My husband and I just splurged on a new closet system from Ikea which has been a dreamy transition from our previous cubby system. Everything was slammed into these ridiculously small cubbies, some stacked on top of each other, and none very accessible. When laundry got done, it got put back on top of the stuff still in the cubby that wasn’t  worn and thus, never would get worn.

With our new system, we can see everything! We have large, wide drawers instead of cubbies now, which honestly, just makes me feel a little more adult-ish. The rest of the clothes are hung to peruse as needed. Well, along with getting the new closet system, it feels like I have gotten a new wardrobe too! Because, I can see it all! And (finally) wear it all (1 year post 2nd baby here…).

I’ve gotten lots of compliments from my husband wearing the not-so-new clothes, which is always nice! However, a few of these pieces that I’ve worn to work and subsequently, to the playground, I’ve been frustrated with, despite liking how they look.

Why have I been frustrated with them? I can’t move in them freely! Movement is it important to me (obviously, because I started a whole blog about it). I need to be able to demonstrate exercises with my patients and also, squat down with my girls in their clubhouse without feeling like my pants are going to rip. Ugh. To make it a little more complicated, I like to look nice and feel nice while doing it!

Restrictive clothes are more than just a frustration, though. In my first year as a physical therapist, I had a patient who showed up debilitating left lower leg and hip pain. Her subjective history, her pertinent past that we as physical therapists use to identify the reason of her pain, did not align with her symptoms. First problem…

Second problem was that her initial pain was complicated by compensations allowed by the body in an attempt to protect the patient from intense pain. However, the body can only compensate for so long before it has to scream for help! These compensations distract from the initial problem, leading you astray from knowing the true source of pain, immediately.

To cut to the chase, we were able to identify the real issue…meralgia paresthetica. This fancy term refers to lateral hip and thigh pain characterized by burning, tingling and numbness. Yikes! The cause of this is multifactorial, but basically, when the right nerve in the hip is aggravated by compression, either from being overweight and/or wearing tight, restrictive clothes, pain occurs.

What!? Tight, restrictive clothes can actually prevent the body from performing like it needs to? Yes. This is only one example of ways in which clothes limit your bodies abilities if there is a poor fit.

The pants that I was wearing and feeling confined in early this week were not pushing on a nerve, but it was limiting my pelvic mobility. My what? Read on.

Your pelvis needs to roll forwards or backwards in order to achieve proper posture and body alignment when sitting. Your ASIS, the prominent hip bones just below your abdomen, should be point out, not up or down.

Find your hip bones with your hands. Using your hands to palpate the prominent part of the bone, can you tell where your bones are pointing? If they are pointing up or down, can you adjust them by tucking or untucking the tailbone to make them point straight ahead? Are your clothes fighting your movement?

Mine were! Ugh. So, instead of making the same mistake again and again by pulling out these pants and putting them on knowing full well how limiting they are, I put them straight in the donate pile!

Be on the look out for the next post that highlights pants that move with you for women and men of all different ages!