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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us April 21, 2006 For Your Health Are you squatting correctly? Chris Foster If you feel like you are about to fall backwards, or if your heels come off the ground, or if your first movement is bending your knees forward, or if your feet are close together, or if you bend forward at your waist you are not squatting correctly. The funny thing about squatting is that we all started out as toddlers squatting correctly, in excellent form, and without any instructions. Then society and laziness has trained us to do it all wrong. As soon as we build enough strength from getting up, standing and walking we naturally start squatting correctly. The next time you are with one of these lovely children, place something they want down on the floor in front of them and then step back and watch and learn. They will quickly demonstrate the correct squatting technique to retrieve the object. So why do most of us end up squatting wrong? There is probably no wrong answer and no simple right answer. It may stem from our bodies trying to find the easiest, least painful way of moving, especially when we are tired. Our front thigh muscles, the quadriceps, are big voluntary control muscles that can give us a lot muscle burning pain when being worked hard, so many may avoid the muscle pain by deciding to bend over at the waist instead of using the quadriceps muscle to squat correctly. Or we may initially squat correctly but when the muscle fatigue sets in we change our form to use the muscles less either by bending forward at the waist or squatting with knees going forward. It takes a lot less muscle energy to squat with the knees going forward and lifting your heels as you come up onto toes and the balls of your feet. There you can rest on your joint structures and the tightness in your calves. Joint integrity in our lower legs may also dictate how we squat. Bad knee, ankle, and/or hip joints can all lead to improper forms of squatting. Most of these people avoid squatting into joint pain and just use their backs to bend over to do things. The problem with this scenario is sooner than later they find themselves with painful back joints as well. It is usually best to immediately focus on getting your injured joints better instead of procrastinating. This may spare the health of other structure like your back joints. If you can’t improve your injured joints then respect your limits to minimize the stress on other joints. Societies have taught young women to sit and squat with their knees and feet together. Sitting and squatting is the same movement pattern. The problem with squatting with feet and knees together is that your hips can only bend so far before they are stopped by your waist meeting the tops of your thighs, then your pelvis is forced to move to squat deeper. The pelvic movement forces your spine to bend, which can strain your low back joints. An elderly patient in Alabama was taught at an early age to sit like a lady with her feet and knees together. Through the years she developed low back pain especially when sitting. After instructing her to sit/squat correctly with her feet and knees apart she was able sit/squat without pain. She was very excited but still said, “I will sit and squat like that in the privacy of my own home but I will not propagate that behavior in public.” Societal influences can be strong. Clothing style can be a big hindrance to squatting correctly. Tight pants and skirts can limit hip movement, causing more pelvic tilting motion, which increases low back bending like sitting with feet and knees together. Don’t put on old jeans to do your manual labor if they do not fit anymore. It is best to wear loose-fitting clothes so your pants do not dictate how your pelvis and back move while you are squatting, especially if you are going to be doing a lot of squatting or moving loads. Short skirts also promote squatting with knees and feet together. We also learn by watching other people. Since most people squat incorrectly, it perpetuates bad behavior. Squatting is a fundamental movement pattern that needs coordination and strength. It is surprising how much strength we need to do daily activities correctly to minimize the stress on our joints. As mentioned earlier, sitting and squatting should be the same movement pattern. Chances are, if you ask someone to squat and them ask them to sit the will show you two different movement patterns. Most people move better when asked to sit. This is because the have to get their buttocks back onto the seat. This promotes bending at the hips first to get the buttocks moving back and downward to the seat. To counter balance this weight going backwards you need to bend forward at your hips, not your waist, to keep your weight balanced over your feet and ankles. Bending forward at your hips allows your back to stay straight with little to no movement in the spine. In order to keep your hips bending and not your spine, you need to have that wide stance — feet at least shoulder width apart. To sit really deep, you will need even a wider stance to keep the hips bending instead of the pelvis and spine. Now that you know how to sit correctly, you know how to squat correctly. Instead of coming to a rest on a seat, you stand back when you accomplished the task you have squatted for. 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