the 411 on lower back pain

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INDUSTRY MYTH: 
YOUR BUTT IS DESIGNED TO STABILISE YOUR LOWER BACK

Time, and time again clients come to me with lower back pain having been told by multiple physical therapists and coaches to “squeeze their butt” to protect and support their lower back.

​IT’S JUST NOT THE CASE!!!

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​Butts (predominantly gluteus maximus a.k.a. glute max) are wonderful, BUT stability for the lower back must firstly come from the core and not from the peach.

Our glutes are prime MOVERS that transmit force up the body in sports, such as swimming and down into the legs for activities, like walking and running.

Conversely, our core is made of predominantly smaller muscles local to joints, which help stabilise the spine and pelvis.  Standing on one leg, for example, is a core stability exercise, and if you have a strong core, you will NOT need to tense your butt in order to avoid falling over. This would be ‘fixation’, which will create unnecessary tension in your system and more than likely contribute further to an UNSTABLE back and ultimately lower back pain.

The 'core', referring to entire myofascial continuum - from the inner arches of the feet to the sides of your head – needs to be strong, adaptable and resilient to stabilise us. This means the BUTT can occasionally actually relax and then be ready to fire and do the job it was designed to do!

I know this may be confusing due to many “experts” having told you the opposite, but I’ve seen it time and time again – when this old belief and neuromuscular patterning starts to be ‘undone’, magical things happen! Pain resides, the glutes actually wake up, and the client’s sense of power from within skyrockets on many levels.

Client Revelation:
"Words cannot express my excitement for what I am discovering working with Annelise. My body is changing, like its waking up!

Following the birth of my children I had several pelvic and jaw surgeries, and the work to reconnect to my core it was hard! I had to undo everything I had previously learnt to fix my broken body, but Annelise helped remind me and to feel that actually nothing is broken!
It took a while to undo what I had previously been lead to believe – that to protect from prolapse I had to walk around clenching my butt – the more butt clenches the better – I had turned into a protective tight ass! I didn’t realise that I had actually been creating a very uncomfortable and even damaging ‘armouring’ for my pelvis.

With the movement discovery sessions I could feel my body start to unwind. A significant rotation of my pelvis literally started to unwind as we worked. It was quite an amazing and empowering feeling to be connecting to and feeling movement in parts of my body that I had completely forgotten about and previously felt were damaged forever."

1on1 sessions at the Scarborough studio guide you to safely start the unwinding process, in the most supportive possible way. Please do get in touch :)