One of the things my patients with back, neck, or even shoulder pain often share, is poor posture. They never really want to hear this, because they already know it on some level, deep inside. The truth is, we live in a world of convenience and we sit down a lot to accomplish a majority of our tasks—whether it be work, eat, or play. Additionally, gravity is constant and unrelenting, pulling our bodies down, down, down, to the path of least resistance, at which point our passive soft tissue structures take over as a last resort. Over time, these structures become stressed or HOW IMPROVED POSTURE By Danny Hansen compressed in such a way that the body sends its pain signals to our brain as a caution that further damage may occur. This signal prompts us to change our body position—potentially l t
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to another harmful position—until the same thing happens again, and again, and the cycle continues. How do we break the cycle? With regional interdependence. If you ask an orthopedic healthcare provider which area of the back is more commonly injured they will tell you, “The lumbar portion.” You probably could have guessed that yourself. I once heard an aging individual with back pain joke, “If you don’t know what it is like to have low back pain, just wait.” There are many reasons why the low back is more commonly injured, but the one I am going to focus on has to do with, regional interdependence. In short, we use our lumbar spine (low back) more frequently and
“...the singl important thi teach anyon struggling wit or back pain, understand the of lumbopelvi
stress it more frequently, than any other part of our spine. Try this little exercise. Since you’re reading this you are most likely sitting down, and since your are sitting down, gravity has been exerting its will on you and your posture is suffering. So, SIT UP STRAIGHT! Isn’t that what your mom always told you? Good. Now, slump back down. Sit up straight. Slump back down. Sit up straight. Now after having done that, which part of your spine moved the most? Exactly, your lumbar spine! It is safe to say that we “depend” primarily on our lumbar spine for movement, especially when it comes to posture and “sitting up straight.” Notice when you sit up straight your thoracic spine (mid back) hardly even moved. So, what is regional interdependence as it relates to your spine? It is simply: getting you to move through all aspects of your spine, instead of just your lumbar spine. This is easier said than done and there are specific ways to gradually help an individual accomplish regional interdependence in their spine. However, the single most important thing I could teach anyone who is struggling with posture or back pain, would be to understand the importance of lumbopelvic control. Your pelvis is located at the bottom of your spine. Because of this proximity, movement that occurs at the pelvis directly affects the spine. Therefore, learning to have good lumbopelvic control is crucial in improving regional interdependence of your spine. Here is another exercise. Stand up for this one. Think of your pelvis as being a bowl full of water. Without moving any other part of your body, tilt your pelvis forward as if you were going to poor water out the front; this is an anterior pelvic tilt. Again, without moving your body, tilt your pelvis backward as if you were going to poor water out the back; this is a posterior pelvic tilt. Do this over and over until you get good at it and then notice what happens to your lumbar spine as you move back and forth. As you anterior tilt, your lumbar spine extends or arches; as
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