line
stringlengths
1
117
completely cured in of patients following neck muscle treatment Neuroscience
Medicine
Kado D M Huang M H Karlamangla A S BarrettConnor E Greendale G A
Hyperkyphotic posture predicts mortality in older communitydwelling men and
women A prospective study Journal of the American Geriatric Society
Hansraj K K Assessment of stresses in the cervical spine caused by posture and
position of the head Surgical Technology International
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body
Chapter Antirigidity for the Lower Back
Lower back pain is more common than neck pain it is the second leading cause for physician
visits in the US It is so crippling that Americans spend an estimated billion annually on
lower back pain alone This preventable ailment is taxing our wallets and healthcare system
Because our lower backs are foundational to our morale fortitude and faith in ourselves
weakness and pain in that area tax our very sense of personal agency
In most cases the predominant reason for back pain is muscular imbalance Vital muscles
are left underused and undeveloped while others are overused and strained We use them
at only a fraction of their full range and usually only while breathing shallowly This corrupts
the muscles with the same ailment we have been discussing all along dormancy due to
partial contraction
Illustration A Interior anatomy of the lower back with some underlying musculature revealed B Exterior
musculature of the lower back C Excessive backward curve lordosis in the lower back
My lower back was treacherous The muscles surrounding my lumbar vertebrae were in
such bad shape that they hurt every time coughed or sneezed would severely strain my
lower back every year due to stress lack of sleep or improper exercise leaving me unable to
walk for days at a time A few times was bedridden for a week forced to crawl back and forth
to the bathroom on my hands and knees Since began antirigidity training this has never
happened The dormant muscle that used to lock up when threw my back out was
transformed into springy mobile loadaccepting muscle unraveled my entire lumbar region
by combining antirigidity spinal decompression stretching and therapeutic massage This
chapter will touch on each of these giving you the information you need to transform your
bodys most powerful physical asset
How tense is your lower back The activity below will guide you through using your fingers
to feel the tense dormant muscles along the back of your hips iliac crest
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body
Lower Back Activity Diagnose the Extent of Lower Back Dormancy
Press your index and middle fingers into your lower back inches above each butt cheek
Feel the muscles covering the sacrum the central bone pictured below and your pelviss iliac
crests the bony prominences to each side of the sacrum As you move your fingers out
toward your hips you will likely feel large tense cords of muscle fibers right over the
sacroiliac joints labeled below This is dormancy This chapter will detail how to bring them
to their ideal state smooth and flat with no perceptible knotting
Spine
Sacroiliac
Joint
lliac Crest
Sacrum
Pelvis
Coccyx
Sitz Bones
Illustration A Man feeling tense knots at a sacroiliac joint B Woman with apparent dimples at the sacroiliac
joints C Spine and pelvis seen from behind The sacroiliac joints are marked with an x
As you know from Chapter the lower part of our spine called the lumbar region
naturally curves backward This backward bend is known as lumbar lordosis The lower back is
bent lordotically to support the legs and absorb impact In lordosis the top of the pelvis is tilted
forward as if you were pouring a bowl of soup from your waist out in front of you In most
people this lordotic curve is excessive making it structurally unsound When the lordosis is
excessive it is called anterior pelvic tilt or pelvic anteversion Generally the more pelvic tilt
one has the less pelvic mobility is available to them
When my back had excessive lordosis my belly button was very far from my nipples
Observe your belly button in your default posture How far is it from your nipples To correct
this flex your glutes push your hips forward and watch your belly button rise Squeezing your
glutes resets your pelvislumbar relationship back to where nature intended it to be That is
why it is essential to do this throughout the day
Chapter Antirigidity for the Lower Back
Vey WAT
Illustration A Excessive lumbar lordosis is apparent as a considerable distance between the navel and
nipples B Flexing the glutes and pushing the hips forward results in a neutral lower spine with less distance
between the belly button and nipples C Excessive lumbar lordosis from the side D Neutral spine with
glutes flexed
You can also neutralize excessive lordosis by teaching the lower spine to curve in the
extreme opposite direction To do this flex the hips inward and up toward the face lumbar
kyphosis This rotates the imaginary soup bowl backward so that the soup is no longer pouring
out in front of you like to think of this posture as shrimping up because it involves curling
the spines bottom half toward the stomach Flex your glutes as you do this and it becomes the
equivalent of neck retraction
Recruiting Your Gluteus Muscles
When the glutes are offline other muscles poorly suited for the job are forced to support the
core and stabilize the trunk It is generally the muscles in the lower back and hips that end up
compensating for underuse of the gluteus muscles taking on heaps of tension in the process
To counteract this and set your pelvis in a neutral position simply contract your buttocks
Squeezing your butt ensures your pelvic posture and tilt are optimized
Pilates advocates maintaining a neutral spine by sucking your stomach in flexing your
abdominals relaxing the lumbar spine and holding the glutes in a light contraction
During Pilates workouts practitioners try to maintain this core engagement throughout every
exercise Neutral spine and glute engagement should be generalized to everything you do
not just exercise Ideally the glutes should have some form of contractile tone with every
movement you make This will trim your abdomen and increase the strength and size of
your butt Another reason some people dont flex the glutes is they want to increase the
conspicuousness of their butt as excessive lumbar lordosis pushes the butt out further
However lumbar lordosis deactivates the glutes and with time their tone will decrease
resulting in a smaller weaker butt
Flexing the glutes is a dominant expression that we shouldnt hesitate to make Most
people avoid it however because the way their life has programed them contracting their
glutes takes their breath away Imagine being a naked caveman or woman The commanding
ones had gluteal tone and the unassuming ones had hindquarters that were soft and limp
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body
So use antilaxity to make glute firmness your default by paring firm glute contractions with
deep breathing many times per day While this can make the lower back feel stiff you can also
employ antirigidity with the glutes contracted moving in ways that target unfamiliar
achy configurations