Squatting position

Etymology

Squatting comes from the Old French esquatir/escatir, meaning to "compress/press down". The weight-lifting sense of squatting is from 1954.

Resting position

Most Western adults cannot place their heels flat on the ground when squatting because of shortened Achilles tendons which may be caused by habits:

• sitting on chairs or seats
• wearing shoes with heels (especially high heels)

For this reason the squatting position is usually not sustainable for them for more than a few minutes as heels-up squatting is a less stable position than heels-down squatting. See also dorsiflexion.

Desmond Morris distinguished seven variant forms of squat as: Squat-kneel; Flat-footed Squat (the Asian squat, or Slav squat); Tiptoe Squat (the Western squat, or heels-raised squat); Squat-sit; Legs-fold; Lotus position; and Legs Side-curl.

Equivalents to the Slav squat (see Gopnik) in Western culture, sometimes with the hands together in a prayer position, are the rap squat, prison pose, and jail pose. They are often used as photographic poses.

Exercise

Strength training

In strength training, the squat is a full body exercise that trains primarily the muscles of the thighs, hips and buttocks, as well as strengthening the bones, ligaments and insertion of the tendons throughout the lower body. The pistol squat is a one legged squat.

Mālāsana or upavesasana in yoga

Upaveśāsana (literally "sitting down pose"), also known as Mālāsana meaning "garland pose", or simply the yoga squat, is an asana.

The āsana is a squat with heels flat on the floor and hip-width apart (or slightly wider if necessary), toes pointing out on a diagonal. The torso is brought forward between the thighs, elbows are braced against the inside of the knees, and the hands press together in front of the chest in Añjali Mudrā.

Tai Chi

In Taoist Tai Chi, the "Dan Yu" (spine stretching) exercise involves squatting. It is intended to work primarily the pelvic region, the legs and the lower back. Fifty or more repetitions may be performed in advanced classes. The feet are placed in a stance wider than the shoulders. When squatting the knees move in the direction of the feet.

Urinating and defecating

The squatting defecation posture involves squatting by standing with the knees and hips sharply bent and the bare buttocks suspended near the ground. Squat toilets are designed to facilitate this posture and are common in various parts of the world.

A partial squatting position (or "hovering") while urinating is often done to avoid sitting on a potentially contaminated toilet seat, but it may leave urine behind in the bladder and it is not good for the pelvic floor muscles.

Canids often urinate in a squatting position, but usually raise their legs while scent marking.

Health

In East Asian cultures such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese, postures with high flexion including kneeling and squatting are used more often in daily activities, while in North America, people kneel or squat less frequently in daily activities, unless for occupational, religious, or leisure practices. The favored style of those high flexion postures also differs among ethnic groups. While Caucasians tend to flex the forefoot when kneeling or squatting, East Asians are more likely to keep the foot flat on the ground.

In the two common styles of kneeling, the plantarflexed kneel and the dorsiflexed kneel, the lead leg may experience higher adduction and flexion moment, which is associated with increased knee joint loads.

Risk of osteoarthritis

There is increased incidence of knee osteoarthritis among squatters who squat for hours a day for many years. There is evidence that sustained squatting may cause bilateral peroneal nerve palsy. For societies who rarely squat, squatting as a different posture may bring health benefits.

In patients with tetralogy of Fallot

Toddlers and older children with the congenital heart disease tetralogy of Fallot will often instinctively squat during a "tet spell" (an episode involving a sudden development of blue skin, caused by a drop of oxygen in the blood), allowing more blood to flow to the lungs. Squatting increases systemic vascular resistance and allows for a temporary reversal of the shunt. It increases pressure on the left side of the heart, decreasing the right to left shunt thus decreasing the amount of deoxygenated blood entering the systemic circulation.

Squatting facets

The existence of squatting facets on the distal tibia and talar articular surfaces of skeletons, which result from contact between the two bones during hyperdorsiflexion, have been used as markers to indicate if that person habitually squatted.

Childbirth position

Main article: Childbirth positions

The squatting position gives a greater increase of pressure in the pelvic cavity with minimal muscular effort. The birth canal will open 20 to 30% more in a squat than in any other position. It is recommended for the second stage of childbirth.

In ancient Egypt, women delivered babies while squatting on a pair of bricks, known as birth bricks.

Sexual position

Main article: Woman on top

There are versions of the "cowgirl" sex position where a woman is squatting over a man, who is lying on his back, instead of kneeling over him. These are referred to by different names such as Asian cowgirl, frog squat position, and froggystyle. The woman can face forwards or backwards (reverse).

References

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