round spine

But whatever you do, don’t fucking twist.

21 years old and I threw out my back.

Was at work and lifted a 50lbs bag of mulch, which I did properly, but as I was loading it into a van I turned my upper body about an inch and WHAM: few pulled muscles and a pinched nerve.

You wanna talk spine? Same bro.

Firstly, the demonstration is correct to begin with. Lifting away from your body will almost invariably cause anterior tilt of the spinal vertebrae (you round forward and so do the does the spine). This creates excessive force on the anterior (front) part of the spinal column forcing spinal fluids and tissues AWAY from the front. If enough pressure is applied, the pressure of the fluids and tissues might be strong enough to overcome the collagen fibers that hold them in place (assisted by other tissues such as muscles). When this happens, they tend to blow out the BACK of the spinal column. What is normally referred to as a "pinched nerve" in more minor cases, or a slipped or bulging disc in more major instances. Not what you want. It's probably not gonna feel super dandy when you try to stand up.

Anywho, this is where the illustration falls apart (kind of). It goes into squatting. Let me make this abundantly clear. I fully support the squat method. Like 110%. Do the squats if you so please.

However, what they aren't showing you (thanks in part to the hand holding the fake body) is the general loss of center of balance. The normal center of gravity in the human body is a vertical line that sits just in front of the ankle joint. This imaginary line is essentially the balancing scale that says "you aren't falling over right now". However, if you watch the demonstration again, notice how much of the body of the fake person goes behind the ankle joint. Hint: it's a majority. Guess where the new imaginary line is now. It's behind the foot. Which means.. that body is going to fall on its butt now. The demonstration works because the hand acts as the counter active force needed to stabilize the body.

When most people squat (think gym). They have a weight. This weight while inducing muscle growth, bone strengthening, etc... also acts as a counterbalance to counteract the body from tipping backwards. The weight should ALWAYS stay directly over the ankle joint which is where the center of gravity is supposed to be. Bottom of the squat, middle of the squat, top of the squat.. the weight sits over the ankle joint. This means a totally vertical squat is physically impossible without the aid of another foundation (wall, hand, machine, etc.)

Try it right now. Sit on a chair. Keep the back in a perfectly vertical position and try to stand up. You can't. You must lean forward to get the center of gravity at least over the heel before you can make any upward progress.. well at least if you want to stand up for more than half a second without falling on your a...

The solution to this dilemma not mentioned here and the actual issue I have with this video is... the lovely and wonderful hip hinge movement!

While the hip is a ball and socket joint, the general goal of the hip hinge is to treat the hip as a hinge joint like the knees or elbows. Infact, in bending over at all (even when squatting) you are performing some level of the hip hinge.

So why does the hip hinge fix this issue? Well the primary reason is the transfer of force and position of important parts. You can (and should at all times) maintain a straight (neutral) spine. The spine is not designed to rotate, flex, bend, twist, etc. The collagen fibres do not repair the same way muscles do and have a certain limit to them and decay with age. By bending over at the hips (hip rotation.. here called hip hinge) you can generate the necessary force and work via the hip musculature RATHER than relying on the spinal muscles to generate this force.

Again.. I can't stress this enough.. the back must maintain a neutral position.. not vertical.. neutral. The hips support rotation at the hip socket that allow you to bend over. The structure of the hip is well designed to support large loads. Not only this, but you can determine the amount of work coming from muscle groups by the associated range of motion that their respective joint goes through. This means that by hinging at the hips (alternatively to bending at the knees) you rely on the hip muscles on the backs of the hips to rotate the upper body back to a vertical position (from a horizontal one).

What muscles are back there? You guessed it, the lovely glutes. These puppies are work horses. While we tend to sit on them all day... they are powerhouses of potential force. They have better working angles, larger mass, and generally more muscle fibres of the correct type to support large loads in comparison to any other muscle group in the body (except the jaw muscles). So by rotating at the hips, you are STRONGER than if you squat down. Why? Because in a squat the knees rotate more which requires more work from the knee extensors (the quadriceps). While still incredibly strong, they simply are weaker than the glutes (in a normal body).

Consequently this is why the world record deadlifts have always been and will always be more than the world record squats (geared lifting skews this to some degree). There are other factors at play, but this is the dominating one.

One key to keep in mind is the center of gravity. The average of your body's weight (and accompanying weight / object) must still be over the ankle joint. To achieve this you still need to bend at the knees and/or have some ankle rotation. In this light.. and my favorite saying when teaching the hip hinge is "hips back". Don't think of it as bending over. Think of it as pushing your hips backwards. This throws the hips back and the upper body forward. Keeping the center of gravity right where it should be. How lovely.

Again. The spine stays NEUTRAL. AT ALL TIMES. The rotation and work comes from the hip joint, not the spinal column. This does require an exceptionally strong spine. And the spine will be under load. However, the load is equal across the spinal discs. This is a compressive force caused by the muscles. However, since the load is equal across the disc, no side is overly stressed compared to the other which gives you the best chance of not damaging your spine. The spine is a lot like guy wires on sail ships. Every wire (muscle) is pulled tight to balance the force on the neutral spine. Making it exceptionally strong and stable. If any wire (muscle) is too tight, it compromises the entire system.

The hip hinge takes practice, but it is a very safe, very strong (strongest), and perfectly acceptable method of picking up an object. If you try to pick up too much weight with this method, you may round the spine which can lead to injury. Practice makes perfect. Form over everything. There is no shame in letting that next personal record wait until next time if you are struggling to get it. Don't ruin your spine forever just to try one thing.

Tl,dr: bending over isn't the problem. It is HOW you bend over and where your center of balance is. In fact, rotating at the hips is stronger than bending at the knees. While also being a very safe maneuver when performed correctly.

Edit: as per request. A video demonstration of the hip hinge. If this link is breaking rules just let me know and I will remove it. I don't post often.

Link: https://youtu.be/t4ouk4TmrS8

I'd say the skelton in the video could use a tad more backwards motion, but it's a pretty good idea. The 3 points of the spine they talk about are because of the natural curavatures of the spine and is what I am referring to when I say "neutral spine". These curves help with load distribution, in a similar way to arch bridges that even ancient Romans built.