Prescription for a Rounding Back

Ok, so we know that rounding the spine can cause the disc to burst. What causes the spine to round?

    * Tight and weak hip flexors (psoas muscles and other friends)
    * Tight and weak hamstrings
    * Weak abs and weak lower back muscles
    * Poor lifting habits which are usually caused by the above
    * Poor posture and slouching after a workout
    * Sitting for hours in front of a desk causes most of these issues

How do we fix these issues? By following Party methods to start.

Let’s cover a few recommendations for each issue above:

Tight and weak hip flexors:

  1. The Lunging or Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch from Pavel’s Relax into Stretch (RIS) should get rid of those tight hip flexors.
  2. Put your foot on a chair in front of you. If you are standing on your left leg and your right foot is on the chair, slowly raise your right knee as high as you can towards your chest. Keep a tight arch in your lower back and your chest pushed out military style. Now extend you foot out like a kick. It will be hard at first to do this if your hips and hammies are tight but you will get better, especially if you do all of the other drills. If you need to hold onto another chair for balance that is acceptable.

Tight and weak hamstrings:

  1. The Good Morning Hamstring Stretch from RIS is called for.
  2. Swings baby! Deadlifts and other similar drills will do. If you do have a disc problem and are not following this for prevention then you will want to do the swings instead of deadlifts.

Weak abs and lower back muscles:

  1. Once again our friend the Swing comes into play. It will help with strength and endurance of the entire core including lower back, abs and hamstrings.
  2. 2.Overhead pressing with one arm. This is great for core stability.
  3. Always lift with a ‘virtual belt’ on. Flex (brace) your stomach as if someone were about to punch you; as comrade Pavel would say, “that can be arranged!” Flex your glutes and sphincter as if you were holding a coin between your cheeks. Take a small breath into your stomach but don’t allow your stomach to expand. If this causes pain then don’t take in as much air. Don’t suck in your stomach as this will make you weak and put your back at risk.

Poor lifting habits:

  1. 20 Squat Thrusts should cure that comrade! Seriously if you aren’t sure about your technique seek a qualified coach, if you train with kettlebells that means an RKC.

Poor posture and slouching after a workout:

  1. The McKenzie Back Bend from Pavel’s book Beyond Bodybuilding. This simple drill that has been written about before serves two purposes. One, it realigns your spine and two it is a reminder not to slouch after a workout. While standing up straight, place your hands in the small of your back with your fingers pointing towards your tailbone. Bend backwards. A series of 5 progressively further back bends will do the trick.

Sitting for hours in front of a desk:

  1. This one is easy; tell your boss everything you’ve wanted to tell him or her for a long time. You will be out of that crummy job in front of a computer lickety-split!
Prescription IF You Have a Herniated Disc

If you are lucky enough to currently have a herniated disc and feel pain then in addition to the judicious application of the above drills you should also avoid any exercises that cause spine flexion or an excessive compression on the spine. Why? Well think of it this way, if you had a cut it would never heal if you kept rubbing and pulling on the skin right? You put a bandage on it so it is safe. You can’t very well keep a bandage on your torn disc so you must avoid doing anything to put excess pressure on your torn disc(s).

Avoid sit-ups, yes this includes the Janda sit-up, a great drill but not while your disc(s) are torn. Windmills and overhead squats are great drills for a healthy posture but if not done with perfect form and too much weight can pose a risk to the herniation. If you do these be careful and do them for the purpose of increasing flexibility, core strength and posture, not for strength!

Heavy Deadlifts and Squats… come on you have to be kidding me right? The compression on your discs is super high on these drills. Man-up, back off and if you are disciplined and fortunate enough you will be able to go back to these lifts in the future and lift heavy as heck! I can now.

Martial Artists… sorry to say this…. Ummm… rolling on the ground ala BJJ can be bad. Now is your chance to train like drills of movements, and not ones that cause spine flexion or compression. Rolling full on with a partner is how I kept repeatedly hurting my back. And yes, now that it is healed I can roll full blast with no issues. By the way, same goes for kicking, chill out and you will be able to do them when you heal.

So how long do you have to rest? Well, I ain’t Miss Cleo so that is up to you doing what is smart for your injury and your body’s ability to recover. My injury was severe and once I figured out how to do the right things it took me 6-8 months to be fully recovered. AND, I didn’t know as much as I know now. One of my clients worked in a warehouse just like I used to and had to lift heavy boxes all day. He had 2 herniations in his lumbar region and due to pain was at risk of loosing his job. I showed him how to lift properly so as to minimize compression on the discs and gave him a few exercises to follow. Immediately he said he felt stronger and had less pain. Within several weeks he said he had no pain on the job anymore!