You may be shocked to learn that 8 out of 10 people reading this article will experience low back pain at some point in their lives. Many of these people will have reoccurring episodes of back pain, which are often related in cause.
Low back pain (LBP) is caused by varying factors, many of them preventable and some of them not. LBP can occur due to traumatic injury (a fall, motor vehicle accident, sports injury such as being hit, etc.), structural problems (defective spine, hip, etc.) or long term excessive strain on the lumbo-pelvic-hip region. This last category affects the greatest number of people and is also the area you have most control over.
Long term excessive strain on the lower back is caused by poor posture, incorrect movement, poor mobility in the hips, weak muscles, tight muscles or inactivity. If you’ve had LBP at some point in your life, think back to that time and see if there is a correlation between any of these factors and your episode of LBP.
From the factors I’ve listed you may be wondering which specific weak and/or tight muscles can contribute to LBP? Well, if you’re reading this you’re sitting on some of them – your glutes. Tight (and often weak) glutes contribute to overloading on the low back which can lead to pain.
To understand how this happens I’ll have to explain a little about functional anatomy and movement. The human body is a brilliantly designed organism and any problems to its structure should never be looked at in isolation. What I mean is that whenever you have an overuse injury in one area you need to look at the whole body to determine the source of the problem and come up with possible solutions. You can’t just look at the injured area by itself.
Getting back to functional anatomy, according to leading physical therapist Gray Cook, your body’s major joints (ankles, knees, hips, lower spine, mid spine, neck, shoulders) are aligned in an alternating mobility-stability design. Each individual joint needs both stability and mobility but it will need different levels of either characteristic.
Here’s how it works. Your ankles require more mobility; knees need more stability; hips need more mobility; low back needs stability; mid-back needs mobility; shoulders need stability and neck needs more mobility. There is a delicate balance for each joint but more often than not, problems arise when a specific joint has less of the listed characteristic than it needs.
The body will always compensate for any dysfunction. If one joint is dysfunctional this will affect the joints above or below it and can thereby affect other joints further up or down the chain.
If your body can’t obtain the movement it needs from the hip joint, it will try to get this movement from the knees and/or low back. So if your hips (which include your glutes) are tight and have decreased mobility, this can increase the movement in the lower spine, thereby decreasing stability in that region.
To help increase mobility in the hips you need to do various forms of flexibility and mobility training. This can include static stretching but should also involve dynamic movements as well as myofascial release.
One of the best and most convenient methods to do myofascial release is to use a foam roller. To help release tight glute muscles and the fascia surrounding them, use the foam roller to break any adhesion points. Follow the diagram and instructions below to improve the flexibility of your glutes, thereby improving the mobility of your hips.
Glutes/Piriformis Myofascial Release • Begin positioned as shown with foot crossed to opposite knee.
• Roll on the posterior hip.
• If a “tender point” is located, stop rolling, and rest on the tender point until pain decreases by 75%.
Of course, if you've ever experienced LBP there could be multiple factors. However, my experience in working with many clients who've had low back disorders, tight hips were present in a majority of the cases.
So if your low back is sore and it's not due to an accident or injury, get off your ass (sitting too much will tighten and weaken the glutes) and get your hips moving. Contact me through my website if you have any questions or would like to see one of my coaches to get some specific help.
C.
www.ultrafitness.net
