Dooley Noted: 7/14/14
Yesterday, I had the honor of spending time with my sister, Karen, her husband, John, and their 13 month-old daughter, Abigail.
Every aunt likes to gush about her niece. This child is as beautiful as it gets. But I was most intrigued by Abigail’s squat.
She just recently started walking, a few weeks shy of her first birthday. So, she still stumbles. When she falls, she almost always drops right into a full ATG squat. She then quickly stands right back up.
Can you imagine if we kept that pattern going all of our lives? The incidence of hip, back, knee and foot dysfunctions would plummet.
I watched as she dropped right down, despite her head being around 1/3 her bodyweight. I tried to imagine wearing a 40 pound helmet as I dropped into an ATG squat. She’s incredible!
I watched as her knee naturally tracked over her second toe, without having to ask herself to shove her knees out.
I watched as her foot flattened on the pronation phase. She’s not afraid of pronation. I marveled at her ability to root through her foot.
I watched as she went butt down, with her spine following and not leading her hips.
While some of us may have lost the ATG, squatting needs to be part of our lives.
Earn back the foot, knee, hip, and spinal stability, mobility and strength.
Find an excellent trainer to get you there again. If you have pain, couple that with a manual therapist that promotes squatting.
And if people around you are telling you squatting is “bad for the knees,” feel free to send them to me for cognitive reinforcement.
In the meantime, I’m studying Abigail’s reflexive stability to ATG squat, knowing it’s in my system, too.
We are all still that 13-month old, squatting and getting back up again. We just may need additional steps to get there.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley
