Immobility in lowest vertebrae

[Scott Pelton-Stroud]

There is a spot on my lower back, just above my butt and at least a few vertebrae long, that is completely flat and will not curve (as far as I can feel with my hand). So even when I pike or practice PPT, this spot stays flat. There is nothing I can do to curve it. It is most apparent in any kind of Hollow Body Rock work; it is impossible to rock 100% smoothly on a very hard surface with this flat spot. Not sure why, but for some reason I didn't think it might be an issue until now.

 

I am wondering if this is something other people also have experienced and if it is fixable. Does this mean that some of my lower vertebrae may have fused together somehow? Or is this simply a normal mobility issue that be corrected with some kinds of exercises?

 

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

[Keegan Yentsch]

Well, I suppose it's possible that you were born with an abnormality wherein your lower lumbar vertebrae are fused together. But, before you go damning the fates for cursing you with fused vertebrae....

1) Are you certain that you are not referring to your pelvic sacral area? The lowest vertebrae (which comprise the coccyx and sacrum) are always fused and also fused to the pelvis.

2) Assuming you mean your Lumbar spine (which should articulate), what have you done to try to mobilize this area?

[Scott Pelton-Stroud]

I cannot quite tell if I am feeling the lumbar. It is a spot just above the waist of my pants. I have two pictures pointing to the spot, one while standing and one while bending to touch my toes (though the background is not ideal, you can kind of see the spot, maybe several inches big, stays flat in the second photo).

 

 

 

I've tried just piking and PPT to curve this part, and neither seems to have an effect. However, the spot is fairly close to my tailbone, so it may very well be it is just the sacrum. Then again, this photo seems to suggest it might be the lumbar. I'm not very knowledgable on the spine, so it's hard to tell. Obviously, I also realize this is also hard to determine via pictures online.

 

My main concern was that this spot seemed to be impeding the smoothness of my HBR progressions, and there didn't seem to be anything I could do immediately to fix it. But while I was taking these pictures, I tried a full HBR on my floor again and it felt pretty smooth... So now I'm confused because I thought I was having a consistent issue with this.

[miko]

I experience the same thing you do. Im very mobile in general but the lumbar area is so gnarly and the tissue seems to be almost glued together. I experience some discomfort along with my immobility, so i use jefferson curls and ABR along with some lacross ball 'massage', for me it is a slow process and have yet to know how much effect it has, because i've only done it for 1 week But from what i can gather here it will work with patience and consistency.