Back Pain from Lordosis?

[Leo]

I have been doing glute activation stuff but I still get back pain, mainly during deadlifts or any sort of dl motion, but not squats. I heard that it can be related to lordosis. Any help on how to get rid of it, besides glute activation? It's irritating because I dled about 5x5x200lb and it was hurting (i stopped doing them due to the pain) but I can squat 5x5x275lb with no problem on my back. My back is constantly stiff and it hurts in the middle around the spine when I bend forward.

Also, how should the stomach be when doing dls and squats? Should I push out my stomach and tense my abs?

Lastly, my back feels fine when I dl with a belt. I can also do much higher weights more comfortably. Would it be safe to continue doing them with a belt? I've made a ton of progress and I don't really want to stop training around spring of all times.

edit: I'll try to get videos of my form later today.

[Honken]

Lordosis takes a long time to fix, especially if you've had injuries because of it.

[Leo]

Lordosis takes a long time to fix, especially if you've had injuries because of it.

Any tips on how to do it?

Is it as simple as glute activation, strengthen abs, stretch hip flexors, and stretch hamstrings? If so, then what are the best exercises for these?

[Honken]

You pretty much summed it up. Lordosis isn't only about strenghtening and stretching, the main problem is usually posture. The squeezing and whatnot is usually for people who have lordosis due to inactivity, not that common with youngsters.

Go see a physio and/or posture expert.

[Leo]

Good shit, thanks! :good:

And last thing:

Lastly, my back feels fine when I dl with a belt. I can also do much higher weights more comfortably. Would it be safe to continue doing them with a belt? I've made a ton of progress and I don't really want to stop training around spring of all times.

[Honken]

Can't answer that, I'm not a big fan of belts. Otherwise you can always put extra focus on squats until your back is good enough for deadlifts. Maby try sumo for a while?

[Kon-El]

Unless your lordosis is super severe, I doubt it is causing the problem. I'm not a doctor of course, but I have a certain amount of lordosis in my spine (more than average anyway) and it is very common in many black athletes. As Honken said, if it's not a result of inactivity and poor posture/flexibility i doubt you really need to 'fix' your lordosis. Plus if the pain is midspine as you said, it seems even less likely to be related to the curve of your lumbar spine.

Sub deadlifts with something else for now like GHRs or maybe single leg stuff so the load is less. See a doctor/physio.

oh and lastly make sure your form is good. good luck.

[Leo]

Oops I meant it hurts in the middle of my lower back. Like right on the spine. That probably changes a lot.

[Kon-El]

The fact that lifting with a belt removes your pain makes me wonder if you're deadlifting correctly, holding your breath on the descent/bracing and what not. Anyway it wouldn't hurt to see a professional.

[Leo]

Wait what's this holding breath thing haha? I have the feeling that I'm about to look like an idiot.

[Ewasiuk]

Do you happen to have a bulged disc by any chance? Lordosis increases the chance of a slipped or herniated disc because of the exaggerated curve in the spine. Treating lordosis helps solve the lordosis problem, but doesn't really mean that it can help a potential disc problem. Also, have you gotten your lumbar checked yet? If your lordosis has been solved, chances are it might not be the lordosis that is causing the pain in the first place.

[Jackamaideshwang]

I don't think pushing your stomach out when doing deadlifts and squats is going to help at all. Pushing your stomach out can increase lordotic curve, you want to be sucking your stomach in a bit, using transverse abdominis. Test it out on yourself in the mirror and you'll see your hips shift and consequently your lumbar curvature. Lordosis pain is usually in the lower part of the back nearer the sacrum, so it may be from something else - I'd definately get it checked out.

[Lloydy?!]

I have a mixture of both kyphosis and lordosis. both in which are fairly bad. the best advice i can give you to help with it is pilates. this is by far the most helpful thing you can do for lordosis. pilates is pretty much the best excercise for your transverse abdominis (T.A). this is the muscle that you want to strengthen more than anything. there is a big difference between sucking in and pulling your stomach. your T.A is what pulls your stomach in, correcting your posture. i used to have alot of problems with bulged discs in my spine and i started doing alot of pilates and i havent had any disc problems for about 6 months now. as with your lifts follow everyone elses advice, i dont know that much about lifting

[joepaxton]

If you have lordosis then develop your abdominals
If you have kyphosis work on your trapezious and lats

[Shaedar]

And get your ass off the chair and start moving. An hour of lifting a day can't fix everything.

[Jackamaideshwang]

Working your abdominals are quite bullshit for fixing lordosis, you want a sustained musclular contraction to fix posture, not completely fatiguing them once a day for ten minutes. You just have to be concious of how you sit, stand, walk etc making sure as Lloydy said, you pull in your stomach to reduce the curvature of your lower back. Stretches also help by releasing the often tight extensor muscles, reducing the sustained contractile force required by the transverse abdominis to counteract them.

[Leo]

K, I'll make sure to be aware of my posture.

I experimented with using my transverse abs and it makes me back feel a lot more stable when I do shit. I used to just breathe normally instead of building tension in my core, which seems to feel a lot better.

ps. I do a lot more than lift an hour a day. I'm only really in a chair during classes. And even when I sit to use my computer it's usually in a stretch.

[Ashtar]

You mentioned wanting to know if you should push out your stomach. This generally means engaging the diaphragm.

If you're wearing a belt, then you push against the belt and increase inter-abdominal tension. This is why you seem to be stronger using the belt.

If you don't have a belt then it's not really that good of an idea. From what I've read, it's more important to engage the TA (transversus abdominis). That's sucking in the gut.

Your gut should not hollow out though, because you are 'bracing' it by tensing your abdominal (and concurrently, lower back) muscles. They are hard and get in the way of sucking your gut in, so the TA can pull against them and increase tension without shrinking your waist.