How to Advantageously Use Your Arms During a Lunge

Introduction:

The initial goal of prescribing lunges in your rehab program should be to educate your patient on proper mechanics and techniques. The next goal is to make any necessary modifications to address their specific needs. However, you can beneficially integrate the arms to achieve both of these goals simultaneously.  In this article, you will learn three ways to strategically use the arms to maximize your lunge. These strategies include the following:

• Reference
• Structural Influence
• Airflow Direction

If you're a visual learner, click the video below to watch the same principles

Reference:

One of the most common compensations during a lunge is the chest dropping during the ascending portion. This is a quick compensatory pre-stretch of spinal flexion into extension as a way for the human body to find momentum. This occurs from insufficient knowledge of proper form, using weights that are too heavy, or lower extremity muscle weakness. To avoid these compensations and maintain optimal form, we can use the arms as a reference combined with proper coaching cues.

The arms act as a beneficial visual reference because they're an extension of the sternum. Use the following checklist to teach this concept to your patients:

1. Have them hold their arms at a 90/90 degree angle (shoulder flexion + elbow flexion).
2. From this position, ask them to lower their elbows, watch the chest drop as they move into spinal flexion, and make them aware of this compensation.
3. Find the 90/90 position again, raise the elbows above 90 degrees, watch their chest move up as they move into spinal extension, and make them aware of this compensation.
4. Educate them that their "arms" (sternum/spine) should not move during their lunge
5. When the arms don't move, they're moving in the desired elevator motion.

Now that they have the visual reference — let's bring it together with a simple, yet effective coaching cue. Before I tell you the cue, have you ever thought about what animal moves like the common chest compensation we see during a lunge? 

A chicken!

That's right — I want you to educate your patient that their lunge should not look like a chicken. This means the chest shouldn't deviate in a quick forward and backward bobble motion, as you would see with a walking chicken. The combination of the visual reference and the chicken coaching cue truly makes for the perfect-looking lunge.

Structural Influence: 

A lunge can be described as an extreme version of walking. You're moving through greater ranges of motion, nonetheless, we can label each limb as being biased towards different phases of stance or swing. Furthermore, if we dive one step deeper, we can label these phases into external or internal rotation. This can be represented by the following: 

• Early Stance: Negative Shine Angle (External Rotation Bias)
• Mid Stance: Neutral Shine Angle (Internal Rotation Bias)
• Late Stance: Positive Shin Angle (External Rotation Bias)

Depending on your shin angle, depth of the lunge, and body position, you can bias specific outcomes for your patient or client. For example, if you find internal rotation limitations during your assessment, bias your lunge to improve internal rotation deficits! 

How can we do this? The arms (and recognizing the shin angle)!

Internal Rotation Bias:

To bias internal rotation with your arms, you want to reach or hold a weight in the contralateral arm. This position is going to drive a reaching mechanism that will rotate the spine and the sacrum towards the forward leg. This continuation of rotation will bias more of a relative internally rotated position at the pelvis and can be represented by the mid stance phase of gait.

External Rotation Bias:

To bias external rotation, you want to reach or place a weight in the ipsilateral arm. This position is going to decrease the amount of spinal and sacral rotation towards the front leg. This yielding mechanism will bias more of a relative external rotation position at the pelvis and can be represented by the early stance phase of gait.

Airflow Direction:

Airflow is probably not an outcome you'd typically think to improve with a lunge. However, last time I checked, most of our patients tend to have mid-upper back mobility restrictions. So, why would you not want to improve these limitations while performing a lower extremity exercise such as a lunge?

Before biasing the direction of airflow, we need to remember airflow is always seeking the path of least resistance. This means that it's moving from concentrations of high pressure to low pressure.

So, for your patients with a restricted mid to upper back, emphasizing airflow and breathing should be a key part of their programming. As you may have already guessed, we can strategically use the arms to bias airflow for mobility improvements. This can be represented as the following:

• 0-60 Degree Reach: Upper Posterior Expansion (T2-T4 Area)
• 60-120 Degree Reach Mid Posterior Expansion (T5-T7 Area) *Anterior Expansion in Prone
• >120 Degree Reach: Lower Posterior Expansion (T8-Below)

This concept can be defined by understanding compression versus expansion. Compression is created through contracting muscles (reaching at specific angles), and expansion is created through lengthening muscles. For example, with a low reach (0-60 degrees of shoulder flexion), the upper traps and levator scapulae (T2-T4 area) will be placed in an eccentric orientation as the shoulder girdle depresses. This eccentric orientation is going to be the path of least resistance for air to move. So, as we maintain the compression below we will get expansion or a "stretching" of tissue above.

Finally, your intent  is key when combining breathing strategies with your lunges. Your intent is what makes the exercise "wrong" or "right." In other words, if you're breathing strategy aligns with your intent — then it's correct.

For example, if your main intent is to improve mobility and expansion. Take a couple of breaths while holding the bottom position of the exercise. This will maximize the amount of compression to produce the most expansion. Comparatively, if you're working to maximize space within movement then inhale on the descent and exhale on the ascent. 

Remember, inhalation creates space while exhalation produces power.

Conclusion:

I hope after reading this article, you have a newfound appreciation for the arms during a lunge. We've discussed how they can be beneficially used by becoming a visual reference, structural influence, and airflow guide. However, in the bigger picture, they'll help coach better lunging techniques and intentional programming. 

If you want to learn more about how to design your rehab programs with true comprehension and intent then I encourage you to check out The Performance Redefined Course. This is an online 8-week course designed for PT students to become true movement experts in their field.