Hey Friends,
Recently I’ve been having a lot of clients, prospects, friends and family members asking me how they can relieve their lower back pain. My question for them is always, “do you spend most of your day seated?” and about 99% of the time their answer is yes. Well my friends, this is most likely the root of the issue.
In the world we live in today, we constantly find ourselves sitting. Think about it! We sit on the couch, we sit in the car, we sit on the T, bus or subway, we sit when we eat,most of us sit at work, and you’re most likely sitting as you read this right now. Not to say sitting is the worst thing in the world, but too much of it can and will have negative effects on your body (i.e. that lower back pain you have).
Even with good posture, sitting for extended periods of time places excessive pressure on your lower spine and causes your hip joints to stiffen up from lack of movement. Your hip flexors, which are a group of muscles (psoas major, illiacus, sartorius, pectineus) in your hip that flex and extend your hip joints, shorten or tighten from the seated position. This can cause disc hernia, arthritis, degenerative disc disease, chronic back pain and other muscle disorders.
Since some of the muscles of the hip flexors (psoas major, illiacus) are attached to your lower back (lumbar spine), tight hip flexors pull the spine toward the front of your body. This tightening causes excessive stress upon the spine and weakens the muscles in your ass, ass, ass, ass (sorry I had to), leading to poor hip extension which affects daily movement patterns such as walking, running, and going up and down stairs.
For the athlete or avid gym go-er, tight hips will not only cause your lower back to be sore, but it will limit the depth of your squat and also keep you from assuming proper positioning/technique for many key lifts such as deadlifts, cleans, snatches, squats, etc., potentially leading to serious injuries. Naht good!
Here is one of THE BEST stretches you can possibly do to help treat this issue. Your assignment is to....
Recently I’ve been having a lot of clients, prospects, friends and family members asking me how they can relieve their lower back pain. My question for them is always, “do you spend most of your day seated?” and about 99% of the time their answer is yes. Well my friends, this is most likely the root of the issue.
In the world we live in today, we constantly find ourselves sitting. Think about it! We sit on the couch, we sit in the car, we sit on the T, bus or subway, we sit when we eat,most of us sit at work, and you’re most likely sitting as you read this right now. Not to say sitting is the worst thing in the world, but too much of it can and will have negative effects on your body (i.e. that lower back pain you have).
Even with good posture, sitting for extended periods of time places excessive pressure on your lower spine and causes your hip joints to stiffen up from lack of movement. Your hip flexors, which are a group of muscles (psoas major, illiacus, sartorius, pectineus) in your hip that flex and extend your hip joints, shorten or tighten from the seated position. This can cause disc hernia, arthritis, degenerative disc disease, chronic back pain and other muscle disorders.
Since some of the muscles of the hip flexors (psoas major, illiacus) are attached to your lower back (lumbar spine), tight hip flexors pull the spine toward the front of your body. This tightening causes excessive stress upon the spine and weakens the muscles in your ass, ass, ass, ass (sorry I had to), leading to poor hip extension which affects daily movement patterns such as walking, running, and going up and down stairs.
For the athlete or avid gym go-er, tight hips will not only cause your lower back to be sore, but it will limit the depth of your squat and also keep you from assuming proper positioning/technique for many key lifts such as deadlifts, cleans, snatches, squats, etc., potentially leading to serious injuries. Naht good!
Here is one of THE BEST stretches you can possibly do to help treat this issue. Your assignment is to....
- TEST: Perform 5-8 body weighted squats.
- MOBILIZE: Perform Couch Stretch for 2 minutes on each leg 2x (that would make 4 minutes on each leg. But, you knew that)
- RE-TEST: Perform 5-8 body weighted squats again.
- TAKE NOTE: To changes in the quality in your squat. More upright torso, depth, etc.
- Enjoy the benefits of this stretch free of charge. Love you too... ;)
Feel free to leave comments, feedback, ask questions, etc. I'd love to help in any way possible! Also, you can find me on twitter @AMOfitness and @soultrainnation.
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