Lordosis Causes and Solutions
Almost everyone in the world has done a sit up sometime during their life. The exception are only those that have not started school or began to walk yet. Lordosis is actually a very common condition, and the severity is depended upon the person and their imbalance. Many people have lordosis without even realizing it; others are aware of the pain, but unaware of the condition.
Lordosis is an exaggerated lumbar curve in the spine. It is caused by overactive or tight hip flexors, weak hip extensors, and weak abdominals. Many people that sit down a lot during the day have lordosis and others that do a lot of sit ups have it. Notice a lot of people come out of the military with lower back pains? Most of the time it is caused by loads of sit ups that are required to maintain physical fitness.
Sit ups can cause lordosis by working the hip flexors more than the rectus abdominis. The ab muscles, which anatomically are known as the rectus abdominis, act to elevate the torso with help from three muscles that flex the hip - iliopsas, which is actually three muscles - the psoas major, psoas minor, and iliacus. And the rectus femoris, which is the only quad muscle that runs anterior of the femoroacetabular joint.
When the hip flexes, a person with weak abs will only get minimum work from their ab muscles directly. This causes the hip flexors to do a lot of the work. The hip flexors will continue working long before the ab muscles have fatigued, and the the result is a forward pelvis - an anterior pelvic tilt we call "lordosis". Other exercises that target the ab muscles are sometimes acknowledged to target the hip flexors. One of which, is the hanging weighted leg raise. The leg raise flexes the hip, but is better than sit ups because it involves more of the spinal erectors that have to stabilize the lower back.
The anterior pelvic tilt, called "lordosis" can be fixed in many ways. The solution is first to stretch the overactive muscles - in this case the hip flexors and strengthen the abs and hip extensors. How can you strengthen the abs without the hip flexors too? Isometric ab work like planks. How can you strengthen the hip extensors? Stiff-leg deadlifts and low bar squats can do the job, so can glute hamstring raises. If you insist on concentrically working your abs with sit ups or leg raises, then squeeze the glutes at the bottom to deactivate the hip flexors.
Lordosis is an exaggerated lumbar curve in the spine. It is caused by overactive or tight hip flexors, weak hip extensors, and weak abdominals. Many people that sit down a lot during the day have lordosis and others that do a lot of sit ups have it. Notice a lot of people come out of the military with lower back pains? Most of the time it is caused by loads of sit ups that are required to maintain physical fitness.
Sit ups can cause lordosis by working the hip flexors more than the rectus abdominis. The ab muscles, which anatomically are known as the rectus abdominis, act to elevate the torso with help from three muscles that flex the hip - iliopsas, which is actually three muscles - the psoas major, psoas minor, and iliacus. And the rectus femoris, which is the only quad muscle that runs anterior of the femoroacetabular joint.
When the hip flexes, a person with weak abs will only get minimum work from their ab muscles directly. This causes the hip flexors to do a lot of the work. The hip flexors will continue working long before the ab muscles have fatigued, and the the result is a forward pelvis - an anterior pelvic tilt we call "lordosis". Other exercises that target the ab muscles are sometimes acknowledged to target the hip flexors. One of which, is the hanging weighted leg raise. The leg raise flexes the hip, but is better than sit ups because it involves more of the spinal erectors that have to stabilize the lower back.
The anterior pelvic tilt, called "lordosis" can be fixed in many ways. The solution is first to stretch the overactive muscles - in this case the hip flexors and strengthen the abs and hip extensors. How can you strengthen the abs without the hip flexors too? Isometric ab work like planks. How can you strengthen the hip extensors? Stiff-leg deadlifts and low bar squats can do the job, so can glute hamstring raises. If you insist on concentrically working your abs with sit ups or leg raises, then squeeze the glutes at the bottom to deactivate the hip flexors.
