The other day, I got an email from another fitness professional saying that he really liked my Maximum Strength training program, but that he’d have left out the reverse crunches if it was his strength training program because he “doesn’t use any lumbar flexion work” in his programming anymore.. strength at all angles of lumbar flexion improved sig-nificantly in both groups after 8 weeks (Table 2). Meaning people will regularly squat only to parallel and have 50% of max flexion or do a beautiful Kettlebell swing with around 50% of max flexion too. It comes down to people passing themselves off as experts in areas of which they have little real understanding. 42. The effect of posture on spinal compressive strength was examined in a series of three experiments on cadaveric material. Exercise 5: Hip Hitching. Before starting standing lumbar flexion, you should gradually progress with more gentle lumbar flexion exercises. Why do people not understand this? Fear spinal flexion if you don’t understand it, but don’t berate it out of fear. Perhaps the most overused and annoying term in the limited vocabulary of inexperienced coaches, it was first used by CrossFitters who were trying to impress other CrossFitters with their mastery of the secrets of human movement. (I really don’t think that, in my case, the problem could be an inability to contract the lumbar erectors, as described in Starting Strength, 3rd edition). Over time, a muscle injury that has not been managed correctly may lead to an overall imbalance in the spine. STANDING LUMBAR FLEXION o Stand upright with feet spread shoulder width apart. Did you know that in the general population of eighteen to 35-year-olds the lumbar spine has approximately eighty degrees of motion between flexion and extension? (1986) showed that a bending moment of 69 Nm and a shear force of 980 N not caused overt signs of failure. “There are no bad exercises, only good exercises poorly performed.” I’ll amend this slightly, and say, “There are no bad exercises (except anything done on a fitball by a person who does not make a living in a circus), just good exercises poorly performed or performed at the wrong time.” You can quote me, I often do. As is usually the case, things are more complicated. Form checks … Press J to jump to the feed. Let’s just finish with a few insights from the immortal John Grimek. I do a yoga class sometimes on off days and the instructor has us do this lumbar flexion exercise that I have come to really enjoy. Any questions or feedback on this blog would be greatly appreciated, like and share. Let's take a look at a movement dysfunction that can commonly be found in someone's deadlift or squatting pattern. The flexion rotation exercise is a simple stretch that you can do if yo… o An increase in your low back pain can be expected. So in the 21st Century it appears that spinal education and general strength instruction need a bit of looking backward before moving any further forward. However, It's the position that brochures and websites about lifting heavy items, gardening and other manual tasks tell you not do. Look at the anatomical facts. A flexed upper back represents a loss of control over the interface with one of the two external inputs to the lifter, and this will have a … The standing lumbar extension exercise is typically used by physical therapists trained in the McKenzie Method of Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy. This is my point. This is unnatural. Some people may benefit from performing a standing lumbar extension to quickly get pressure off the spinal nerves and rapidly reverse symptoms. Nothing too severe. To start your spinal stenosis lumbar flexion exercise progression, perform the flexion in lying exercise. You then do a sit up like motion but start by reaching your hands up and forward and then roll up every vertebrae one by one very intentionally. The strong, trained human spine is supported on all sides by muscle mass, and the stronger the back, the bigger the muscle mass supporting it. Release your knees back to the starting position. Lumbar Extensor Muscle Strength and Pain of Rehabilitation Patients Recovering from Lumbar Disc Herniation Surgery ... at specific lumbar flexion angles (72°, 48°, 24°, 0°) as the lumbar back extended, beginning at the 72°position. This sort of advice is okay if it comes from a trainer who knows little about lower backs and admits it, but to come from a person who holds himself up as having an understanding and authority on the subject (and then gets people to pay for it), it is abominable. It is best used in combination with other specific tests. The latissimus dorsi (plural: latissimi dorsi) is the large, flat, dorso-lateral muscle on the trunk, posterior to the arm, and partly covered by the trapezius on its median dorsal region. You know Mr. John Grimek (pictured to the right) had the runs on the board not only was he was unbeaten in bodybuilding competition during his competitive years of 1939-1949 winning every top title, but he also could perform one-arm chins, one arm swing 200lbs, and do the splits. Get updates and special offers delivered directly to your inbox. Please try again. This is important since this is the region where weakness is first felt by most persons. Push your knees out. Starting Strength is a strength training system designed to safely and efficiently improve strength, health, and athletic performance using basic barbell exercises. The strength training group started rehabilitation 3 weeks after surgery. There is however a tradeoff of risks; when the low back curvature is held throughout a lift, there is an elevated risk of muscle injury, since ligament support is greatly reduced in this position.” Besides the fact he is clearly so undereducated in spinal anatomy that he cannot even spell “disc” correctly, Chek seems to think you want to rely on ligament “support” as a way to prevent muscle injury. Yet despite the fear surrounding and the subsequent avoidance of, flexed spine lifting, back injury statistics appear unchanged. Meta-analyses on lumbar extension range of motion, quadriceps flexibility, fingertip to floor distance, lumbar flexion range of motion, back muscle strength, back muscle endurance, abdominal strength, erector spinae cross sectional area, and quadratus lumborum cross sectional area showed non-significant results. SCHOBER METHOD: One of the most common tape measure procedures used to measure lumbar flexion relates to a technique originated by Schober and subsequently modified for measurement of spinal flexion. The method of concealed random allocation without blocking was used to form two groups. Fear spinal flexion if you don’t understand it, but don’t berate it out of fear. Often this occurs during a heavy or near max load in a big lift. This is a fear born of ignorance, ignorance by the medical community (which rarely understands resistance and weight training), and ignorance by educators in the health and fitness community. I have seen strong men with a slight convexity in a perfectly extended lower back. For example in his Paul Chek’s Points for More Effective Training, he wrote about the lumbar spine lordosis, “If this curvature is not maintained during lifting activities, both disk and ligament run the risk of injury. 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