That has since led me down one of the most fascinating biomechanics rabbit holes I've ever been down, and since then, I've come to realize...oh shit. That internet stranger is totally right.
For as long as I can remember, I've slept on my left side, with my right leg drawn all the way up, my left leg straight, my right side crunched up/engaged/short, my left side long/disengaged, and my hips twisted and facing the bed, with my left hip lower than my right hip.
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| I'm #6 |
"Sleeping with one knee raised over the other torques the pelvis for the duration of sleeping. Again no good can come from a pelvis that is misaligned for hours at a time...The classic manifestation of the psoas when tight is for the affected leg and foot shortened into the hip socket and turn out with the pelvis and shoulder of the same side to draw closer to each other. The whole affected side shortens."
That...sounds familiar. Look at my non-riding position habits. I:
- Typically stand with most of my weight on my left leg and my hips dropped down to the left
- Typically sit with my weight on my left seat bone (regardless of leg crossing or not) and my right side crunched up tight
- Drive with all my weight on the left seatbone and my right side crunched up
- Generally move with my right foot toe out with a lot of stress on my medial knee compared to the left
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| Blowing off steam with the boys in a random Ohio park after an awful funeral this fall. I can guarantee swinging this way was a lot easier for me than the other way. |
And in the saddle:
- I can easily pick my right seatbone up, but I almost can't lift the left one up at all.
- I can easily move my right seatbone forward, but I almost can't move the left one at all.
- My right foot tends to point out and the left points forward.
- The saddle fitter had to adjust my flocking because the left side was flattened from me sitting over there all the time.
- I hear "lengthen your right side" and "sit over the right side" from both my trainers. A lot. I have also heard it from clinicians.
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| Weight on the left, saddle on the left, left foot forward, left side long, right toe out, right side short, no weight on right seatbone, oh hey, that all sounds really familiar... PC: Leah |
This is definitely a chicken-and-egg thing, so, I could have started sleeping like this because it's easier for my more dominant muscles, or sleeping could be the cause of those muscles being more dominant. It's probably a combination of both.
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| I also heard it from JenJ's T last year, when he was like "Ahhhhhhhhhhh I can't move the direction you're telling me to why are you sitting on the left side so hard?!" |
Either way, it doesn't matter. It's pretty clear to me that spending 8 hours a night with my right side crunched so closely together my ribcage almost touches my hip bone is definitely either contributing to or at least not helping the things I'm trying to overcome in the saddle. It's also become clear to me that my left side obliques are waaaaaaaaay weaker than the same muscles on the right.
So...how do you sleep? Is your sleeping position eerily similar to the way you sit on the horse too?
