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Low Back Pain – Keeping A Neutral Spine Posture

A Neutral Spine Is Important For Your Recovery

Lower back or “lumbar” disc injuries are a common type of back injury we see here at Central Performance. Our dedicated team of physiotherapists do a fantastic job of reducing pain & restoring the range of motion that can be lost as a result of a disc injury. Extensive research consistently shows that exercise plays a vital role in recovering from an episode of low back pain, but we find that many clients are unsure about how to begin or restart an exercise program. Many are not confident about getting back to even light or moderate exercise, fearing that they may re-injure their back. So today our Exercise Physiologists share a tip on how to avoid re-injury whilst exercising following a low back disc injury:

Keep a neutral Spine

Many people who exercise with lower back pain do so whilst holding their spine in positions that can increase their pain. Increased muscle tension due to recent pain can change both your resting posture & your movement patterns. For example focusing too much on not bending your spine (remember the old saying of “keep your back straight and bend your knees”?) can mean that your spine stays locked into extension (a deeper hollow in your low back than normal). This increases compression through some spinal joints, and if this is maintained as you go back to the gym this can cause ongoing pain. Alternatively, having hamstrings that are too tight can cause too much flexion (bending forwards) in your low back as you bend down, potentially increasing pressure on your spinal discs and causing more pain. 

A golden rule of exercising as you recover from a lower back injury, particularly disc injuries, is to maintain a neutral spine! A neutral spine is the term used for the position of the spine when all three curves of the spine (cervical, thoracic and lumbar) are in proper alignment with each other. It’s the most comfortable, stable position for the spine to be in whilst performing any activity, and you should aim to keep you spine neutral as you get back to exercise. Neutral Spinal Posture

Keeping a neutral spine is very important whilst exercising, as it distributes your weight evenly throughout the discs and joints in your back, as well as cushioning impact and other forces present throughout exercise. This allows clients with low back disc injuries to progress to performing more complex exercises and movements, which enables them to recover from their injury quicker and get back to doing the things they love!

Initial supervision and instruction on how to achieve and maintain a neutral spinal posture is an important first step to getting back to exercise safely and early following an episode of back pain. Contact us for more information on how our exercise physiologists and physiotherapists can help you with this, and stay tuned for upcoming posts about how to progress your exercises to give you the fastest an most complete recovery possible. 


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