Green Bay, WI       920-857-1622
PROMOTION PHYSICAL THERAPY
  • Home
  • About
  • Success Stories
  • Your Problems We Solve
    • Back Pain
    • Neck Pain
    • Shoulder Pain
    • Knee Pain
    • Foot & Ankle Pain
    • Sports Injuries
  • Blog
  • Telehealth
  • Contact
    • Contact Information
    • Ask about Cost & Availability
    • Talk to a PT on the Phone
    • Free Discovery Visit
  • Home
  • About
  • Success Stories
  • Your Problems We Solve
    • Back Pain
    • Neck Pain
    • Shoulder Pain
    • Knee Pain
    • Foot & Ankle Pain
    • Sports Injuries
  • Blog
  • Telehealth
  • Contact
    • Contact Information
    • Ask about Cost & Availability
    • Talk to a PT on the Phone
    • Free Discovery Visit

Is It OK To Bend My Back?

11/19/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
​"Keep your back straight."
"Bend at the knees."
"Sit up straight"
All of these are common recommendations provided by healthcare practitioners, personal trainers, massage therapists, chiropractors, and of course, my favorite.....Google.​ [...]

But what if this really isn't the best advice? New research has come out that may have us questioning this longstanding belief. 

A group of researchers recently concluded that lifting with a bent back (or bending forward to pick something up) was actually a more efficient way of lifting and did NOT lead to any increased strain on the back or injury. A write up about the study can be found here: 
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/17/straight-back-bent-knees-advice-wrong-study-finds/


This study, combined with others that show that teaching people "proper" body mechanics and how to lift, did not decrease the frequency of back pain in the workplace, should make us question the commonly held belief that we need to keep our backs straight when we lift something. It may be that just bending forward and reaching down to pick something up is the more natural way of lifting and the bending is not actually the problem that causes back pain.

Now, before you go calling me crazy for suggesting that we all just bend forward all the time whenever we have to lift something, let me explain a couple of situations where this may not apply in my opinion.


First, if you have low back pain now and bending forward is painful, it may not make sense to move into this motion. The bending motion is what I call "sensitized" (it hurts!). Avoiding this for a short time does make sense. However, in order to recover fully, eventually, you need to start moving normally. I help guide people all the time in how to do this after an episode of back pain so that they can move all directions without pain or worry so that they can recover and function normally like they did before their pain started. 

The second situation where we may want to consider keeping a more flat back is when we are picking up something heavy such as during weightlifting (deadlifts, squats) or regular life activities. In these situations, it may be more beneficial for us to keep the back flat and bend at the knees to use our strong leg muscles more. 

In other situations, bending relaxed, free, and thoughtless is likely the most healthy for our back-it was designed to be strong and flexible. We may have to consider that the motion of bending forward is not the problem, or a bad thing to do. The important factor really may be whether or not we have prepared our body to do it!

My goal in working with people recovering from back pain is to get them back to moving the way they did before they hurt their back. There are many ways to do this and with the proper education, treatment techniques, and progressive movements, patients with back pain are able to get over their pain and move more naturally....the way they moved prior to experiencing pain. 


If you have questions or need some help, please feel free to reach out to me and I would be happy to talk with you.

Thanks for reading,
Bob



0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author:
    ​Bob Brady

    "We help people aged 40+ stay active, healthy, and enjoying the things they want to do, without being limited by pain, weakness, stiffness, or injury"

    Archives

    May 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    August 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017

    Categories

    All
    Achilles
    Arthritis
    Bulging Disc
    Calf Strain
    Chronic Pain
    Crossfit
    Degenerative Disc
    Disc Bulging
    Disease
    Exercise
    Fitness
    Foot Pain
    Green Bay
    Hamstring Injury
    Headaches
    Health
    Heel Pain
    Hip Pain
    Impingement Syndrome
    Injury
    Injury Prevention
    Knee Pain
    Low Back Pain
    Muscle Injury
    Muscle Pain
    Neck Pain
    Pain
    Physical Therapy
    Physical Therapy Clinic
    Plantar Fasciitis
    Posture
    Quad Pain
    Rotator Cuff
    Runners
    Running
    Shoulder Pain
    Shoulder Surgery
    Sleep
    Spine
    Sports Injury
    Tear
    Walking
    Welcome

    RSS Feed


​CONTACT INFO


Address: 
330 Packerland Dr. Green Bay, WI 54303


​Phone Number: 
920-857-1622

Fax Number:
(920)600-0212

Email: 
​bob@promotiongb.com

Office Hours:
​ By Appointment Only- We Are Available When YOU Need Help 

Picture

Privacy Policy (click here) 

MEDICAL DISCLAIMER:
All information on this website  is intended for instruction and informational purposes only. The authors are not responsible for any harm or injury that may result. Significant injury risk is possible if you do not follow due diligence and seek suitable professional advice about your injury. No guarantees of specific results are expressly made or implied on this website. 
 Created by PT Website Secrets