"Pillows are like orthotics for our necks..."
- Thread starter DayRunner
- Start date
I believe she was getting at the hormone changes going on during the 9 month bump.
I went back to using a pillow. I tend to be a belly sleeper. Using the pillow at night tends to counteract my desk job, where I'm hunched over a computer, and seems to help keep my upper back and neck properly aligned.
In addition, sleeping on my belly helps to stretch out my hip flexors, which again counteracts the desk job. At one point, I read about putting a pillow under my belly, to make it easy on my back. The pillow helped my back, but then my hip flexors were tight!
Initially, I got rid of my head pillow to stretch out my neck, as I had less range of motion turning to the left. Having good range of motion is helpful for breathing while swimming. So, I slept on my belly with neck turned to the left, and now my range of motion in my neck is symmetrical. However, I noticed that my right hip felt tight. I've always been good at the butterfly stretch, but my right side was now tight. Turns out, while sleeping with my head to the left, I would bring my left knee up at an angle, essentially a butterfly stretch while laying on my belly. So, this made my left side more flexible, and right side tighter.
I think it's pretty amazing that how we sit and sleep can affect our running.
http://www.thebarefootrunners.org/index.php?posts/153438
In addition, sleeping on my belly helps to stretch out my hip flexors, which again counteracts the desk job. At one point, I read about putting a pillow under my belly, to make it easy on my back. The pillow helped my back, but then my hip flexors were tight!
Initially, I got rid of my head pillow to stretch out my neck, as I had less range of motion turning to the left. Having good range of motion is helpful for breathing while swimming. So, I slept on my belly with neck turned to the left, and now my range of motion in my neck is symmetrical. However, I noticed that my right hip felt tight. I've always been good at the butterfly stretch, but my right side was now tight. Turns out, while sleeping with my head to the left, I would bring my left knee up at an angle, essentially a butterfly stretch while laying on my belly. So, this made my left side more flexible, and right side tighter.
I think it's pretty amazing that how we sit and sleep can affect our running.
http://www.thebarefootrunners.org/index.php?posts/153438
