Strong core muscles help back pain, and reduce the chance of injuries

[cheya]

RV, those are great pics, very helpful to understand what's pulling on what. Thank you!

 

Friend and MithShrike: The transverse abdominus does not pull the ribs down: it sucks the gut in.

So the TA is the muscle you want to train (make it shorter and tighter).

 

The rectus abdominus and the obliques are the muscles that traction the ribs down, so those are the muscles you want to lengthen. You do want them to be strong, but you want them to have increased span, allowing the ribcage to lift.

 

Have a longer look at RV's pics to get straight on what you're trying to do.

 

Question for Aetherous: would reverse breathing train the TA? I've never paid much attention to reverse breathing, but after thinking about it, I am suddenly VERY interested. In addition to the potential for training the TA, it clearly increases brain circulation! Do people with poor brain circulation tend to have weak TAs?

[GreytoWhite]

cheya, when posting please try to remember that each Bum is a unique individual with different needs. I am a rather severe case having been through several small strokes and losing nearly all function in the left side. Trust me, everything in my abdomen needs to be loosened.

[Aetherous]

Question for Aetherous: would reverse breathing train the TA? I've never paid much attention to reverse breathing, but after thinking about it, I am suddenly VERY interested. In addition to the potential for training the TA, it clearly increases brain circulation! Do people with poor brain circulation tend to have weak TAs?

 

Yes I think reverse breathing activates the TA. Not sure about the brain circulation/TA connection, but it's interesting.

 

About the gut not sticking out...people might want to look into healing the serratus posterior inferior through lots of easy to medium massage over a long period of time, as well as healing the iliopsoas. Why the hip flexor? Because it attaches directly to all of the lumbar vertebrae, and when these muscles are chronically tight it pulls those vertebrae anteriorly, which presses the abdominal cavity forward = gut sticking out. Myofascial work in addition to other forms of stretching such as active isolated is probably the best idea. Also, when there is lower crossed syndrome (which is a result of tight hip flexors), the gut will appear to stick out more due to the positioning of the pelvis...it's like tipping a water glass forward by 30 degrees instead of letting it stand up normally...some water will spill out forward as well. With the structure aligned vertically, nothing is spilling out forward, unless it's actual obesity.

[cheya]

Contemplating the TA in the morning before I got out of bed,, I was playing with reverse breathing, and felt the immediate increase in blood circulation/pressure/warmth in my head. If you inhale with your gut sucked in, your lungs are full of air, and your gut is contracted, where else can the blood go but to the head? I guess the legs, but I didn't feel it at all in my legs. Then again, I was lying down... Have to play with it more. Obviously not for folks with high blood pressure or glaucoma! But very interesting to me as my iridology indicates reduced brain circulation.

 

Also, there's a LOT of material on the web about the TA, and the relation between the TA and reverse breathing (search the two together). I particularly liked the discussion on this site, which talks about TA's role in maintaining upright posture and includes some TA exercise:

http://loveyogalovelife.blogspot.com/2013_04_21_archive.html

[Marblehead]

Well, I ordered my Inversion Table yesterday. I opted for the Ironman brand over the Teeter. (Teeter is marked up too much, much of the money goes for only the name, not the quality of the equipment.)

[Ya Mu]

Well, I ordered my Inversion Table yesterday. I opted for the Ironman brand over the Teeter. (Teeter is marked up too much, much of the money goes for only the name, not the quality of the equipment.)

Funny, I gave mine away last week. Had it for about 12-15 years. Never could tell it did anything positive for me, although I did suggest to different clients through the years that they try it and a percentage did report that it helped a lot.

[Ya Mu]

About the skeletal system, I'm a huge proponent of muscle energy technique instead of chiropractic. Why? Because in chiropractic, you pop a bone into alignment but what happens later? It goes back out of place and you have to go back to the chiro and get another adjustment. Why does it go back out of place? It's pulled that way due to how the body is. Why do you go back to the chiro? Because that's how they earn $.

 

MET on the other hand resets the muscle spindles, so that the muscle holding the bone out of alignment is taken out of chronic strain and back into function (by simply activating it, or causing a very small contraction)...then the alignment occurs naturally as a result of the muscle being normalized, and the skeletal alignment is permanent in most cases.

....

 

Muscle Energy good technique! And you make a good point! There are other techniques such as Chinese Taoist Medicine that do this.

 

"Put my vertebrae back in place" NO NO NO! No such thing (well, there is, but it would be a surgical condition)! Give vertebrae natural range of motion - they are not "out of place" or "subluxated", they have lost their natural range-of-motion due to muscles not in their natural state or nerve induced/muscle tetanic contraction. Until a person actually balances out the neurological signals not much "permanent" (subject to lifestyle) has been accomplished.

[Aetherous]

Muscle Energy good technique! And you make a good point! There are other techniques such as Chinese Taoist Medicine that do this.

 

"Put my vertebrae back in place" NO NO NO! No such thing (well, there is, but it would be a surgical condition)! Give vertebrae natural range of motion - they are not "out of place" or "subluxated", they have lost their natural range-of-motion due to muscles not in their natural state or nerve induced/muscle tetanic contraction. Until a person actually balances out the neurological signals not much "permanent" (subject to lifestyle) has been accomplished.

 

Precisely.

 

Oh, I should also say...when I said "pop a bone back into place", that isn't correct. The popping sensation and sound is just caused by a gas bubble inside of the joint popping, and isn't actually bones popping into place. It's just back cracking, similar to cracking one's knuckles.

 

Ya Mu, you're totally right that "vertebral subluxation" isn't real...unless it's a serious medical condition like spondylolisthesis.

[Ya Mu]

 

Precisely.

 

Oh, I should also say...when I said "pop a bone back into place", that isn't correct. The popping sensation and sound is just caused by a gas bubble inside of the joint popping, and isn't actually bones popping into place. It's just back cracking, similar to cracking one's knuckles.

 

Ya Mu, you're totally right that "vertebral subluxation" isn't real...unless it's a serious medical condition like spondylolisthesis.

Thanks for posting that.

My decades of owning and operating a pain clinic let me hear that "Bone popping", "Subluxation" and "Vertebrae out of place" nomenclature from my 500 or so x-chiropractic clients until I wanted to actually pop a bone in them. Not really, but it was annoying. Took a while to educate them, but I think the majority of people do believe that is what is happening.

[BaguaKicksAss]

I have Baguazhang though!

[Marblehead]

I have Baguazhang though!

Yeah, and I have my inversion table. Yes, I have been using it as I said I would gradually work into it. Yes, there has been pain but I can handle it.