Can Lordosis be Cured?

[Dede the Tank]

I have some lordosis, it's not extreme and it doesn't seem to cause me too many problems but it is there. I've been aware of this for a while and I've tried to strengthen my abs and stretch my hip flexors but to be honest, I think it's just the way I'm built. My abs are pretty strong, hip flexors not too tight at all, it just seems to be a natural curve to my spine. Does anybody know if lordosis can actually be cured in adults or is it just kids that can make a difference to the curvature of their spines?

[Spanyard]

I got principles of lordosis, and is not all about conditioning ur abs but conditioning them the right way and doing some postural exercises, my physio therapyst told me to gain endurance in transverse abdominals muscles (Im not sure if thats the name in english) and also to build endurance in the abdominal pack. Im 21 y.o and ive done those exercises for about a month, my back doesnt hurt anymore. hope it helps : )

[Dede the Tank]

This is an interesting idea. How do you go about building endurance in the TA? I've done stomach vacuums before but I'm still not convinced that they do a whole lot and since it's just about impossible to add resistance (short of g-forces in cars, etc) you can't really progress with this.

I also thought about spinal decompression and there seems to be a lot of conflicting advice about this. I used to deadlift and squat a fair bit and I do wonder if that's in part responsible for at least reinforcing a poor posture in the low back. It's interesting to see that the guys at Mr Olympia pretty much all have lordosis. Does this mean that it comes from a particular training style that causes imbalances? Or is it even beneficial to performing certain exercises like the squat and deadlift?

[Neal Winkler]

The low back is supposed to have a certain amount of lordosis. Do you mean you have excessive lordosis?

[braindx]

The low back is supposed to have a certain amount of lordosis. Do you mean you have excessive lordosis?

Exactly. Lordic curve is natural.

HYPERlordosis can be a problem.

[Spanyard]

Thats what I have, and in my case is because too much strenght on my lumbar muscles and too less endurance and strenght in my abs. My physio terapist said my primary focus was adding first flexibility to my lower back and at the same time work the TA so they correct the posture naturaly. The key is to push the navel first in and then up, like trying to put it near the stomach. There are plenty of progressions, first lying on the floor, with back on the wall, etc. She also gave me an exercise similar to Jefferson Curls, but it seems to be less agressive, as it is done in cuadrupedia, but its exacly the same movement but without weights, and to me is working good as Ifeel deep streches in my back. I also perform some series of jefferson curls with about 2 kg of weight and also works good to strech that areas. I also have to say Im not a physio therapist and Im givin the advices that are given to my case, so I dont know if they will be correct for your case.

About building endurance, I perform 2x15 of each exercise, at first per day, and now I do them 3 times per week, as I also pay way more attention to the form when I do conditioning, I think they reinforce the good posture of the lower back.

Hope it helps.

[Dede the Tank]

Sorry, I mean hyperlordosis. I don't seem to have too many issues but I can't perform back bridges without feeling some pain in my low back. I'm working on increasing my thoracic mobility with tennis ball work -- lying on two tennis balls, one either side of the spine and performing a crunch movement at various positions. This does feel great and I would recommend it to anybody that either has problems bridging or needs more mobility in the thoracic region so as to avoid stress on the lordotic region of the spine. It seems to me that the more mobility you have in your upper back, the less you will be inclined to use in the lower back.

But now I'm getting back to the first question -- can hyperlordosis be cured or can we only improve the situation either by increased thoracic mobility or endurance in the TA? I'm really leaning towards improvement only but I would really like to hear from anybody that has actually had success in reducing or eliminating a hyperlordotic curve.

[braindx]

Yeah, focus on "lengthening" your spine by standing up tall. Basically, you want "normal" handstand position while standing which includes good shoulder posture and then partially sucking in the abs (which is really activating your transverse abdominus and some other muscles there) which should shift your lumbar spine into better position.

There's a couple things that may contribute with the help of the above:

1. Weak, long glutes -- allow the pelvis to rotate anteriorly forward.. squeeze them while standing to help posteriorly rotate the pelvis some. This problem occurs a lot with people who have occupations where they are sitting.

2. Weak, long hammies -- same as glutes.

3. Tight hip flexors/rectus femoris -- rotates the pelvis anteriorly too much. Stretch them out especially hip flexor stretches

I can't see you... but you can pretty much evaluate yourself pretty well hopefully with this.

[Dede the Tank]

Thanks for the info! It's interesting that weak, long glutes and hamstrings or tight hip flexors are the things that people often talk about. I can see why, there's a lot of logic that says these muscles are responsible for pulling the hip forward but it's just not my case. I have strong, tight (too tight) glutes and hamstrings (?). I can stretch my hip flexors real easy too but I will say that with prolonged stretching, this does make a small difference.

The advice about standing up straight seems to be very good. I'm going to make a massive effort over the next month or so to follow all the tips in this post and I'll post again when I come to some conclusion. I still wonder though if spinal curvature is just genetic -- some people have more than others and it appears too much but is perhaps not caused by the hamstrings, abs, glutes, hip flexors, etc. I mean, I'm quite sure that if you set out to get a forward pelvic tilt, you could probably get it through very unbalanced training but what about the people who just look in the mirror one day and think,"hmm, that doesn't look right"?

Thanks again to all.

[Dede the Tank]

Ok, it's been a month and I've had some great progress with my excessive lordosis. I've come to the conclusion that it's not something that you can completely eradicate since I believe it's largely congenital and/or developed in childhood. I did 4 things that made a massive difference:

1. I lost weight. I was never what you'd call overweight in the traditional sense, carrying about 12% body fat, but since a lot of that fat was concentrated on the front of my abdomen (again, genetic), it helped a lot to tip the hips to the front. Losing weight has been the most important part of my success. It seems to me that most people who get excessive lordosis are genetically predisposed to have it in the first place. Once you have this predisposition, all you need is a little extra weight on the abdomen and your hips will just tilt over. If you have this predisposition then you'll understand me when I say that only a very small force is required for the hips to just roll over to the front.

2. Tone the abs. I'm not the strongest guy in the world but I do have a pretty strong core. However, you can be very strong but also supple enough that your strength will not in itself stop the abs lengthening in a pelvic tilt. It's not how strong the abs are but it's the residual tension they hold throughout the day that keeps your stomach pulled in and the hips more upright. To see what I mean, do a few sets of hanging leg lifts and you'll feel a tightness in the abs. The tightness will go away after a time but if you exercise the abs more frequently, the muscle with hold a little tightness all the time and this will help pull your stomach in and reduce lordosis. I think this is what the vacuum exercise attempts to achieve. It may help some but I found it to be of limited value and to be honest a little boring as well. Just doing some exercises for the abs during each and every day is more fun and IMHO more effective.

3. Wall handstands for time. This one is harder to explain. Anyone with excessive lumbar lordosis will know that there is a huge tendency to arch when in a handstand. Trying to eliminate this arch in a handstand is 10 times more difficult than trying to do so while standing up. This seems to turn the pelvic tilting into a more serious exercise that when done for time is hugely beneficial in decreasing lumbar lordosis. Actually, I'm sure there's more to understand about exactly why the wall handstand helps so much but since I'm not an expert in anatomy, I haven't figured it out yet. If anybody knows, please share.

4. Standing up tall (thanks to braindx). I know this sounds really obvious but the act of just standing up straight and trying to lengthen your spine works wonders! This is very, very good advice.

Thanks again to everyone that posted and all the best to Spanyard. I hope my experience can help in some way.

[braindx]

It is possible to "cure" given enough time. Our bones remodel according to the stressors we put on them. That's why those who slouch as they get older get stuck in those position. Enough time in the correct posture should given you bones enough time to align to the correct position.

[Spanyard]

Nice work Dede!! I felt identificated on ur last post except on loosing weight hahahaha I found too that wall HS done with the right posture are a great help to develope the right posture to the lower back. As I am a bboy, lots of postures that we do involve a curve lower back. What I do is not work too much my lumbar muscles as I work them breakdancing, but work a lot the abs after I finish some breakin sessions, and I had wonderfull results : D

[Gittit Shwartz]

I recently saw a significant improvement in my posture from just a week of self mysofascial release.

Basically, you roll on a baseball until you feel a point that is extremely tense and painful ("trigger point"), and when you find one, you lean into it with your bodyweight or even apply some extra force for a few seconds to minutes until the pain lessens and some of the tension is released. You can google for yourself if you want an explanation of how and why it works.

What worked for me is starting with working some trigger points on the feet with my thumbs, then using the ball on my calves and hams (especially the insertion of the hamstrings below the knee and the origin of the gastrocnemius above it), working my way up to the origin of the short head of the hams; then flipping over and digging into the hip flexors until I want to weep. It's important to start with the feet because the posterior fascia is all connected

I follow this up with the lizard stretch - lunge with back leg straight and torso resting on your front knee, lower back hollowed, holding a 35lb plate on your butt while you try to bring the pelvis closer to the ground. I find if I don't stretch the hip flexors, calves and hams several times within the 10-15 minutes following SMR, muscles will sometimes cramp up to "compensate" for their newfound looseness.

I hope this helps - SMR is the closest thing to a miracle fix I've come across in my athletic history. Embrace the pain =)

[Coach Sommer]

Gittit is absolutely correct. Trigger Point therapy and myofascial release are the most effective prehab/rehab therapies that I personally have ever encountered.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[reverseswing]

Hey everyone,

I have had excessive lordosis/swayback for as long as I can remember.

I have read a lot about it on the internet recently and see the same treatments and causes, ie weak abs, weak hamstrings weak glutes, too much sitting.

My situation may be a bit different however as one side of my body, especially my lower body, is SIGNFICANTLY larger than the other. My right calf and quad are massive, lookin extremely toned and strong and I have never even worked my legs much. My left calf/glute/hamstring etc is tiny, looks a womans leg tbh!

Wondering if this inbalance is the reason why I have excessive lordosis. Anyone else in a sitaution similar??

Would really appreciate any advice

[Alessandro Mainente]

in the last 3 months one of my frined who wants to train with me with GB method was very interested to start bu i saw in his physiwue a great form of hyperlordosis, so i know him since he was young...before go to a gym to do lift weigths he was normal...after 2 years he has this problem and i just had a look to his schedule to understand the problem...

so now i usually use for it my same programs based on the Coach Sommer essays focusing on maintaining and restoring the correct balance in his body and after 3-4 months his lordosis is came to normal...i assume that is a muscluar problems...not a bones problem!!

simply every workout he did ii was sure that the muscle wich accelerate the lordosis problem were stretched as ileopsoas, quads, sartorius, lower back, little and medium abductor...and usually i was sure that the exercise of the Wod were made focusing on complete lenghthening of this parts and incomplete contraction...

on the other hand the muscles wich can correct this posture were balanced doing complete contraction and incomplete lenghthening...i'm talking about gluteus (with sumo squat), external internal oblique,rectus,trasversus abdominis...

nothing special...only thinking om waht can make worse and what can relieve the problem