Exercise: Spinal Stabilization during the Quadruped Hip Extension (QHE)

...NOT!!! (you'll know why soon!)

Do a YouTube search for Quadruped Hip Extension (QHE) and you'll see a ton of both good and bad demonstrations and explanations for the exercise. Good instructors make it a point to mention that the lower back remain still throughout the exercise and some even exhibit strategies or tricks to promote a stable lumbar spine.  But one deficiency I've seen in ALL the demonstration/explanation videos I've viewed is that they don't explain WHY the spine should be stabilized.
There are movements we do during exercise and activities of daily living where we want the spine to stay as still as possible for the purpose of efficiency, power, and injury prevention.  Studies show that when the spine moves too much or is what I call 'loosey goosey', the hips lose power.
Exaggerate lumbar movement when walking and you'll  expend significantly more energy.

 Allow the spine to twist excessively when running and the same thing happens, the activity becomes less efficient and your top-end speed also decreases.
Hinge from the lower back during exercises such as squats, deadlifts, and olympic lifts, and you may find yourself sidelined with injury.

Spinal stabilization is the act of minimizing or eliminating movement in the spine.  The QHE exercise is one of the most BASIC exercises one can do to practice stabilizing the spine during hip extension.  The goal is to generate muscle contractions in both spine and hip, but also to disassociate movement between the joints; the lumbar contraction is ISOMETRIC for the purpose of keeping the spine still, while the hip contraction is CONCENTRIC and ECCENTRIC to create movement through the hip joint.

TIPS FOR A PROPER QHE

• Neutral Spine From Neck to Tailbone
• The spine should be held in such a manner where if one were to position the spine vertically, the tenets of good posture would be displayed:
• Chin tucked
• Long Neck
• Normal curvature in neck, upper and lower back, no excessive arching or rounding
• Stable Lumbar Spine
• No movement in lower back: no arching, bending, rounding, or twisting
• Wrinkling in one's skin or clothing around their lower back suggests movement and compromised form
• Slow and Controlled Movement
• Movement is slow and isolated through the hips
• This is a strength and activation exercise; there are other more fitting exercises for speed

So the moral of story is that it is VERY IMPORTANT to stabilize the lumbar spine during the QHE.  The QHE activation and sequencing translates into bigger and more complex movements where one risks a loss of power, decreased efficiency, and even injury if the spine is not stabilized.
Going back to the first picture on this post, you'll notice the increased arch in the model's lower back.  That my friends, is NOT stabilization and the picture screams "I'm going to make sure my lower back moves every time my hip pushes back!"  Such a sequence is a formula for back strains and other injuries, and really not something one should promote.  Some might attempt to argue that the amount of lumbar extension (arching) depicted in the diagram is so small that it's negligible.  Ask anyone who has ever thrown their back out how much movement was involved and you'll realize that the smallest of movements can cause injury.

I'll leave the following video so you can practice using your critical eye for the QHE.  I didn't make it through the entire video but you might see one or two sequences done correctly.

(...and people use these videos for instruction!!)

Happy training,

DAVE

What Most Fitness Enthusiasts Don't Know About Core Strengthening

Quite often, my lower-back pain patients come to me with the prescription of 'Core Strengthening' to fix their issues.  It blows my mind when these folks mention how they can't believe their physician put such a prescription; "I train abs every day at the gym...my core is solid!"
Bodybuilding and functional fitness are similar in that they both involve strength, endurance, flexibility, and body composition.  BUT, the prime focus of bodybuilding is to develop muscles.....period.  Crunches, leg raises, and trunk twists are staple bodybuilding movements that do a great job at developing the rectus abdominus (the six-pack) and oblique muscles but the flexion and excessive rotation involved in these movements place an undue amount of stress and wear on the joints in the lower back.  Therefore crunches, leg raises, and trunk twists sacrifice the lower back joints for the purpose of developing the muscle.  Crazy eh?

Before I go further, I think it's important to know what the core muscles were meant to do.  The functional activities performed most often by normal human beings are sitting, standing, and squatting and all of them involve a stable spine (not moving).  Incidentally, a recent study demonstrated that the 5 exercises that get the greatest amount of 'core' activation are exercises that are done without movement in the lower spine.  These 5 exercises are referred to as the FAB FIVE and are listed as the following:

1. Prone Plank: the standard plank that most people are familiar with
2. Side Plank: self explanatory but you don't see machines for this or people doing this at the gym
3. Quadruped 'Bird Dogs': flexing one shoulder and extending the opposite hip while on all fours
4. Plank With Rotation: Despite the dynamic nature of the movement, the lower back remains still
5. McGill Sit-Up: Somewhat like a crunch but with one hand held under the lower back to maintain its natural curve.  Once again, the movement (if any) is in the upper back and hips while the lower back remains still.

So the bottom line is that the 'core strength' that health care practitioners are referring to is the ability to keep the lower back STILL while everything else moves around it.  The aforementioned concept is TRUE spinal stabilization (no movement).  Planks are STATIC exercises where the spine is subjected to gravity while one resists its pull.  I'll save the Fabulous Five exercises for another post.

Re-examine your 'core' workout  regimen and ask yourself, "am I training a joint by moving it when it was meant to be held still?"

Happy training and stay tuned for more 'core' advice.

DAVE