THE FEET

This text contains a discourse on tendencies and habits relating to the muscles of the lower body and methods of restoring balance.

For most humans a large portion of the day is spent at rest though actually working, be that on a laptop or in front of a mixing console. I have been watching myself recently noticing the positions I often assume while at rest.
Actually I have lied but only partially. I have been a lazy bum and on my day off I have assumed several positions while sitting all day in front of the tv trying to learn, being distracted and thinking about anatomy. a man in the movie just got slashed through his gastrocnemieus and soleus though i don't know if they cut deep enough to reach the tibialis posterier sitting and shifting I wish I could stay still often my legs are crossed though at what point often shifts right leg laterally rotated both knees in flexion the plantar surface of my left foot is firmly pressed on the floor while my right foot rests upon my knee. If any muscle can lay claim to this position its the sartorius the longest muscle in the body of course mine is pulled tight all the way from the anterior superior Illiac spine to the superomedial shaft of the tibia. I am though not completely utilizing it I am allowing it to be in a resting version of its job so it kind of reminds me of my self. Sartorius flexes, laterally rotates and abducts the hip while flexing the knee. I could say that my hamstrings are doing their job very lazilly as well. My laptop rests on the adductors of my right thigh of course I am worried that the quadriceps on my left leg will break the spot on my computer where I connect the power so I shift into the perfectly opposite position. With the laptop plugged in its hard to hold it level and adjustments must be made in your muscles to prevent damage to various ports, for instance, my audio port is all messed up because of these tendencies. I realize what i am doing and plant both feet on the ground spread apart about a foot or so, medially rotate my femurs and put my knees together. I stay in this position for a while though it feels some what unatural I fancy that i am rectifying all the damage I have done to my self over years of lateral rotation. with all this flexion my quads should be pretty stretched out at this point. Maybe that is why I kick up my feet and put those quads to work for an instant leaving my feet crossed up on the table an action that utilizes each muscle of the quadraceps group to perform extension of the knee. The quadraceps are vastus medialis, vastus intermedius, vastus lateralis, and the rectus femoris but the rectus femoris performs extension of the knee and flexion of the the hip as well. I also use pectineus to perform flexion of the hip. Pectineus also assists adduction of the hip. I call adductor brevis into use as well to perform adduction of the hip and to assist in flexion of the hip. Adductor longus performs the same job as adductor brevis, adduction of the hip and assisting in flexion of the hip. Gricillis is also used its primary function is to serve as an adductor of the hip though it also assists flexion and medial rotation of a flexed knee. Of course my knee is not currently flexed. Adductor magnus is also there getting paid for being on the job but not really doing anything but assisting flexion of the hip and performing some medial rotation it also assists extension of the hip and lateral rotation but it rally isn't right now. Actually, it may be the dorsiflexion in my right foot which is on the bottom holding my left foot on top in place. I told you that am watching television while doing this. Television is the worst thing in the world for an ADD person to distract them self with while they do home work. I am watching Batman Begins, I really want to be a ninja so I can put my muscles to work rather than sitting and letting them atrophy. Actually, Its a day later and I am sitting indian style in my room revising the garbage that I sort of wrote while I was getting my brain sucked by the idiot box. I am sitting on my bed indian style staring at a computer screen. I always sit in indian style or in the lotus position its the most natural position for me yet its terrible for my back because i work on my laptop like this for hours and hours. I rest my elbows on my hips and type on the keyboard which resting on the floor I think its amazing the lengths of time I can go with out shifting from this position. I think that my pelvis remains more in anteversion in the lotus position than it does in most sitting positions allowing the weight to rest on the ishial tuberosities. I often put the right leg on top though this is not always the case and I do trade them after long durations, usually on the account of poor circulation. Both hips are laterally rotated and in a state of flexion and abduction. The knees on both of my legs are in a state of flexion. finally my ankles are in varying states of plantar flexion and supination with most of the weight being placed on the dorsal surface of the metatarsals and the phalanges numbered three, four and five. In sitting positions a few things remain consistant:
1.both feet are very seldom planted on the ground 2.either both knees or one knee is in a state of flexion 3.one or both femurs are often in a state of adduction 4.my pelvis is often in retroversion
consequences
I have noticed a tightness in my hamstrings by sitting in uncommon positions such as with my legs straight out. this position also points out that I have caused my muscles to rest in a position which allows lateral rotation of the hips and knees it takes noticable effort to hold my feet perpendicular to the floor because they are constantly pulled into a v type formation by my habitual training of the muscles of my legs. twenty four years of sitting in my own certain ways has caused really poor medial rotation and tight hamstrings. My hamstrings suffer from a lack of stretching because they are always pulling. I use byceps femoris more than other muscles of the hamstrings group flexion of the knee and extension of the hip some lateral rotation. the lateral rotation is not the main thing that the byceps femoris does but my tendency towards lateral rotation would seem to have some kind of impact between the BF and the co working semimembranosis and semitendinosus which perform flexion of the knee and extension of the hip as well as some some medial rotation becaise of their medial insertion I would like at this point to turn from my bad habits and think of some methods of perfecting my body both for balance and aesthetics. My girlfriend says that I am gluteally challenged. I would say that the muscles of the glueteal region suffer from a lack of exercise even a lack of pulling while at rest. I have taken a look at the actions of the gluteal muscles to determine a good at rest position to help develop this system of muscles. The gluteus minimus performs abduction of the hip and medial rotation of the hip as does the gluteus medius. My hips are often abducted but laterally rotated which means that those two muscles are being used but not as much as the deep six group and the sartorius. The gluteus maximus performs lateral rotation of the of the extended hip but I very rarely assume any position that causes or requires extension of the hip. So I am in need of a position which requires medial rotation and extension of the hip and if for good measure I can throw in abduction all the better. I could go to a gym to work these muscles but need to find a way to help them while I do other things like work on my laptop. The closest solution I can come up with is kneeling which if I press my pelvis forward a little allows a pretty good stretch of the rectus femoris. While kneeling my knees are in flexion and my feet are in plantar flexion