Bendy Is As Bendy Does: 50 Day blog - Day 25

We have a really strong lateral line in our body (or rather we have two lateral lines, one either side). It runs from the midpoint of our foot, up the outside of the ankle, the side of our leg and thigh, the side of the ribs up to the back of our ear. 

In my experience this is often the 'forgotten line' in stretching and releasing. Well, that is, forgotten with the exception of the IT Band section of it! Poor IT bands, they are rolled and squashed and stretched and mashed, and forever told that they are tight. Yet, the rest of the lateral line is generally neglected, when it can in fact be an associate to the tightness being felt in the IT band. IT bands are worthy of a whole new post which I shall endeavour at some point write. 

In the meantime this simple movement will open up the lateral line and highlight where it is being restricted, allow you to release more specifically into that area. 

Stand near a wall, about 12" away from it. Cross the inside leg over the other and set the feet so that they are both flat on the floor (i.e. not rolling onto the side of either foot). The foot of the outer leg needs to be flat or you will slacken through the lateral line that you are trying to lengthen. 

Raise your outside arm up and lengthen the whole of that side of your body, before bending towards the wall. You may want to place the inside hand on the wall fro a little extra stability. Just make sure your inside shoulder is relaxed and dropped. If you can't reach the wall with your outside hand then make that the first aim with this move. Gently work at increasing your arm range, lifting up through the arm pit, breathing into the side of the ribs and lengthening your torso. 

If you can reach the wall quite easily, then use this to give you some leverage and find out where you really need to increased range and length. Generally this tends to be at the side of the waist, the side of the ribs, arm pit or on the arm somewhere (not technically part of the lateral line, but the range in the arm lines influence the other lines). The outer hip can also feel tight, or side of knee.

If you are someone who historically feels you have 'tight IT bands', then I would urge you to refrain from assuming you need to push into this area and stretch the hip first and foremost, but instead to increase the length in your waist or side of ribs first to find out more about the rest of your lateral line.    

Breathe into anywhere that feels tight and restricted. If you feel the tightness start to reduce and your range in increase then this is a sign that the fascia is releasing and the layers are starting to glide. Go with the movement that you are being given and then reset the starting position to reflect this new range. Take a big breathe and lengthen fully using the wall to push your whole outer side into a lovely big C shape. 

Repeat on the other side. 

Til tomorrow.... :-) 

CT :-) X