Who the heck doesn’t have complaints about low back pain! There are many factors that go into lower back pain, but did you know that lumbar hyperlordosis is one of the main causes? Lumbar hyperlordosis is an exaggerated curve of the spine, meaning your pelvis tilts forward, causing the vertebrae in the lower back to pinch together.
Anatomically, tightness in the hip flexors, weakness in the glutes, and poor posture all can lead to this forward pelvic tilt. Essentially, our daily sedentary habits can influence these anatomical changes and cause this pelvic tilt. If you think about your hips at 90 degrees of flexion while you’re sitting, the hip flexors are in a constant shortened position (hypertonic) while the glutes and hamstrings are in a constant lengthened position (hypotonic). This means that the hip flexors should be stretched and relieved of their constant activated state while the glutes and hamstrings need to be strengthened and “woken up.”
In the end, training of these muscles that surround the hip is shown to help decrease this lumbar hyperlordosis. Training should be split into two - first working on stretching the front of the hip and secondly strengthening the glutes and hamstrings. Some examples of hip stretches include:
Glute smash and floss
Side hip smash
Kneeling hip thruster (with or without band)
Check out our post on Instagram from November 20 to see how to perform these stretches
On the other side of training is the strengthening of the glutes and hamstrings, with some examples below:
Glute bridges (double and single leg)
Exercise ball hamstring curls (double and single leg)
Romanian deadlifts
Throughout this training, it is important to note that learning how to adjust your pelvis to its proper position is key. What this means is to learn how to adjust the pelvis away from the forward tilt (something called proprioception). This is important as completing the strengthening exercises or daily tasks with improper pelvic posture will continue causing you pain.
When talking about proper pelvic posture, think about bringing your ribs to your pelvis by using your core and keeping that activation throughout your daily tasks or exercises. Releasing this core activation allows the pelvis to go back to its improper posture and can lead to that back pain you feel. While performing these exercises, make sure you don’t feel any pain or pinching in the low back (which means your core isn’t activated).