Is this guy totally screwed?! What if I told you he's done this thousands of times and his back is fine? What if I told you we all do this thousands of times and don't realize it...and our backs are fine? Let's unpack this a bit!
I know this is going to ruffle some feathers. I know this for two reasons. First, I'm about to tell you why bending your back to lift is no big deal. This goes against what we've been told our entire lives by medical professionals. And second, I made a video a while back demonstrating how you can improve your forward bend/toe touch in less than a minute. Some of the comments suggested that bending forward was the worse possible thing you could do in your life and would immediately herniate your disc. You would've thought I'd asked these people for their first born with all the rage!
The honest truth is that many healthcare providers, strength and conditioning coaches, and fitness professionals do not read...or do not know how to interpret scientific research. Please understand that everything I'm telling you here is supported by data...science...research. This is NOT my opinion, and when it is, I will clearly state that. If you'd like a more detailed review of this topic with research as examples, watch the video below...otherwise keep reading!
Will bending forward cause back pain?
Some research does show that bending the trunk forward at work is associated with a greater risk of back pain. However, these studies do not measure bending, or flexion of the low back itself. They only measure the entire upper body angle. So it's impossible to say if these people are bending the spine or keeping it straight...we just can't say from these studies.
And more importantly, we need to remember that the trunk angle was only related to risk for back pain. This does NOT mean it CAUSES back pain. Correlation and cause-and-effect are very different. For example, ice cream sales and murder rates are highly related! But we all know that eating 2 scoops of mint chocolate chip doesn't cause us to become a serial killer!
Is repeated bending bad for my discs?
Some research has shown that in dead animal discs, if you bend and compress over and over again, eventually the disc fails. For example, one study showed that after 86,000 flex and compress cycles, 20% of discs herniated. But fortunately we do not have dead pig discs in our spines! And we do not bend 86,000 times in a row without stopping! Other research shows that in living discs, if we allow a rest period, our discs actually get stronger! [I know that's 3 exclamation points in a row, but this stuff gets me excited] This makes sense with our muscles, right? We lift wights at the gym, break muscles down, rest, and then they get bigger. Same thing happens in our discs. It's not 'wear and tear'...it's 'wear and repair'.
So what ARE the proper lifting techniques?
Here's the shocking thing...multiple research studies have compared the squatting technique (keeping your back straight), fully flexing your back to lift, and a freestyle technique (basically doing whatever comes naturally). And the results are the same...none of these are any better than the other at preventing low back pain! In fact, one study even showed that the squat technique had higher muscular demand in the low back, increased shear/compressive forces, and was therefore a less efficient movement pattern than just letting the back bend. Interesting, right?! Maybe our body know what to do after all. I know this is hard to believe for some (myself included initially), so if you want to actually see the evidence for this, you can watch the video above.
Can I avoid bending my back to lift even if I want to?
This is my favorite part. Ready...no...no you can't! In research studies, people who are told to keep the back straight and lift with a squatting technique still flex their spine through 60% of maximum flexion! Even trained weight lifters have been shown to flex their low back through 60-75% of max flexion during squats and dead lifts. So even when we try to avoid bending...it happens anyway. Because that's what our backs are made to do! So how many times do you think you flex your spine during a typical day??
Probably WAY more than you think. Remember above when we learned that dead discs herniate after 86,000 bending cycles? Well if that were true in live discs, then we'd all be screwed! We would have debilitating back pain at the age of 6! And of course this doesn't happen. Our discs are resilient, they get stronger, just like you do.
Are there exceptions? When SHOULD I avoid bending my back?
Yes, but it's a grey area. I'm not advocating here for bending your back at all times with a complete disregard for how you move. Please don't hear what I'm not saying. In all of this research, there is nothing that says that bending your back is BETTER than trying not to. My personal opinion, is that you should be careful and try to keep your back as straight as you can when lifting very heavy things, especially at end-range. I think more muscle activation, while a negative for repeated day-to-day movements, is a good thing in this case. Keeping the back straight can also help increase your glute/butt muscle activation. These are big, strong muscles that we need when we lift. So why not?
So what's the take home message here?
Be a movement optimist (I first heard this term from Greg Lehman). Stop being so afraid of letting your back bend. During day-to-day movements, your back is bending, whether you want it to or not. We need to do this regularly in controlled ways to build the discs tolerance, just like you would strengthen a muscle. This will better prepare our back to bend and decrease future injury risk. BUT (and that's a big but), if you've spent your entire life avoiding bending...don't just start doing it all the time! You need to do this gradually, and yes, even if you've had injuries in the past...you have to teach your back that it's OK to bend again. You just may need a little more help from a good Physical Therapist!
What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Let's discuss in the comments! Thanks for reading.
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