Our spine is an amazing flexible yet strong piece of design. It is capable of flexion, extension, side bending rotation and various combinations of these movements.
Yet, there can be tendency for us to imagine our spine as been rigid, as if this rigidity is what keeps us upright and keeps our back 'safe'. This feeling of needing to keep our back 'safe' makes some kind of intuitive sense because our spinal vertebrae cradle our spinal cord which is part of our central nervous system (also includes our brain which is protected by our skull) and which effectively controls our overall ability to move. Our torso is also the area of our body with a relatively small proportion of bony structure, making it actually quite incredible that we hold ourselves upright with just this bony structure running upwards within the tissues.
It is no wonder that we feel very protective of our backs!
However, it is exactly the flexibility that out spine has that gives it its fullest strength!
In exactly the same way as a tall building is designed to torque and bend (have you ever stood at the top level of one of the tallest skyscrapers and felt just how much it moves?!), our spine is designed to be fluid and mobile and able to absorb a pretty decent amount of stress, compression, and jolts.
Yes, there are activities that are dangerous to our spine. But these are generally high adrenaline sports which can involve landing from a high height, at high speed, or both.
But in every day life our spine can cope, if we allow it the freedom to do so. The 33 vertebrae in our spine are designed to work together kind of like a wave, dispersing the energy along the whole spine, ensuring that one area never takes the full brunt of stressful movements. Over-protecting our back, actually prevents it from having this full freedom, therefore its full strength and ultimately it is stopping us moving as we are designed to.
In general, we tend to have just a few (maybe even just one or two) areas of our spine that prefer to move. And also they tend to prefer particular movements, not necessarily their full portfolio of movement. So for instance, the middle of our back loves to rotate, but if you sit at a desk all day or have a tendency to roll your shoulders in and stoop, then this area of your back is most likely being denied that rotation (unless you are actively working on freeing that rotation). Similarly our lower back is able to flex and extend, allowing our pelvis to be free below it. However, these days most people have a preference towards one or other of these movements and (again unless actively working on free-er movement) so the lower back can get stuck in a pattern of limited movement, for the jobs that it is asked to do.
By working on our spinal mobility we can allow the more mobile parts of our spine to have a rest, and literally give it additional support from the rest of the spine. We can begin to work our spine as a coordinated team and prevent specific areas taking the brunt of our movement and becoming the weak link in the chain (potentially leading to disc problems, facet problems - which can cause nerve issues, et al).
Without a specific known trauma having caused them, back issues tends to have come from repeated patterns of movement (or non movement) which eventually manifest in the weakest part of the chain.
If you do not currently have any pain or limitations with your back then prevention is most definitely better than cure. Look back to some of my earlier posts (Flowing Bridges, Rolling Rolling Rolling, Bendy Is As Bendy Does) for movements that can help free up your spine. I shall be adding another couple tomorrow as well :-)
So, til tomorrow... :-)
CT :-) x
PS: That there on the right is what the furry cuffs in the studio can help do (since most folks ask!)
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