Curious

Submitted by bad_mirror on December 20, 2010 - 9:52pm
Body: 

Has anyone heard of Katy Bowman? I searched for her name here and nothing came up, but forgive me if there has already been a conversation.

I "stumbled" across this blog entry and was wowed by the lumbar curve: http://www.katysays.com/2010/06/02/you-dont-know-squat/#hide

Apparently she is a biomechanical engineer with an interest in applying her knowledge of skeletal alignment towards the healing of various degenerative diseases. She has a special interest in pelvic floor dysfunction and wrote her master's on the importance of a lumbar curve for women's pelvic health. Among other things, she says (paraphrased by me) go barefoot, kegels are of little if no use, a s-spine is healthy and a c-spine is not, lift the tailbone, avoid chair sitting, glutes and thighs are a woman's stabilizing "core." Sound familiar? While I'm not sure she has as clear a picture of POP as Christine illustrates, it excites me to see another non-MD proclaiming pelvic truths similar to those we find here. Maybe the "winds of change" are picking up? Her other blog entries on pelvic "floor" are also interesting. If you check them out, what do you think?

louiseds

December 20, 2010 - 10:02pm

I have heard of her. Haven't got time at the moment to go into it. Hopefully we can have this conversaton after Xmas. I am procrastinating about a pudding as we speak, and we are killing the goose this afternoon so I must prepare myself.

L

aza

December 21, 2010 - 4:45am

...as Louise (minus the geese). I have heard of her but haven't looked closely yet, though I am anxious to do so. Sounds very interesting for sure...

Colorburst

December 21, 2010 - 10:54am

When I discovered my prolapse, I was very devasted and did tons of research on the internet and found Katy and Christine. I ended up ordering Christine's and Katy's materials. Katy's DVD concentrates on stretches on glutes and back of legs. I use both women's exercises and they are helping me so much. The unexpected bonus I received was my chronic hip pain that I have had for years is gone! So, I have high hopes that my prolapse will respond as well. My opinion is that although there may be differences in the two theories, we are so lucky and I am so grateful that these wonderful women are trying their best to help all women to deal with these issues.

louiseds

December 21, 2010 - 7:24pm

Hi Curious

I agree. It is great to see yet another practitioner promoting the lumbar curve. I have seen this type of squat training on other sites.

Tight muscles are indeed squat killers. I am not sure how much extra movement you can get out of the joints, though. Katy and others obviously think 'a lot'. The joints in the feet are another variable. Google 'squatting facets' to explore another amazing world of how the body adapts its structure to how it is used while the person is still growing.

All these people with websites feed off each other, and rarely attribute developments of their work to the work of others. I think it is called sharing. It is bound to send us all in the direction of the truth.

As Katy says, you need to put in a fair amount of time to develop your squatting abilities, with all the placement of rolls that it entails (and staying in one place long enough to get benefit from it!!!)

The other aspect of it is that I am not sure that I actually want looser knees or ankles. Mine clank around a lot from old injuries as it is. I suspect the development of squatting facets in the feet and knees as described by the anthropology sites is by far the most important factor, and once the body has stopped growing there is nothing you can do about the shape of your bones (or is there?).

However, sitting in chairs all the time is no doubt a major factor that we can do something about to keep our lower body muscles stretchable and enable us to squat more effectively.