Incorporate This Trunk Rotation Stability Exercise

Incorporate This Trunk Rotation Stability Exercise

 

When lifting anything, we hear "lift with your legs, not your back!"  When using the spine  to perform resistive activities, many times a dangerous amount of pressure is placed on the ligaments and intervertebral discs.  Over time, this may lead to injuries such as bulging or herniated discs.  Spinal flexion places strain on the discs.  Spinal rotation also places strain on the discs.  But when you combine the movements (flexion with rotation), the discs are most vulnerable.  If these motions are dangerous, is it wise to perform them with resistance added?  I prefer to focus on Spinal Stabilization rather than Resistive Trunk Strengthening Exercises.   

 



Some common trunk exercises you may have seen are the Side Bend QL, Resistance Tubing Trunk Rotation, and the Medicine Ball Trunk Twist.

 





 

 

These exercises are aimed at strengthening the spine throughout the range of motion.  But at what cost? 

 

Try to incorporate the following exercise to your routine for Spinal Rotation Stability. 

Rack a Kettlebell in 1 hand.  This alone places an asymmetric force on your spine.  Your goal is to maintain a neutral spine and not allow the trunk to side-bend toward the added weight.  This is already working the QL on the opposite side of the Kettlebell

 

Press the weight overhead.  This continues to challenge your trunk's stability with the  direction of the force applied from a different position/angle

 

Here's where the rotation comes in.  Instead of actively twisting your spine with the applied resistance (as shown in the Med Ball Twist and Resistance Band Trunk Rotation pics above), rack the weight, rotate your trunk about 30 degrees to the right while maintaining forward facing hips (Your knees and pelvic bones continue to point straight ahead), and then perform the shoulder press.  Attempt a few reps in this position   

 

 

Then, rotate your trunk a little further from the 30 degrees to about 60 degrees trunk rotation.  Again, keep your hips and knees pointing forward.  Press the weight overhead.

 

 

Repeat to the other side at 30degrees, then 60degrees. 

 

The point to this exercise is to engage your trunk stabilizers at a spinal position, and maintaining this stability throughout the lift.  You are challenging multiple spinal positions by varying the amount of trunk rotation.  You are NOT using the spine to rotate a load. You are using the trunk musculature to stabilize the spine when in a rotated position.  This, in my opinion is a safer way to train your trunk.

 

Add even more of a challenge to your grip, trunk and shoulder stabilizers by performing the same activity with the Kettlebell in the Bottoms Up Position...Then try it with Neurogrips!!(www.neurogrips.com)

 



This Tip Eliminated Most of My Back Pain

In previous posts, I mentioned how I had been diagnosed with a herniated disc at L4-5 ten years ago, and that I am still aware that this is my weakest link.  I can feel the ache first thing in the morning, and must avoid any type of flexion activities for the first hour that I am out of bed.  I focus my  training sessions on core recruitment and stabilization while training full body movement patterns.  To my knowledge I was maintaining a stable trunk and was protecting my lower back.  However, the day after my training session, I would feel an increase in lower back soreness and felt that I had to be extra cautious with certain activities to prevent an increase in pain.

The majority of my training deals with multi joint movement patterns rather than isolating muscles.  I make sure to do squats, lunges, and deadlifts, and ensure that I incorporate a proper hip hinge rather than spinal flexion when lowering myself.  But there was one technique that I had not focused on while performing these movement patterns until recently.  And since doing so, my lower back pain has dramatically improved.  I have spoken about "gluteal amnesia" in the past.  One of the causes of this "amnesia" is that upon performing a squat, we use our hamstrings to extend our hips and our lumbar extensors to extend our spines while transitioning from the squat position to tall standing.  Using the spinal extensors to do this compresses the spine, causing more back pain.  This is most likely why I would wake up the following day in more back pain.  Incorporating the gluteals to extend the hips while returning to a standing position from a squat will help reverse this "gluteal amnesia," and save the back.  So I decided to try this a few days ago.  To do this takes concentration but is not too difficult.  All you do is "spread the floor" with your feet.  So when performing squats, as I descended and ascended, I was gripping the floor with my toes as I was pushing my feet isometrically outward, as if I was attempting to spread the floor.  This technique engages my glutes which extends the hips, bringing me into the upright position while taking the strain off of my spinal extensors (and reducing spinal compression).  I decided to incorporate this throughout my day, not just during training sessions.  I initiated getting out of a chair by "spreading the floor."  Squatting down to pick up my daughter, I did the same thing.  This morning I woke up with almost no lower back soreness. 

Try this technique and you will be amazed at how your back responds.  I was taught that my "lower back is like a bank account.  There is only so much money in it.  So use it only when you need to."  To do this, we must use proper and efficient movement patterns to eliminate unecessary stress on the spine.

Protect Your Back Even With Light Lifts

Protect Your Back Even With Light Lifts

 

 

Over ten years ago, due to heavy lifting with incorrect technique, I was unlucky enough to develop a herniated disc in my lower back.  This was the worst pain I ever experienced.  Thanks to Physical Therapy school, I was able to manage it conservatively.  However, every now and then it would "go out on me," causing severe pain with even the slightest movement.  One day, after being pain free for a few months, I told a family member I would help them move.  We had to lift and carry a 55-inch rear projection TV (the bulky kind, not the nice flat screens we have today).  I did my part without a problem.  Upon finishing up that day, I bent over to pick up a pencil from the living room floor, and fell to my knees in agony.  After everything I lifted and carried that day, a simple number 2 pencil drops me to my knees?  While on the floor, I had plenty of time to think about what had  just happened.  Why did my back tolerate heavy lifting all day long, but when I lifted something as light as a pencil, my back went out on me?  I realized that with every heavy lift, I did not just carelessly walk up to the item and lift it.  Instead, I prepared my back by co-contracting the spinal stabilizers prior to each lift and carry.  That's when I realized that it doesn't matter how heavy the object you are lifting is.  If you bend over to pick up an item, it is wise to perform the lift with proper body mechanics and pre-stress and stabilize your spine.  This will minimize your chances of injuring or re-injuring your spine.