1) Tai Chi/Golf Warm Up - Hip Joints

   

This Tai Chi/Golf warm up routine focuses on the fascia/musculoskeletal structures in the hip area.

1. Sit on a chair with your feet placed on a step shoulder width apart. The angle between thighs and trunk should be less than 90˚ (60˚-75˚ would be ideal), this is absolutely crucial to the prevention and rehabilitation of lumbar pain/strain/injury. A rotatory chair works perfect, otherwise, make sure the surface of the chair is not too grippy.

2. Place your arms  beside your trunk, flex your elbows 90˚, palms should be facing each other and fingers pointing forward. 

3. Activate "The Thread" and maintain it throughout the whole routine. A proper activation of The Thread is very important to keep you sitting as tall as possible and to help you engage certain postural muscles. You should be sitting on your sit bones (aka. ischial tuberosity), and since The Thread will help you improve body and spine alignment, your body weight should be equally distributed on each one of them.

4. If you are on a chair, move one thigh backwards as the other one goes forward. As a result, your contact with the surface of the chair (your buttocks) will glide, one backwards and the other one forward. If you are on a rotary chair, perform the same movement, but in this case, your buttocks will not glide, the chair will rotate instead.

5. Allow your thighs to move in this way, back and fourth, like a pair of skis. Check your knees, you should see them also moving back and fourth. Be aware of any restrictions and asymmetries, perhaps one hip has a better/worse quality of movement or range of motion? 

6. Once you have warmed up the hip joints in this way, maintain the same seated position and continue with the next routine. 

 

NOTE: This routine targets the Hip joints, not the T-spine rotation (this will be addressed later). Thus, do not rotate the spine. In other words, maintain "trunk unity". As you can see on the video, moving the skeleton thighs causes movement within the hip joints, and as a result, the spine "seems" to rotate. However, the spine is not rotating, nor the trunk-upper body is actually "moving". In reality, the trunk-upper body is being moved by the movement in the hip joints. Maintaining "trunk unity" contributes to increased stability, grounding, proper muscle activation and prevents strain/injury in the lumbar spine. If you need further explanations please go to Tai Chi Foundations (seated routines) and Tai Chi FAQ.

3) Hip-Thoracic Mobility w/Scapular Stability

   

This routine improves hip-thoracic mobility and scapular stability while preventing strain/injury at the level of the lumbar spine. Please become familiar with the previous routines prior to practicing the Hip-Thoracic Mobility w/Scapular Stability.

1. Start with the same body position as in the previous two routines.

2. Activate "The Thread" with hands in a prayer position. Maintain "The Thread" at all times.

3. Place fingers of the right hand behind the ear. Maintain the arm (humerus bone) horizontal.

4. Glide your thighs (thigh-hip joint motion), as far as possible to the right. Then, continue by rotating the T-spine as far as possible. Hold for one or a few seconds. Are the muscles between the spine and right scapula (aka shoulder blade) activating? If not, you can hold for longer and imagine that you are forcefully tucking your scapula in a "back pocket" (back and down motion).

5. Come back to neutral, both hands in a prayer position. Recheck The Thread, if necessary, reactivate it and try to maintain it during the rest of the routine.

6. Alternate side. 

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A more challenging option: 

1. Instead of positioning the fingers behind the ear, hold an elastic band (start with an extra light band). Allow the elbow to drop a little compared to the easy version of this exercise. Maintain this arm position.

2. The band should be attached somewhere in front and at a high level. To avoid injuries, make sure the band is properly attached.

3. Just like in the easy configuration, rotate (hips, T-spine and Shoulder movement) this should take around 1 second.

4. Hold the position for one second, make sure the scapula is maintained "tucked" and as close to the spine as possible. 

5. Come back to neutral as sloooowly as possible (4-5 seconds). The amount of reps and sets will vary, according to your condition. As an example, if the right scapula "wings" more than the left one, then I would suggest you focus on this side to improve asymmetric muscle activation and overall musculoskeletal imbalance.

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NOTE: You will probably feel an “after work out” type of pain between the scapulae and perhaps at the posterior aspect of the shoulder. This feeling should get better as your muscles become stronger.