We spend more time sat down than ever before. We are designed to move, but most of our jibs require us to be sedentary for 7-8 hours a day. Over time this adds up and eventually leads to back pain.
Here are 5 enemies of the back and how to counter them.
1. Inflexibility
This usually happens in the hips first and restricts our ability to move. A basic test is sitting cross legged on the floor. Do your knees touch the floor? If you lie on your back and lift your leg up straight does it go past the leg on the floors mid thigh? If not, then its time to stretch and mobilize.
Solution for inflexibility in hips
Glute bridges
Hip flexor stretch
Mountain climber with twist
Pigeon stretch
2. Sheer
Sheer is forward bend. Scientific studies have shown that the biggest contributors to sheer in the lower back are not dead lifts or squats, but in fact picking up dumbbells or other oddly shaped/weighted objects off the floor with poor back position. Ever had a bulging disc? Well doing this will most likely have caused this horrible injury. This is why I never do sit ups with clients, our lower backs (lumbar spines), are not very good with flexion and when scientists tested pig spines on a machine, load was not what broke them...it was hundreds of "ab crunches" and all of them without exception snapped.
Solution to sheer
Tall Planks
SB Roll Outs
3. Compression
Heavy loads on the shoulders creating force on an imbalanced/ misaligned spine can also cause back wear and tear. If we have a strong back and it is more or less aligned, lifting relatively heavy loads can be beneficial to stimulate an increase in bone density and muscular development. Saying that, 90% of the population are probably not quite there and this will in fact cause more harm than good. One of the reasons I go regularly to see my chiropractor. I could not recommend him enough!
Solution to Compression
KB Split Squats
Splinal Decompression
4. Torque (Rotation)
Our lumbar spine located in the lower back is designed for stability, not so much mobility. I believe it has just 2 degrees of rotation available. By twisting the lower back rather than rotating at the hips, this causes wear and tear which can eventually lead to lower back pain.
Solution to Torque
Avoid twisting lower back
Work on hip mobility with Fire Hydrants
5. Creep
Fascia is a connective tissue that surrounds our muscles, joints and ligaments. It can mould itself into whatever environment we create for it. It has an amazing ability to create tension in certain parts of our body in order to create mobility in other parts.
Creep is what happens when we sit down for too long in one position. The fascia stretches itself to accommodate the position in the chair.This creeping of fascia causes a gradual force that pulls muscles into bad positions.
The bad news is that when we stand up, the fascia has lengthens and keeps the now unwanted tension through our muscles. It can take up to 30 minutes or more for ligaments to regain previous level of stiffness from just 20 minutes of sitting down.
Solutions to Creep
Try to get up and stretch every 10-20 minutes. Literally just a 30-60 second stand up and walk around will help immensely.
Yours In Health
Patrick Fallis
Founder of Leaner
www.leaner-uk.com