Are you in back pain? Wondering if you’ll ever feel “normal” again? Sick and tired of being in pain or afraid of the next episode?
I know the feeling.
I fought chronic back pain for years, trying every new technique that came out. My About page gives all the gory details. After years of searching I finally discovered the keys to a healthy, resilient back.
Foundation Training, Neutral Spine, Proper Movement and Kettlebell Swings are the four keys.
It’s that simple. It does take discipline and consistency but it’s not hard.
Awareness
Okay, so what do you need to do? First, you need to start becoming more aware of your body. When you’re in pain you are hyper-aware but once the pain wears off and you start returning to normal activities your awareness typically drops. This is mistake one. Keep that awareness – your spidey senses should be tingling often. It’s the only way to learn what is triggering your back pain and avoid it.
Learning your triggers takes time and patience. Stick with it and it will payoff with more healthy days and less worry. Often times you’ll be in pain and think it was the exercise you did that morning or yesterday. Dig deeper and it can often be poor, sloppy posture after you exercise. You worked hard, now you want to relax. You collapse in the soft, cushy coach and your back gets distorted. Then you get up from the coach and “agh!”. My back is aching. What the hell happened?
No Pain = Gain.
Next, never do anything that causes pain! If an exercise or movement causes pain – stop immediately. Either you’re doing something wrong with the exercise/movement or your body isn’t ready. Or it could be that your injury makes that movement bad for you, at least at this point in time.
Neutral Spine
Your back want’s to be in a natural, neutral position. A neutral spine is when it has just the right amount of curvature for your body. Generally, the less curves the better, but it’s personalized to you and your body structure. Stand up tall and relax your shoulders and jaw. That’s your neutral position. Look in the mirror and learn how this looks and feels. Again, awareness.
A couple of quick terms. Lordosis is the curve in your lower back around Lumbar discs 1-5. Kyphosis is the curve in your thoracic spine. Extreme kyphosis is the traditional “hunch back”. Keeping that neutral spine will avoid extreme lordosis and prevent kyphosis.
Over Stretching
Do you know there’s very little to no evidence that stretching does anything positive for you? It might feel good but it doesn’t create any lasting benefits – that includes no injury prevention, no greater range of motion, nothing concrete.
With your back be careful with stretching. Don’t stretch or put your back in any unusual positions for the first hour after you wake up. Dr. Stuart McGill (“Dr. Spine”) recommends this due to the spinal fluid that collects in your spine after sleeping. It takes about an hour for the spinal fluid to dissipate. Until that time any stretching or stresses on the back increases your risk of injury. This is one reason why “Bed rest” is bad for the back. They used to recommend days or weeks lying in bed. Worst idea ever! The sooner you can move, the better.
Typically, I recommend no forward bends. Gentle Back bends are much better and put less stress on the discs.
Prime Movers
Your prime mover muscles are the large muscle groups – glutes, hamstrings, quads. These are the key muscles that you need to develop – strength, mobility and awareness. This awareness can be developed through various exercise movements – squat, and hip hinge (dead lift) being the two primary ones. The core is also essential to be strong – this includes your entire torso, especially the lats, along with the abs (what most people think of when they say core).
When you do a hip hinge, you should really feel it in your glutes and hamstrings. Those are the muscles that your body should be using. There’s a variety of exercises to help develop that feel and awareness. When you are using these muscles properly, it takes the strain off the spine and puts them on the muscles, where it belongs. Your back can then heal and your body gets stronger. Win – win.
What Now?
If you want to learn the details and practice these techniques correctly, contact me for some health coaching sessions. Together, we’ll work to develop a routine and habits to get your back healthy and strong and get your life back on track.
To your health!
— John Robbins, Health Coach
If you’d like to work with me setup an Initial Consult.