Is it dangerous to round the spine?

[admin]

I was recently asked the following questions:

• Hello, Isn't rounding the back counter indicated for low back pain and general posture? We spend so much time rounded forward in life with devices, etc., it seems like this compounds the problem. Isn't hinging at the hip with a long supported spine more appropriate, keeping integrity in the cervical spine as well? I have low back pain and as an instructor, this hurts too much and I worry about the same for my students. I've worked in fitness for 32 years, adding in a 200hr and yin in the past six years. I love yin! ... B

Hello B. Thanks for reaching out.

I am constantly reminding myself as a teacher to avoid demonizing any movements that the body can make. Flexion of the spine is no exception. Our spines are designed to round. If they cannot move into flexion, that is not good. The fact that many people sit all day long in a flexed-spine position does not make flexion bad for them. Generally the amount of flexion of the spine while seated is no where near the maximum flexed position. Ideally, our spines should be able to move through its full range of motion; from fully extended to fully flexed, as well as twists and lateral flexions. These people who constantly flex their spines should still try to preserve their full range of motion, which means — they will have to flex their spines, but even more than they do during the normal day. I have written a whole book on this topic called Your Spine, Your Yoga. In this book, I highlight the wide range of human variations and why some spines will never move as far as other spines, due to lots of factors: bony structures, muscular imbalances, etc.

Now to your question: Isn't rounding the back counter indicated for low back pain and general posture? The answer is yes. No. Maybe! It depends. You talk about your back pain. Unless you know what is actually causing that pain, it is unhelpful to demonize spinal flexion and claim that it is the cause of your pain. Maybe it is: perhaps you have a posterior disk bulge and flexion will aggravate that. If this is the case, fix your bulge and then return to spinal flexion when it is safe to do so. (I talk a lot about the various causes of back pain in my book.) However, maybe your back pain has no biomechanical cause at all and it developed as a neurological attempt to prevent a previous problem from reoccurring, but inappropriately so. Causes of back are biopsychosocial, thus not always physical.

Since I have written often on this topic, may I refer you to a number of articles?

• Are Dangling And Rolling-Up Safe?
  Building Spinal Stability
  Addressing Concerns about Yin Yoga
  YIn Yoga is not good for people with Osteoporosis

One other article is important: Yoga, Placebos and Nocebos. As a teacher, we must be very careful of inflicting a nocebo on our students. Just because something could be a problem for some students does not mean it is a problem for all students. If we create a fear in our students of normal movements of the body, the students could become hyper-vigilant and thus avoid normal, healthy movements which will in time actually cause problems. Yes, we do not want to cause harm, but in our attempt to warn students we may end up causing more harm than good. If a student has a problem that is definitely caused by a particular movement (as verified by a health care professional), then — yes, let’s help them to find workarounds. See my article #2 above for ideas on that. But, let’s try to avoid creating a nocebo.

I hope this helps
Cheers
Bernie

ps - you also wrote, "Isn't hinging at the hip with a long supported spine more appropriate, keeping integrity in the cervical spine as well?” Firstly, I do not know what you mean by “integrity in the cervical spine”. Do you mean to keep it neutral? But, the neck is designed to move. Again, let’s not demonize any natural movements. I want to be able to move my neck in all its directions. Hinging from the hips is great, if you want to work the hamstrings in a forward fold. But, if you want to work the long back muscles, don’t hinge at the hips, round the spine! Or, do a bit of both. Again, and for the last time, I promise, do not demonize spinal flexion! It is a normal, healthy movement. When it is problematic, find the cause of the problem and solve that. But do not create a future problem by forbidding spinal flexion. Beware creating nocebos.