar fascia.

We’re going to then reapproach this technique, but this time what we’re going to do is actually move … and you could always use a wall here, you can use a wall to do the same technique.

I’m going to use these kahuna sticks like I am right now, and what I’m going to do is while I’m keeping this pressure,

I’m going to start beginning to go into a posterior pelvic shift, so my hips are going to begin to shift backwards.

I’m going to draw in my abdomen, I’m going to pull in my … to get some TBA and core recruitment overall, and then I’m going to institute an anterior pelvic tilt all simultaneously.

Slight Tension On My Hamstrings

I’ll come down dropping my chest downward, extending my arms out until I get to a point where I feel a slight tension on my hamstrings.

Right now what I’m doing is I’m actually creating immobilization at the same time that I’m creating a structural connection with the rest of my body.

So my abs are involved, right, my core muscles are involved while I’m getting this fascial manipulation, and my hamstrings are also tugging on the plantar fascia, which is then going to increase the ability for me to get that length in the plantar fascia like I want.

And again, this is going to lead to the plantar fascia becoming much more mobilized, and when we’re done that immobilization, it should feel much easier to put ourselves into that posterior pelvic shift and get that pelvis right back into the position of adaptability.

Share It With Your Friends

I hope you guys found this tutorial to be informative for you.

Be sure to share it with your friends, click like on it.

Show us some support, it will help us towards getting this message out to more people because this information is desperately needed in modern times, so be sure that you get this information out there any way that you can.

This is Naudi Aguilar at Functional Patterns reminding you to train intentionally and not habitually.

Take care.