Hi guys! This video is about how you can correct an increased lumbar lordosis, or and increased
lumbar spine. I'm first going to discuss about why it happens – the causes behind it – because
that can help you with the solution to it. And then I'll show you some exercises you can do to
correct it. Now, for those of you who don't know me, my name is Maryke. I'm the physiotherapist
from sports-injury-physio.com, where you can get online physiotherapy assessment as well
as treatment for your injuries. Okay, so why do we get an increased lordosis,
and what do I mean with that? So, when you look at the spine, it has a natural curve that goes in a
little bit in the lower back – that's called the lordosis – and it curves out in the upper back,
a slight kyphosis. Now, for some people this is hyperextended. So, you get an increased curve. It
is normal that you've ... A curve of about two to five degrees tilt in the pelvis is quite normal,
but you don't really want more than that. So, how you can see what yours is, is if you find
the knobbly bit at the front of your pelvis ... So, I don't know if you can see ... if I can
even show it, but mine would be there; I can feel my knobbly bit on my pelvis there. Then,
the other point is at the back of the pelvis, where you get your dimples, so, kind of the
dimples there, I can feel mine there. So, if you look in the mirror from side-on, standing upright,
you want to look at the angle between those two. I'm gonna bring my shirt down so you can see my
fingers better on it … There we go! So, that's my one knobbly bit; that's the other knobbly bit. And
you can see mine is slightly tilted forward, but not that much. An increased lordosis would be when
there's a big angle there. So, you can see how it now tilts quite severely. You can also get the
opposite: You can get where it’s too straight and the lower back is too flat, and you can see it's
now straight or even slightly tilted back. So, what we're looking for is a slight tilt there.
Now, remember we're all different. So, you can't … There's not a perfect thing to work towards,
but if you feel yours is too much, your curve is way too much, then these exercises may be for you.
But don't get paranoid about it; an increased curve doesn't necessarily lead to back pain,
but it can be part of it if you've got an excessive one. So, what causes it? One of
the big causes that I've seen in athletes, and specially guys that do a lot of strength training
with their thighs, is that the hip flexors and the quads become so tight that they pull
it forwards. Because you've got to remember, the quads attach to the front of the pelvis,
as well as the hip flexors attach to the front of the pelvis and femur. So, when that's tight,
it will pull your pelvis forwards. That's by far the most common reason for it. Secondly,
it can be due to injury. So, for instance, if you've had disc injuries or stuff the shape
of your spine can literally change. And with those cases, there's a little bit of change you will see
with the exercises, but it may not be as big as if it's just pure muscle tightness that stopping the
movement. It may be your natural curve, so it may be how your anatomy is, but I will always give it
a go with the exercises first and see how that changes it. I feel I'm forgetting something here;
let me just quickly have a look. Oh yeah, of course! Easiest one is, it could just be habit.
So, a lot of us, when we stand, like go into this posture and stand like that. And that is
because that takes no energy whatsoever to stand. So, watch out: If that's your habit, of standing
like that, get into the habit of bringing those hips under your shoulders and standing
up straight. Okay, so how do we correct it? There are two parts … three parts to it, actually. One,
you first gotta tell your brain where you want it to be. So, you've gotta get used to,
‘How do I actually move my pelvis?’ Because it's all … It's not about moving the spine, we're gonna
use the pelvis to correct the spine, because if you move the pelvis, it automatically affects the
back. The second is, we've gotta make sure that we've got enough flexibility, because if we're
really tight in the muscles at the front here, it doesn't matter how much you try to practice that,
it just won't let go. And then, thirdly, you've got to strengthen the muscles up so that they
actually keep you in that position. So, let's start at the start. Let's teach you pelvic
movements and dissociation. I find one of the easiest places to start is with a ball. Now, I've
got a really cheap ball here and I'm traveling at the moment, so I had to inflate it by mouth, which
means it's really soft. Ideally … Let me just bring this down so you can see me better. Ideally,
you would want a ball that gets a better angle for you. So, you can see mine's a bit too low because
I'm getting quite a flex there. I would have wanted to be sitting there, but it doesn't matter;
it will work. So, what you do is, you first of all ... Imagine you've got spotlights in your
bum and you just stick your bum out to the back. So, that's increasing the curve. But then, you
pull your tummy muscles in and you curl it under you. So, we're doing a curl like that and like
that. So, you can practice that; just getting the pelvis moving. Now, watch out: Often when I get
people to do this, what they'll do is, they'll do that. This bit has to stay still; I'm just moving
my pelvis, okay? Curling it under me, sticking my bum out. So, spotlights back ... Imagine ...To get
this front curl it can be useful if you think you've got a tail coming between your legs and
you're pulling on your tail to curve that, okay? So, you're pulling on your tail to get it under
you. While you're there, you may as well work on getting to know how it feels to take your pelvis
from side to side. And just practice that a bit; get used to how it moves. Then, we've got to take
it onto the floor. Okay, so, cat-camel - everybody knows that one, or if you've done yoga or Pilates,
you will. So, natural curve is that slight little bend in the spine as you can see there. So,
there's a little bit of a bowl. Now, if you have an increased curve, you may look something like
that, okay? And the opposite of that would be there. So, what I want you to do is, don't
just go and start the movement from anywhere. So, don't just do that and that; I want you to
move sequentially. So, what you're going to do is, you're going to use your tummy muscles. And we're
going to start from moving from there only, and you're going to stick your bum up to the ceiling
and then let the rest of the spine follow through. Now, we're gonna start moving again from there,
and you're gonna tuck your tail between your legs and then the rest of the spine moves. So,
we're sticking the bum out, and only the bum at this point, and then following with the rest.
And now, tuck your tail, and I'm managing this tail tuck by tightening up my tummy muscles,
so I'm using my tummy muscles to slowly do that, and then I'm sticking my bum out and let it go in.
Now, if you struggle with this and you feel it's impossible, just keep working at it. It's really
difficult if you've never done this before to get it to move bit by bit, but the more you do it,
the better you'll get at it. And it's really useful if you can see yourself in a mirror. Now,
if you don't have a mirror to look at, I've just realized the phone works really well. So,
put it on video, put it on selfie, and you can actually see yourself do it. So, you can do it
that way as well. So, that's a nice way to just get an idea of, 'How do I move my spine?' Then,
we go into the next exercise. So ... I wonder, if I bring it up a bit and get you to see me
from the top ... bit more like that. Okay, so now you're on your back. And hopefully you've got a
softer surface than I have, but I don't have a mat with me at the moment. So, if you've got a
very big curve in your spine, you may be able to slide your hand fully in under there. So,
what we want to do is, I want to teach you how to use your tummy muscles to flatten your back into
the floor, okay? So, let me show you without my shirt that you can see what I'm doing there. So,
that's an increased curve at the moment; you want to get it to be flat. But now, do not push through
your heels; your feet should not be pushing, it should be your tummy muscles doing the job. So,
what you do is, you tighten up your tummy muscles and you pull your pelvis back ... very hard
work from the tummy to get it flat in there. At this point, check: Are you pushing through your
heels? Stop pushing through your heels. Don't push through your legs; they've got to be relaxed. You
should be doing it all with your tummy muscles. Also, watch out: I don't want you using these
guys too much – the upper ones – it's gotta be the lower ones. So, don't end up doing that,
that you lift this bit up, okay? This has got to stay flat. It's this bit that moves;
that comes towards here, not the opposite, which is that, okay? So, your exercise is going to be:
You bring it back into the floor, using your tummy muscles, and once it's there, you count – and you
want to be relaxed in your neck, relaxed in the shoulder blades, so your shoulders stay back, feet
are relaxed – and you count 'til ten while you're breathing normally, and relax. And then you repeat
that. So, you keep it in there, and you count, check everything's relaxed, and just hold it. It's
a lot of things to think about, so don't worry if you don't get it perfect the first time you do it.
Every time you do it, you'll become more familiar with the exercise and you'll be able to focus on
little bits. But what you're essentially looking for is to be able to use your lower tummy muscles
to bring that flat into the floor and have this bit totally relaxed, this bit totally relaxed,
okay? Now, from there you want to see ... So, this is, yes, the movement exercise, but it's also
starting to strengthen the tummy muscles. I've just gone bright red my face 'cause it's so hot
in this place and I had to close all the windows to get the noise out. So, ignore the tomato face
for now. So, you do that again, bring your back flat into the floor, make sure it's not the upper
bit working, it's the lower bit, and then see, can you slide your leg slowly down without allowing
your back to pop up? If you find you can do it only to there and then it wants to move,
that's where you work it to, and then you bring it back up. And do the same thing for the other side,
okay? But as soon as you feel it pop up, that means you've lost it and you've got to come
back and readjust. Eventually, you may be able to get your foot fully flat without this lifting up,
like I'm doing there, but it may take quite a long time to get there, depending on how tight you are
and how weak your tummy muscles are. So, let me walk you through this from the start. You start
off by using your lower tummy muscles to squish your back into the floor. That's where it stays;
you can even have a hand there if you want to make sure it stays there. Then you slowly start
sliding your leg down ... not allowed to lift; if you feel it gets to the point where it's
gotta want to lift, hold it, and bring it back; do not allow it to lift, especially on the back,
but sometimes people forget and they just let it go and bring it back; you've got to keep it
there when you bring it back. And you repeat it on both sides. I would say ten times on each side,
done three sets, so, 30 in total, is a good place to start with. Now, we started to work
on strength there, but you've also go to work on flexibility in the hip flexors. Because remember,
if your quads are really tight, it's going to keep on pulling you forwards. So, let me just grab a
cushion quickly for my knee, 'cause otherwise it's gonna hurt. ... Right! My favourite hip
flexor stretch. Now, I'm gonna keep the phone in this position even though you won't be able to
see my head, which, to be honest, seeing as how red my face is, I'm quite happy about that. But
it's so that you can see the full extent of what I'm doing with my hips. So, we're gonna stretch
this front of thigh. You go into this position. So, nice large lunge forward with the other leg.
And you'll notice I've got a wall here, because you want to hold on to something;
it's not a balance exercise. Now, you're gonna lean forwards to feel the stretch over the front.
If I allow my pelvis to just do that, can you see that I'm actually not getting a stretch there,
'cause I'm just letting my pelvis go. So, what you've gotta do first is, use your tummy muscles
to bring your pelvis back. Now you lean forwards until you feel a stretch at the front. You may
not be able to go that far, but actually you're getting a better stretch. Look at the difference:
If I allow my pelvis to go forwards, then I can immediately go further, but I also don't feel a
stretch there. So, you've got to keep your pelvis back and then lean forwards and keep it at that
point ... Looking for about 30 seconds times three each side. But you can also just work into it;
there's plenty of different ways to stretch, and remember, it may not even be right for you,
so be careful that you don't injure yourself; it's got to be pain-free. Nothing … None of these
exercises should cause pain. It's okay to feel a stretching sensation, but there shouldn't be pain,
it shouldn't make anything hurt afterwards. Now, once you've stretched the front of the hip-thigh
out three times 30 seconds, you then want to catch your foot as well, if you can. And again,
you can see, I immediately want to go like that, with my hip moving back, and that's because it's
a bit tight at the front. So, what you do is, you make sure that hip comes forward, and you
pull your tummy muscles in. So, not allowing it to do that. Tummy in, so, pelvis comes back,
and you bring it forwards. And I can't take it higher than that; that's where it's stretching,
so I'll just keep it there. It's got to be a gentle stretch. If you can't actually reach your
foot, place a towel round it and pull it up with a towel. I don't have one to demonstrate that now.
But yes, so you just ... you would loop the towel or the band around the foot and pull on that until
you've got enough flexibility to actually be able to catch your foot, okay? So, that's my favourite
one for stretching the hip flexors, but there are plenty of different ones. And if you’re really,
really, really tight, you may have to start with other ones that's not that intense and move up
to this one. Please, you can over stretch. So, don't go injuring yourself. So now, up until now,
we've worked on figuring out how to move the pelvis an the spine. I've shown you an exercise
that you can start strengthening the tummy muscles with the pelvis in a better position,
where the spine is slightly more neutral. On that point, by the way: I worked it in
an imprint in that spinal exercise, because I find that's easier in the beginning; eventually,
you want to use it just in a normal curve. And now, we've also worked on flexibility. But now,
you've got to figure out how you actually correct your pelvis while standing. So,
one of the first exercises I start people off with is quite a simple one. Let me run through this:
You have to progress it to more specific ones after a while as you get better with
it, but that's a good one to start this. So, what you do is, you want to check ... I wonder if we're
just gonna do it standing? ... Yeah, I'll do it like that. So, again, in front of the mirror, get
your point there where you can feel your knobbly bit at the back is ... knobbly bit at the front,
and I'm going to overexert, or overextend, mine for now. And then, bend your knees. Now,
correct that pelvis, it's tilted back, so it's more straight, and then keep your tummy muscles
in and keep that pelvis in that position and slowly, slowly straighten your legs. Now, you
may find what happens if you’re really tight, as you go up, it all goes back to normal because you
can't keep it there. And that's often when this bit is really tight, but just practice it. So,
you bend the knees to get the tension off the hip flexors, so now the tightness should be less,
you correct your pelvis ... so, I'm showing you with my hands, but I'm not pushing it back with
my hands; I'm using my tummy muscles to do that, I'm just showing it to you. So,
if your pelvis was there, correct it to there, and then keep it ... By keeping your tummy muscles in,
make sure the pelvis doesn't shift, and straighten your legs out. And if you feel you can only go
halfway at the beginning, that's okay. Practice that. The better you get at it, or the more you
practice, the better you'll get at it. You could also pinch your bum a bit to do that, but I don't
want you to get into the habit of walking with a pinched bum the whole time. So, rather use your
tummy muscles to get that movement right, okay? And that's it! That's how you teach yourself to
do it in standing. You will move on to doing it on one leg as well and doing it with weights and
stuff, but you have to nail the simple exercises first before you can go on to these. Now remember,
if you need any help with specific injuries or anything like that, or you want a specific set
of exercise for you, you're welcome to consult me via video call. You can find the details of my
website in the description of this video. But let me know if you've got any questions. Take care!