A
“Donald Duck” represents those folks who have either normal or excessive
spinal curvature in the lower or lumbar back.
A “Pink Panther” represents those folks who have reduced spinal curvature in the lumbar spine. I’ll refer to these folks as “flat backers”.
Now let’s restate the original question. How do you take a person with excessive or normal lumbar curvature and turn them into a “flat backer”.
The answer: Sit them in a chair for eight hours a day.
Chances are if you are seated throughout the majority of your workday you too are a “flat backer”. As an absolute rule, chairs will always flatten out the low back. You can have the best, most expensive, ergonomically correct chair… it does not matter. It will flatten your back.
If you’re sitting right now take notice of the position of your low back. Is it curved forward or is it flattened out or curved backwards? Can you pinch an inch over your kidneys? Now sit up “straight” and take another pinch. Can you pinch more? If you can pinch more than your low back was “flattened”.
Take a second to review the following link to gain a better understanding of the spinal curvatures.
In the context of your health and fitness, what does having a flat back mean to you?
- Pain in the back. When properly aligned the human body is truly an engineering marvel. The role of the lumbar spine is to transfer the load of the entire body to the pelvis, which serves as the base of the entire upper body. If the lumbar spine is flattened this load transfer will be less than optimal. In order to maintain stability in the low back, the brain will automatically do whatever it has to do to avoid injury and subsequent pain. It accomplishes this by shifting the job of lumbar stabilization to from the skeletal design to the surrounding back muscles. These muscles, often tine in size, were not designed to handle this constant, heavy loading. The inevitable result: low back pain.
- Secondary sources of pain and injury. Once the low back muscles are over recruited other muscles in the body will be called on to help out. Now we have a ripple effect taking place. Because of problems with the structure of the lumbar spine, small back muscles are called upon to help out. When these muscles tire out muscles further away will be called upon to assist such as the glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps and hip flexors. Excessive recruitment of these muscles might impact your gait (how you walk) which might result in bone spurs in the foot, knee joint problems, and susceptibility to ankle sprains. Who would guess that an ankle sprain might be an indicator of low back problems?
- Shift in center of gravity. When the low back is flattened the upper torso tends to lean forward. When you’re young you have the strength to gravity overload. But as you age you might find yourself hunched forward and requiring a cane or walker to maintain an upright posture.
How do I know if I’m a flat backer? For starters you can perform a self-assessment by performing the following test:
- Stand against a wall so that the back of your heals, buttocks (glutes) and shoulder blades are touching the wall.
- Make your right hand as if you were going to perform a karate chop or say a prayer. Flatten out your palm and fingers. Tuck the thumb along the side of the index finger.
- Place your right hand, palm side facing the wall, in the space between your lower back and the wall. There should be a gap just above your glutes.
- Take notice of how far your hand can go before the
top of your hand presses against your back.
- If your hand goes all the way through without hitting your back you probably have excessive lumbar curvature (Donald Duck)
- If your back touches you’re the back of your hand opposite the center of your palm you probably have normal lumbar curvature.
- If your fingers wedge up against your back than you’re probably a “flat backer” (Pink Panther).
This test is somewhat subjective but can give you a rough idea of the status of your lumbar curvature. For a more accurate assessment, your family physician, chiropractor of Desk Jockey trainer can perform a lumbar assessment to determine your actual curvature. By reassessing you we are also able to track the progress of your corrective exercise program.
If I am a “flat backer” will I always be a “flat backer”? Not necessarily. With the proper training programs most desk jockey induced flat backers are able to restore most if not all of their normal lumbar curvature. If your flat back is secondary to other back pathologies such as scoliosis or you’ve had two or more fused vertebrae or you should refer to your medical professional.
Suggestion… How can you minimize your time in a chair without taking time off from work? Replace your chair with a Swiss ball.
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