Back Stretching Can Be Worthless…
I know this topic may rub many therapists and exercise enthusiasts the wrong way, but hear me out. Over the years of working with hundreds of pain sufferers, I’ve encountered many different packages of muscle imbalances, and have tried tons of methods for correcting them.
When I first started doing muscle imbalance correction, I was taught to stretch the tight muscles, then strengthen the weak muscles. This process has brought me an immense amount of success with many patients. As I mastered designing routines and enjoyed a great level of success, I became quite bored. Since then, I have experimented with all sorts of procedures for correcting imbalances.
What I found is that there are a few interesting patterns that became very obvious when evaluating and working with:
I have noticed that there are 3 types of people when it comes to flexibility: First, those who are “gumby”, meaning that they have a tremendous amount of joint flexibility and what appears to be little muscle tone. These individuals are much more likely to get joint injuries, and have “delayed” muscle activity.
The second type, those who are “bound” meaning that they have a LOT of muscle tonus, and are generally very “tight”. These individuals are much more likely to have muscle strains, or tears, because the muscles are “hyper”. The 3rd type, sits right in the middle of these 2, and shares characteristics of both.
The interesting thing about these types is that their personalities seem to reflect the amount of flexibility they have in their bodies. The more “gumby” the body, the more flexible they tend to be mentally, easily taking on new concepts and open to new learnings and ideas. On the other end, the “tight” people tend to have more “boundaries”, and are less likely to take on new ideas, and be less “flexible” without a thorough filtering process before they change.
Now, I am not saying that stretching is completely useless, but instead needs to be assigned based on knowledge of the type of back pain sufferer that is seeking relief. As you may have guessed, the “bound” type of people will benefit MUCH more from stretching, and also more relaxation training. The “gumby” people will benefit more from strength and stability training, along with possibly reinforcing or setting up new boundaries in their lifestyles.
–Sam Visnic
Postural Correction Made Simple In 3 Steps!
One of the more daunting tasks in muscle imbalance correction and reducing lower back stress lies in postural correction. I think its fairly obvious why its important, but just to re-cap:
Posture closely inter-twines with back pain. Why? Well, your body is equipped naturally to be able to deal with that ever inescapable force called gravity. I heard recently that it weighs down on our bodies at approximately 33.5 pounds per square inch! Whether or not that is exact, who cares, but the point remains that we are meant to deal with this force by the way our bodies are designed.
The forces of gravity should be distributed nicely throughout specific joints, bones, muscles, etc. When posture is distorted, through repetitive tasks, muscle imbalances, and even psychological issues, such as depression, the weight of gravity starts to exert its straining effects on our bodies in a way that causes increased joint stress, overworked stabilizer muscles, thus leading to chronic overuse, joint degeneration, and of course, pain.
Now, that you get WHY back pain sufferers should have good posture, why don’t you DO it?
The reason why most people don’t work on posture is truly because its a pain in the ass. It requires paying attention to it continuously, and its hard work at first. However, just like any other discipline, the rewards will pay off IMMENSELY.
Here are a few ways to get your posture corrected PROPERLY:
1. Identify the type of pelvic tilt you have (read other sections of this blog about this). Once you know, you will always focus on finding a “neutral” pelvic tilt when standing, unless the specific type of back problem you have prevents you from doing this in a pain-free way. You will most likely need to just slightly bend your knees too, in order to make the pelvic tilt happen easily.
2. Imagine you have 2 balloons attached to the upper part of your chest muscles, and they are lifting them up to the sky. That should immediately improve your forward head posture too! Gently RETRACT your chin, so your neck elongates slightly.
3. Lastly, pull your shoulder blades back toward your spine, and DOWN toward the middle of your back. The reason why you do this is because if you JUST pull your shoulders back, then you will most likely engage your upper trapezius muscles, which elevate the shoulders. The problem with this is that 99% of people are tight and overworked in this muscles, and they are “stress” holders. So, we don’t want to make them any tighter. Pull the shoulder blades BACK and DOWN.
–Sam Visnic
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