Обещанная статья из книги "Воздушный танец"
Наконец подготовила обещанную статью из книги "Воздушный танец" (http://www.amazon.com/Aerial-Dance-Jayne-Bernasconi/dp/0736073965). Название статьи - "Предотвращение травм. Понимание анатомии и физиологии движений в подвешенном состоянии", написана Серенити Смит Форшон (артистка цирка, основательница цирковой школы в Вермонте). Статья на английском, но если у нас в сообществе достаточно участниц со знанием языка то при желании можно совместно перевести. Это семь страниц текста в Word, при 11 размере, с отступлениями и абзацами. Итак...
Injury Prevention. Understanding the Anatomy and Physiology of Suspended Movement.Serenity Smith Forchion
More than anything else, the sensation is one of perfect peace mingled with an excitement that strains every nerve to the utmost, if you can conceive of such a combination. Wilbur Wright
My twin sister, Elsie Smith, and I perform on many aerial apparatus, including trapeze and fabric, as Gemini Trapeze. We also have a circus school, Nimble Arts, where we teach aerial and acrobatic movement to all levels. We also choreograph and create acts for professional performers.
During four intensive years performing with Cirque du Soleil's Saltimbanco, we both experienced shoulder injuries. Elsie subluxated her shoulder (a minor dislocation), the result of a childhood volleyball injury that had weakened her shoulder. I tore my labrum, a cuff of cartilage that forms a cup for the end of the arm bone (humerus) to move within; surgery was recommended in order to repair it. Elsie avoided surgery by diligently strengthening her shoulder. During our rehabilitation we learned a lot about the anatomy of the shoulder, how it should be used, and how to help the shoulder gain its optimal positioning through techniques used in rehabilitative therapy, Pilates, and gymnastics-style training. However, we felt frustrated by some of the conflicting information we received from Pilates instructors, physical therapists, and acrobatics coaches. We finally resorted to inviting our physical therapists onto the trapeze so they could feel what our bodies went through during suspended movement. With their new knowledge, we discovered some important things about what aerial work does to the shoulders.
When Elsie and I finished our tour with Cirque du Soleil, we incorporated this information into our teaching and created a workshop called Physical Preparation and Injury Prevention for Aerialists. As we have taught this workshop, we have come to realize how the fundamentals of proper posture and body alignment relate to all people, not just those with aspirations of an aerial career.
I must stress that neither I nor Elsie is certified in any form of medical evaluation, and the following information is given solely as a recommendation based on our experiences. We are not medical professionals, and if you are having any problems with your shoulders or any other part of your body, you should seek professional advice from a physician or physical therapist who has experience in treating athletes.
Shoulder Anatomy
To fully understand proper positioning and technique for aerial work, you must have a basic understanding of the anatomy of the shoulder and the many variables that can affect its proper function (see figure 7.1).
The shoulder joint is a ball-and-socket joint, similar to the hip; however, the socket of the shoulder joint is extremely shallow and thus inherently unstable. To compensate for the shallow socket, the shoulder joint has the aforementioned labrum, a cuff of cartilage that makes the shoulder joint much more stable yet allows for a very wide range of motion (in fact, the range of motion of your shoulder far exceeds that of any other joint in the body).
A complex network of muscles must work both in concert and in opposition to maneuver the humerus into its many positions and stabilize the shoulder. Foremost is the rotator cuff, which allows the shoulder to function with a wider range of motion than any other joint in the body. The rotator cuff is made up of four muscles, the subscapularis, the supraspinatus, the infraspinatus, and the teres minor, which attach the shoulder blade (scapula) to the humerus and wrap around the front, back, and top of the shoulder. Together, these muscles help guide the shoulder through many motions and give stability to the joint (see figures 7.2 and 7.3).
Upright Posture and the Neutral Pelvis
In order for the rotator cuff muscles to work well and hold the humerus in the proper alignment throughout its range of motion, the scapula to which the rotator cuff muscles attach must be pulled together and back next to the spine. The positioning of the scapula is determined by the engagement of the rhomboids, the muscles in the center of the back that pull the scapula together and thus the shoulders back.
Most people work the muscles of the front of the shoulders and chest more so than the back because most motions are oriented forward, such as in driving, eating, gesturing, and computer work. Also, because people spend a lot of time sitting in a relaxed slouch, the back muscles weaken and the front muscles of the shoulders where they meet the chest (the pectoral muscles), tighten. Despite the fact that most people were told to sit up straight when they were younger, they typically have no idea what the correct posture is. You may notice that many people, especially as they get older, show varying degrees of forward slouching as the rhomboids weaken and the shoulder blades slide out.
The posture must be upright, not slouched, in order for the rhomboids to engage and pull the scapulae together and the shoulders back. The stability of the torso in correct posture is maintained through the engagement of the abdominal muscles. In a standing position, the lower spine is optimally designed with a slight curve, starting at the top of the gluteus maximus (the large buttock muscle). This is called the lumbar curve. In proper posture, the triangle of the hip bones and pubic bone should be perpendicular to the floor when standing or parallel to the pull of gravity. This position is referred to in Pilates as the neutral pelvis.
Proper posture (sitting up straight) is both healthy and aesthetic - it makes you look and feel better. Much of our work in teaching begins with postural analysis, a fundamental part of determining why people's bodies or shoulders do or do not accomplish the tasks that they ask of them.
Try this exercise for finding the correct upright posture and the neutral pelvis:
Stand with feet hip-width apart and parallel. Place the base of your palms on each hipbone so fingers are near the pubic bone where the lower-abdominal muscles attach. Try to determine what your usual position is, whether you are often arched or pulled under or neutral. Keeping your hands in position, arch your back by rotating the tailbone behind you. Your abdominal muscles will probably release and stick out with this movement. Then, tuck your pelvis under as if putting a tail between your legs, flattening the lumbar curve. Your abdominal muscles will probably contract. Finally, try to find the neutral position with a slight lumbar curve so that the hips hang from the spine parallel to the pull of gravity. The triangle made by the hipbones and pubic bone should be perpendicular to the floor. In this neutral position, try to maintain the contraction of the abdominal muscles to hold the spine in place.
Core Stability
We relate much of the basics of posture to the ability of the body's core to support itself in the neutral position with a slight lumbar curve. Three groups of abdominal muscles (rectus abdominis, external and internal obliques, and transversus abdominis) hold the spine and pelvis in correct alignment and support the internal organs and the movement of the limbs from the torso. The abdominal muscles engage to pull inward and around the abdomen and spinal column, like a corset designed to hold the body upright and support the aligned position of the spine and thus the weight of the limbs as they move. If the abdominal muscles are weak, then it is difficult to maintain the correct posture; hence the direct connection between weak abdominal muscles and back pain and injury. Thus, before work can be done to correct the posture of the upper back and shoulders, it is important to determine how to hold the body's core in the correct position while engaging in upright movement.
Try this abdominal exercise to muscularly stabilize the neutral pelvis. Lie on your back on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart. Place the palms of your hands on the pelvis so the base of each palm is on each hipbone and the fingers are near the pubic bone. Alternate between arching the back and tucking the pelvis under to loosen up the lower spine. Come to rest with the neutral pelvis now parallel to the floor. Imagine that you have a cup of tea on your abdomen and you do not want to spill it.
Now, engage your rectus abdominis, the main abdominal muscles that run from under the front of the rib cage down toward the pubic bone. You want to feel it pull toward the spine, flattening the abdomen while also pulling the ribs down the torso and connecting through the navel to the pubic bone. This engagement should not change the neutral position. It should reinforce the neutral pelvis, not change it. Next, engage the abdominal muscles that run from the center of the abdomen around the waist to the spine (the transversus abdominis). Again, pull them in toward your spine without changing the shape of the lumbar curve, as if it were a corset pulling inward to support the core of the body.
Finally, find the lower abdominals by pulling the muscles under your fingertips in toward your lower pelvis. They should feel like hands flattening the lower abdomen. One trick is to imagine you have to pee, and engage those muscles to hold it in.
During acrobatic movement, breath should be in the upper chest and back so as not to disrupt the muscular control of the abdomen. Think of drawing the diaphragm down within the corset of the engaged abdomen, instead of releasing the abdominal muscles like a bellows as in singing.
Raising the Arms: Which Muscles Should Work?
Controlling the position of the humerus within the shoulder begins with abdominal control. Starting with pelvic position and the use of the abdominal muscles, the connection can be traced through the body core upward via the spine to the rhomboids, which hold the shoulder blades in place. With the shoulder blades stabilized, the rotator cuff muscles, which attach to the head of the humerus, are controlled. The proper position of the head of the humerus can be tricky because it changes depending on whether you are suspended or pushing off of something. In suspension, it is important to keep the humerus in the shoulder socket at all times. Any time it shifts out of the socket when the body is suspended from the shoulder joint, the rotator cuff can be stretched and possibly torn. In a handstand, the body is pushing the floor away, so in order to engage the back muscles, you need to have the humerus push away from the shoulder joint for stability.
During dynamic aerial work, it is especially important to maintain the engagement of the latissimus dorsi by pulling the shoulders down to the waist and the head of the humerus into the shoulder socket. If the head of the humerus is not pulled into the shoulder socket, the relatively small rotator cuff muscles carry the load of the weight of the body. This can result in injury to the rotator cuff muscles, a common complaint of aerialists.
In daily life, most activities involving the arms (whether it is picking up a bag of groceries, driving a car, pushing open a door, typing at a computer, or hanging from a trapeze) should be accomplished with the humerus in the shoulder socket so that the lifting muscles can find their correct position. So which muscles are really being used to raise the arms? One image that illustrates the interplay of muscles that raise the arms is a doll that has strings attached to jointed arms and legs that lift up when the string is pulled down. The back muscles are designed to function just this way. The arms are lifted by pulling the back muscles down, not by lifting the shoulders up. The rhomboids, the muscles that pull the shoulder blades to the center of the back, should engage to keep the shoulders back, not hunched forward. Also very important are the latissimus dorsi, or lats, the wing-like muscles that run from under the armpits across the back and down to the waist. The lats are large muscles that support the weight of a hanging acrobat (note the wing-like shape of the backs of strong aerialists; see figure 7.3 on page 106).
Try this exercise to understand how the back muscles raise the arms. Stand with your back leaning on a wall and your knees slightly bent so you can rest with the spine in neutral position. Pull the shoulder blades back and down so the backs of the shoulders come close to the wall. Rotate the hands so the thumbs point out to the sides, and then slowly raise the arms to the sides, keeping them within your peripheral vision so they come away from the wall slightly. As you raise the arms, generate the movement from the muscles between your shoulder blades (the rhomboids) and the lats, pulling them down the back in order to raise the arms. As the arms reach out to the sides parallel to the floor, you will feel a shifting of muscle groups, but be sure to continue to pull the shoulders down toward the floor with the latissimus dorsi, not up toward your ears with the trapezius muscles. Depending on your flexibility, you might not be able to lift the arms directly overhead. Slowly lower the arms to the starting position, fighting the tendency of the shoulders to lift and the back to disengage. You should return to the beginning position with the shoulders still pulled back toward the wall and the rhomboids and lats pulling down and back.
Repeat the exercise with the arms lifting to the front and thumbs pointing up. If you keep the correct engagement, your range of motion may be limited at the top. This can be indicative of weakness or lack of flexibility.
Many trapezists release the head of the humerus from the socket in their beat back to give the illusion of increased back flexibility and therefore more power. This is a good technique in the short term, but it can do damage in the long term as the shoulders loosen and the rotator cuff muscles wear out. A better solution is to stretch out your shoulders and back so that the beat back can be achieved through a supple body with a supported shoulder position.
The action of the lats is critical to shoulder health and stability as well as the ability to raise and lower the legs while suspended. If the arms are fixed, as when hanging from a bar, the lats will assist in the extension of the spine and the tilting of the pelvis forward and backward. For aerialists, this means that lack of lat engagement can make it difficult, if not impossible, to rotate upside down or lift the legs over the head when hanging from a bar.
Try this exercise to feel how shoulder engagement relates to aerial technique. The best way to feel the complex relationship between lat engagement and abdominal contractions is to do an L-hang. Hang on a trapeze with the shoulders and lats relaxed and the body suspended loosely from the hands. Attempt to lift both legs straight ahead until they are parallel to the floor. Repeat the exercise, this time keeping the shoulders in their sockets by pulling the lats down toward the waist by making space around the head and pushing the trapeze slightly in front of the forehead to engage the abdominal muscles. Try to lift the legs straight ahead until they are parallel to the floor. If you do it correctly, you should find it easier to hold the legs up when the lats are engaged and the body and shoulders are properly aligned.
Flexibility
Strength, proper alignment, and flexibility (range of motion) are all vital when doing overhead activities such as trapeze work. If the range of motion is limited, then the body must compromise its alignment as it struggles to do the work. The flexibility of the upper back and shoulders is especially important, though flexibility in the lower back is critical when dynamic movement comes into play, as in the backward swing of the legs when generating momentum, often called beats. A very important discovery that we made while working with many aerialists at Cirque du Soleil was that most people, especially aerialists, have much stronger muscles in the front of the body than in the back of the body. Because we lead our lives in' a forward orientation, the front muscles, including the pectorals and the internal rotators, tend to be stronger in comparison to the back muscles including the rhomboids and the external rotators. Thus we decided that it seemed more important to do external rotation exercises to strengthen the back of the shoulders and the supporting back muscles, and to do no internal rotation exercises unless a specific instability was found in the front. This is not standard practice for physical therapists because they are trained to balance the body by doing both internal and external exercises.
This imbalance of strength can be one of the factors that affect the flexibility of the shoulders. It is extremely important to assess the need for stretching the shoulders and back. If you have hyperflexibility in the shoulders and they easily slip in and out of their sockets, you will want to warm up, but not stretch, because you are already at risk of shoulder instability. However, if you are restricted in your ability to raise your arms overhead while keeping your shoulders in their sockets and keeping your abdominal, back, and rib alignment correct, you will need to diligently warm up and stretch to prepare your shoulders for any form of exercise, especially for overhead movement or suspension.
Remember, hanging your body weight from your hands forces your shoulders into a position directly overhead in line with gravity. If you do not have the flexibility to raise the arms overhead and keep the shoulders safely engaged, then you risk relying on gravity to do this precipitously every time you are on a trapeze.
Try this basic shoulder warm-up exercise. Stand with the feet hip-width apart and abdominal muscles engaged to support the body. Swing one arm in a circle as if swimming the backstroke a few times and then reverse the direction. Repeat the movement with the other arm. Stay aware of core stability throughout the exercise.
Try this stretch for increasing the shoulders' overhead range of motion. Stand facing a wall with your feet hip-width apart. Place the palms of your hands on the wall at shoulder height and shoulder-width apart. Take both feet one step back-ward. Bend forward at the waist so your back is flat and parallel to the floor. The degree of this stretch will vary depending on your flexibility. Be sure to maintain the engagement of the abdominal muscles to keep the stretch in the shoulders and not misplaced to the lower back. Keep the ribs pulled into the torso, not sticking away from the abdomen, and the shoulders in their sockets throughout this stretch. Also, do not let the elbows or shoulders rotate outward. Engage the lats and the rhomboids to pull the shoulder blades together and down. Imagine yourself as a turtle and extend your head out of your torso to look up at your hands, keeping the neck in line with the rest of the spine. Hold this position for at least a minute. If your shoulders are particularly stiff, you should do this stretch twice after any work on an aerial apparatus.
Aerial Positioning of the Pelvis: Hollow Body
At this point we note a difference in pelvic positioning while hanging suspended from the arms. The neutral pelvis position is ideal when standing upright, when walking, or when standing on a partner's shoulders. This is also the body's ideal position when doing physical therapy exercises that target the rotator cuff muscles. However, once the body is suspended, as in trapeze, or upside down, as in a handstand, the pelvis and weight of the legs relate differently to the body; the need to rotate the pelvis under, as in tucking a tail between the legs, arises. This action causes the abdominal muscles to contract, thus supporting the weight of the legs instead of having them hang off the spinal column.
Practice this exercise for abdominal strength and hollow body. Lie on your back on a thin mat. Put both arms overhead and fully relax the body with legs straight along the floor. Lift the head and shoulders off the floor by pressing the lower spine (lumbar curve) into the floor. At no point during the exercise should there be a curve in the lower spine. Do not arch.
Next, lift the legs off the floor only as much as necessary to keep the spine pressed into the floor. If your spine arches with the weight of the lifted legs, raise the legs up until the spine comes in full contact with the floor. Holding this hollow body position, the body should be curved from toes to hands like the very shallow curve on the bottom of a boat. Try to rock forward and backward on this curved spine without changing the shape of the body. The movement is generated from the abdominal muscles. At no point should the ribs release from the body or the abdominals relax.
Try this exercise for abdominal strength and pelvic rotation. Lie on your back on the floor. If you have a partner, have him stand above your head with the feet shoulder-width apart so you can hold his ankles with your outstretched arms. (This exercise also can be done with the hands under any weight, such as the edge of a mat, kitchen cabinet, or sofa.)
The shoulders should be pulled into the sockets with straight arms. The abdominals should be engaged so the spine pushes into the floor in the hollow body position, which should raise the feet about 1 foot (30 cm) off the floor. Be sure to prevent the spine from arching and, if necessary, raise the legs higher to ensure that the spine begins and ends the exercise in contact with the floor.
Slowly tuck the legs up over the head, rolling the vertebrae one at a time into a ball until you are resting on your shoulders in an upside-down tuck with the shoulders still engaged and abdominals scooped into a C shape. Maintain this scoop, shoulders pulled toward the waist, while slowly rolling down to the beginning position, one vertebra at a time. Imagine that you are trying to keep your tailbone from touching the ground and that you are unfurling like a spiral, never arching or releasing the abdominal muscles that are pressing into the spine. Repeat the exercise without resting the abdominals between repetitions.
Here are some modifications for other aerial situations:
- For fabric acrobats, do the same exercise with legs lifting into a wide straddle on the way up, keeping the legs straight and over the head at the full roll, then slowly lowering the legs in a wide arc on the way down.
- For flying trapezists, do the same exercise in the tuck, but then fully extend the body when it is balanced on the shoulders upside down, as if to mimic a force-out. Hold the fully extended hollow-body position, and slowly lower the entire flat body until it returns to the beginning position without dropping the hips out of line and without letting the toes beat the hips to the floor.
One Last Swing
The body is a very complex structure, and the inner workings of the shoulder joints are some of its most confusing. It is important for both aerialists and aerial coaches to understand what happens to the shoulders in suspended movement. Because of the interconnected nature of the body, it becomes equally vital for concepts of proper• posture and engagement to be clear. You will find that your own work in the air and any coaching you do will be much more effective when you can analyze the issues that face aerialists and address them through better awareness, stretching, and strengthening.
Injury Prevention. Understanding the Anatomy and Physiology of Suspended Movement.Serenity Smith Forchion
More than anything else, the sensation is one of perfect peace mingled with an excitement that strains every nerve to the utmost, if you can conceive of such a combination. Wilbur Wright
My twin sister, Elsie Smith, and I perform on many aerial apparatus, including trapeze and fabric, as Gemini Trapeze. We also have a circus school, Nimble Arts, where we teach aerial and acrobatic movement to all levels. We also choreograph and create acts for professional performers.
During four intensive years performing with Cirque du Soleil's Saltimbanco, we both experienced shoulder injuries. Elsie subluxated her shoulder (a minor dislocation), the result of a childhood volleyball injury that had weakened her shoulder. I tore my labrum, a cuff of cartilage that forms a cup for the end of the arm bone (humerus) to move within; surgery was recommended in order to repair it. Elsie avoided surgery by diligently strengthening her shoulder. During our rehabilitation we learned a lot about the anatomy of the shoulder, how it should be used, and how to help the shoulder gain its optimal positioning through techniques used in rehabilitative therapy, Pilates, and gymnastics-style training. However, we felt frustrated by some of the conflicting information we received from Pilates instructors, physical therapists, and acrobatics coaches. We finally resorted to inviting our physical therapists onto the trapeze so they could feel what our bodies went through during suspended movement. With their new knowledge, we discovered some important things about what aerial work does to the shoulders.
When Elsie and I finished our tour with Cirque du Soleil, we incorporated this information into our teaching and created a workshop called Physical Preparation and Injury Prevention for Aerialists. As we have taught this workshop, we have come to realize how the fundamentals of proper posture and body alignment relate to all people, not just those with aspirations of an aerial career.
I must stress that neither I nor Elsie is certified in any form of medical evaluation, and the following information is given solely as a recommendation based on our experiences. We are not medical professionals, and if you are having any problems with your shoulders or any other part of your body, you should seek professional advice from a physician or physical therapist who has experience in treating athletes.
Shoulder Anatomy
To fully understand proper positioning and technique for aerial work, you must have a basic understanding of the anatomy of the shoulder and the many variables that can affect its proper function (see figure 7.1).
The shoulder joint is a ball-and-socket joint, similar to the hip; however, the socket of the shoulder joint is extremely shallow and thus inherently unstable. To compensate for the shallow socket, the shoulder joint has the aforementioned labrum, a cuff of cartilage that makes the shoulder joint much more stable yet allows for a very wide range of motion (in fact, the range of motion of your shoulder far exceeds that of any other joint in the body).
A complex network of muscles must work both in concert and in opposition to maneuver the humerus into its many positions and stabilize the shoulder. Foremost is the rotator cuff, which allows the shoulder to function with a wider range of motion than any other joint in the body. The rotator cuff is made up of four muscles, the subscapularis, the supraspinatus, the infraspinatus, and the teres minor, which attach the shoulder blade (scapula) to the humerus and wrap around the front, back, and top of the shoulder. Together, these muscles help guide the shoulder through many motions and give stability to the joint (see figures 7.2 and 7.3).
Upright Posture and the Neutral Pelvis
In order for the rotator cuff muscles to work well and hold the humerus in the proper alignment throughout its range of motion, the scapula to which the rotator cuff muscles attach must be pulled together and back next to the spine. The positioning of the scapula is determined by the engagement of the rhomboids, the muscles in the center of the back that pull the scapula together and thus the shoulders back.
Most people work the muscles of the front of the shoulders and chest more so than the back because most motions are oriented forward, such as in driving, eating, gesturing, and computer work. Also, because people spend a lot of time sitting in a relaxed slouch, the back muscles weaken and the front muscles of the shoulders where they meet the chest (the pectoral muscles), tighten. Despite the fact that most people were told to sit up straight when they were younger, they typically have no idea what the correct posture is. You may notice that many people, especially as they get older, show varying degrees of forward slouching as the rhomboids weaken and the shoulder blades slide out.
The posture must be upright, not slouched, in order for the rhomboids to engage and pull the scapulae together and the shoulders back. The stability of the torso in correct posture is maintained through the engagement of the abdominal muscles. In a standing position, the lower spine is optimally designed with a slight curve, starting at the top of the gluteus maximus (the large buttock muscle). This is called the lumbar curve. In proper posture, the triangle of the hip bones and pubic bone should be perpendicular to the floor when standing or parallel to the pull of gravity. This position is referred to in Pilates as the neutral pelvis.
Proper posture (sitting up straight) is both healthy and aesthetic - it makes you look and feel better. Much of our work in teaching begins with postural analysis, a fundamental part of determining why people's bodies or shoulders do or do not accomplish the tasks that they ask of them.
Try this exercise for finding the correct upright posture and the neutral pelvis:
Stand with feet hip-width apart and parallel. Place the base of your palms on each hipbone so fingers are near the pubic bone where the lower-abdominal muscles attach. Try to determine what your usual position is, whether you are often arched or pulled under or neutral. Keeping your hands in position, arch your back by rotating the tailbone behind you. Your abdominal muscles will probably release and stick out with this movement. Then, tuck your pelvis under as if putting a tail between your legs, flattening the lumbar curve. Your abdominal muscles will probably contract. Finally, try to find the neutral position with a slight lumbar curve so that the hips hang from the spine parallel to the pull of gravity. The triangle made by the hipbones and pubic bone should be perpendicular to the floor. In this neutral position, try to maintain the contraction of the abdominal muscles to hold the spine in place.
Core Stability
We relate much of the basics of posture to the ability of the body's core to support itself in the neutral position with a slight lumbar curve. Three groups of abdominal muscles (rectus abdominis, external and internal obliques, and transversus abdominis) hold the spine and pelvis in correct alignment and support the internal organs and the movement of the limbs from the torso. The abdominal muscles engage to pull inward and around the abdomen and spinal column, like a corset designed to hold the body upright and support the aligned position of the spine and thus the weight of the limbs as they move. If the abdominal muscles are weak, then it is difficult to maintain the correct posture; hence the direct connection between weak abdominal muscles and back pain and injury. Thus, before work can be done to correct the posture of the upper back and shoulders, it is important to determine how to hold the body's core in the correct position while engaging in upright movement.
Try this abdominal exercise to muscularly stabilize the neutral pelvis. Lie on your back on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart. Place the palms of your hands on the pelvis so the base of each palm is on each hipbone and the fingers are near the pubic bone. Alternate between arching the back and tucking the pelvis under to loosen up the lower spine. Come to rest with the neutral pelvis now parallel to the floor. Imagine that you have a cup of tea on your abdomen and you do not want to spill it.
Now, engage your rectus abdominis, the main abdominal muscles that run from under the front of the rib cage down toward the pubic bone. You want to feel it pull toward the spine, flattening the abdomen while also pulling the ribs down the torso and connecting through the navel to the pubic bone. This engagement should not change the neutral position. It should reinforce the neutral pelvis, not change it. Next, engage the abdominal muscles that run from the center of the abdomen around the waist to the spine (the transversus abdominis). Again, pull them in toward your spine without changing the shape of the lumbar curve, as if it were a corset pulling inward to support the core of the body.
Finally, find the lower abdominals by pulling the muscles under your fingertips in toward your lower pelvis. They should feel like hands flattening the lower abdomen. One trick is to imagine you have to pee, and engage those muscles to hold it in.
During acrobatic movement, breath should be in the upper chest and back so as not to disrupt the muscular control of the abdomen. Think of drawing the diaphragm down within the corset of the engaged abdomen, instead of releasing the abdominal muscles like a bellows as in singing.
Raising the Arms: Which Muscles Should Work?
Controlling the position of the humerus within the shoulder begins with abdominal control. Starting with pelvic position and the use of the abdominal muscles, the connection can be traced through the body core upward via the spine to the rhomboids, which hold the shoulder blades in place. With the shoulder blades stabilized, the rotator cuff muscles, which attach to the head of the humerus, are controlled. The proper position of the head of the humerus can be tricky because it changes depending on whether you are suspended or pushing off of something. In suspension, it is important to keep the humerus in the shoulder socket at all times. Any time it shifts out of the socket when the body is suspended from the shoulder joint, the rotator cuff can be stretched and possibly torn. In a handstand, the body is pushing the floor away, so in order to engage the back muscles, you need to have the humerus push away from the shoulder joint for stability.
During dynamic aerial work, it is especially important to maintain the engagement of the latissimus dorsi by pulling the shoulders down to the waist and the head of the humerus into the shoulder socket. If the head of the humerus is not pulled into the shoulder socket, the relatively small rotator cuff muscles carry the load of the weight of the body. This can result in injury to the rotator cuff muscles, a common complaint of aerialists.
In daily life, most activities involving the arms (whether it is picking up a bag of groceries, driving a car, pushing open a door, typing at a computer, or hanging from a trapeze) should be accomplished with the humerus in the shoulder socket so that the lifting muscles can find their correct position. So which muscles are really being used to raise the arms? One image that illustrates the interplay of muscles that raise the arms is a doll that has strings attached to jointed arms and legs that lift up when the string is pulled down. The back muscles are designed to function just this way. The arms are lifted by pulling the back muscles down, not by lifting the shoulders up. The rhomboids, the muscles that pull the shoulder blades to the center of the back, should engage to keep the shoulders back, not hunched forward. Also very important are the latissimus dorsi, or lats, the wing-like muscles that run from under the armpits across the back and down to the waist. The lats are large muscles that support the weight of a hanging acrobat (note the wing-like shape of the backs of strong aerialists; see figure 7.3 on page 106).
Try this exercise to understand how the back muscles raise the arms. Stand with your back leaning on a wall and your knees slightly bent so you can rest with the spine in neutral position. Pull the shoulder blades back and down so the backs of the shoulders come close to the wall. Rotate the hands so the thumbs point out to the sides, and then slowly raise the arms to the sides, keeping them within your peripheral vision so they come away from the wall slightly. As you raise the arms, generate the movement from the muscles between your shoulder blades (the rhomboids) and the lats, pulling them down the back in order to raise the arms. As the arms reach out to the sides parallel to the floor, you will feel a shifting of muscle groups, but be sure to continue to pull the shoulders down toward the floor with the latissimus dorsi, not up toward your ears with the trapezius muscles. Depending on your flexibility, you might not be able to lift the arms directly overhead. Slowly lower the arms to the starting position, fighting the tendency of the shoulders to lift and the back to disengage. You should return to the beginning position with the shoulders still pulled back toward the wall and the rhomboids and lats pulling down and back.
Repeat the exercise with the arms lifting to the front and thumbs pointing up. If you keep the correct engagement, your range of motion may be limited at the top. This can be indicative of weakness or lack of flexibility.
Many trapezists release the head of the humerus from the socket in their beat back to give the illusion of increased back flexibility and therefore more power. This is a good technique in the short term, but it can do damage in the long term as the shoulders loosen and the rotator cuff muscles wear out. A better solution is to stretch out your shoulders and back so that the beat back can be achieved through a supple body with a supported shoulder position.
The action of the lats is critical to shoulder health and stability as well as the ability to raise and lower the legs while suspended. If the arms are fixed, as when hanging from a bar, the lats will assist in the extension of the spine and the tilting of the pelvis forward and backward. For aerialists, this means that lack of lat engagement can make it difficult, if not impossible, to rotate upside down or lift the legs over the head when hanging from a bar.
Try this exercise to feel how shoulder engagement relates to aerial technique. The best way to feel the complex relationship between lat engagement and abdominal contractions is to do an L-hang. Hang on a trapeze with the shoulders and lats relaxed and the body suspended loosely from the hands. Attempt to lift both legs straight ahead until they are parallel to the floor. Repeat the exercise, this time keeping the shoulders in their sockets by pulling the lats down toward the waist by making space around the head and pushing the trapeze slightly in front of the forehead to engage the abdominal muscles. Try to lift the legs straight ahead until they are parallel to the floor. If you do it correctly, you should find it easier to hold the legs up when the lats are engaged and the body and shoulders are properly aligned.
Flexibility
Strength, proper alignment, and flexibility (range of motion) are all vital when doing overhead activities such as trapeze work. If the range of motion is limited, then the body must compromise its alignment as it struggles to do the work. The flexibility of the upper back and shoulders is especially important, though flexibility in the lower back is critical when dynamic movement comes into play, as in the backward swing of the legs when generating momentum, often called beats. A very important discovery that we made while working with many aerialists at Cirque du Soleil was that most people, especially aerialists, have much stronger muscles in the front of the body than in the back of the body. Because we lead our lives in' a forward orientation, the front muscles, including the pectorals and the internal rotators, tend to be stronger in comparison to the back muscles including the rhomboids and the external rotators. Thus we decided that it seemed more important to do external rotation exercises to strengthen the back of the shoulders and the supporting back muscles, and to do no internal rotation exercises unless a specific instability was found in the front. This is not standard practice for physical therapists because they are trained to balance the body by doing both internal and external exercises.
This imbalance of strength can be one of the factors that affect the flexibility of the shoulders. It is extremely important to assess the need for stretching the shoulders and back. If you have hyperflexibility in the shoulders and they easily slip in and out of their sockets, you will want to warm up, but not stretch, because you are already at risk of shoulder instability. However, if you are restricted in your ability to raise your arms overhead while keeping your shoulders in their sockets and keeping your abdominal, back, and rib alignment correct, you will need to diligently warm up and stretch to prepare your shoulders for any form of exercise, especially for overhead movement or suspension.
Remember, hanging your body weight from your hands forces your shoulders into a position directly overhead in line with gravity. If you do not have the flexibility to raise the arms overhead and keep the shoulders safely engaged, then you risk relying on gravity to do this precipitously every time you are on a trapeze.
Try this basic shoulder warm-up exercise. Stand with the feet hip-width apart and abdominal muscles engaged to support the body. Swing one arm in a circle as if swimming the backstroke a few times and then reverse the direction. Repeat the movement with the other arm. Stay aware of core stability throughout the exercise.
Try this stretch for increasing the shoulders' overhead range of motion. Stand facing a wall with your feet hip-width apart. Place the palms of your hands on the wall at shoulder height and shoulder-width apart. Take both feet one step back-ward. Bend forward at the waist so your back is flat and parallel to the floor. The degree of this stretch will vary depending on your flexibility. Be sure to maintain the engagement of the abdominal muscles to keep the stretch in the shoulders and not misplaced to the lower back. Keep the ribs pulled into the torso, not sticking away from the abdomen, and the shoulders in their sockets throughout this stretch. Also, do not let the elbows or shoulders rotate outward. Engage the lats and the rhomboids to pull the shoulder blades together and down. Imagine yourself as a turtle and extend your head out of your torso to look up at your hands, keeping the neck in line with the rest of the spine. Hold this position for at least a minute. If your shoulders are particularly stiff, you should do this stretch twice after any work on an aerial apparatus.
Aerial Positioning of the Pelvis: Hollow Body
At this point we note a difference in pelvic positioning while hanging suspended from the arms. The neutral pelvis position is ideal when standing upright, when walking, or when standing on a partner's shoulders. This is also the body's ideal position when doing physical therapy exercises that target the rotator cuff muscles. However, once the body is suspended, as in trapeze, or upside down, as in a handstand, the pelvis and weight of the legs relate differently to the body; the need to rotate the pelvis under, as in tucking a tail between the legs, arises. This action causes the abdominal muscles to contract, thus supporting the weight of the legs instead of having them hang off the spinal column.
Practice this exercise for abdominal strength and hollow body. Lie on your back on a thin mat. Put both arms overhead and fully relax the body with legs straight along the floor. Lift the head and shoulders off the floor by pressing the lower spine (lumbar curve) into the floor. At no point during the exercise should there be a curve in the lower spine. Do not arch.
Next, lift the legs off the floor only as much as necessary to keep the spine pressed into the floor. If your spine arches with the weight of the lifted legs, raise the legs up until the spine comes in full contact with the floor. Holding this hollow body position, the body should be curved from toes to hands like the very shallow curve on the bottom of a boat. Try to rock forward and backward on this curved spine without changing the shape of the body. The movement is generated from the abdominal muscles. At no point should the ribs release from the body or the abdominals relax.
Try this exercise for abdominal strength and pelvic rotation. Lie on your back on the floor. If you have a partner, have him stand above your head with the feet shoulder-width apart so you can hold his ankles with your outstretched arms. (This exercise also can be done with the hands under any weight, such as the edge of a mat, kitchen cabinet, or sofa.)
The shoulders should be pulled into the sockets with straight arms. The abdominals should be engaged so the spine pushes into the floor in the hollow body position, which should raise the feet about 1 foot (30 cm) off the floor. Be sure to prevent the spine from arching and, if necessary, raise the legs higher to ensure that the spine begins and ends the exercise in contact with the floor.
Slowly tuck the legs up over the head, rolling the vertebrae one at a time into a ball until you are resting on your shoulders in an upside-down tuck with the shoulders still engaged and abdominals scooped into a C shape. Maintain this scoop, shoulders pulled toward the waist, while slowly rolling down to the beginning position, one vertebra at a time. Imagine that you are trying to keep your tailbone from touching the ground and that you are unfurling like a spiral, never arching or releasing the abdominal muscles that are pressing into the spine. Repeat the exercise without resting the abdominals between repetitions.
Here are some modifications for other aerial situations:
- For fabric acrobats, do the same exercise with legs lifting into a wide straddle on the way up, keeping the legs straight and over the head at the full roll, then slowly lowering the legs in a wide arc on the way down.
- For flying trapezists, do the same exercise in the tuck, but then fully extend the body when it is balanced on the shoulders upside down, as if to mimic a force-out. Hold the fully extended hollow-body position, and slowly lower the entire flat body until it returns to the beginning position without dropping the hips out of line and without letting the toes beat the hips to the floor.
One Last Swing
The body is a very complex structure, and the inner workings of the shoulder joints are some of its most confusing. It is important for both aerialists and aerial coaches to understand what happens to the shoulders in suspended movement. Because of the interconnected nature of the body, it becomes equally vital for concepts of proper• posture and engagement to be clear. You will find that your own work in the air and any coaching you do will be much more effective when you can analyze the issues that face aerialists and address them through better awareness, stretching, and strengthening.