Toronto Exercise Tip: Stretch Hamstrings!

All our bones are connected! The pelvis moves. The lumbar spine moves. They move together. Lumbo-pelvic rhythm is the relationship between the pelvis and the lumbar spine, and Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre helps keep our patients' lumbo-pelvic rhythm in rhythmic motion! Toronto chiropractic care is all about motion and sharing motion exercises to help you improve your lifting ability and prevent spine pain. Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre strives to help you regain - and maintain - your quality of life.

Let's first look at lumbo-pelvic rhythm and what contributes to that rhythm. In many research reports, a link between lower back pain and tight hamstrings is reported. (And, boy, does Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre see patients with tight hamstrings!) Just how tight hamstrings affect the biomechanics of the spine hasn't been as well documented, but a new study shows that in flexible people, pelvic movement is dominant. In less flexible people, lumbar motion is stronger. Given these facts, loosening tight hamstrings may reduce the stress on the lumbar spine and thereby reduce lower back pain. (1)

Further, ligaments may also play a role in lumbo-pelvic motion. Another recent study points out that a disorder of the lumbar pelvic rhythm may be triggered by load and by hamstring tightness. Researchers explain that stoop lifting of a load where lumbar extension is delayed leads to an increase in spinal instability and puts stress on spinal ligaments, especially in people with tight hamstrings. (2) Extra stress on ligaments not designed to handle such stress isn't good for the spine. That is what leads many back pain patients to seek our chiropractic care at Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre for pain relief.

So in addition to our chiropractic care for back pain relief that includes gentle Cox Technic spinal manipulation, Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre will likely recommend some homework. Why? We all lift. We lift things all day long. Purses. Babies. Groceries. Briefcases. Back packs. Laptops. You get the idea. Your Toronto chiropractor does the same thing! Lifting is an activity of daily living that most of us just do without thinking. If back pain has been an issue though, then lifting becomes an activity that requires thought about stretching tight hamstrings. These will be your homework.

And what's a preferred way to loosen tight hamstrings? Exercise. Stretch those hamstrings! It sounds easy. Most people just work to touch their toes, but that may not be the best way address tight hamstrings. Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre will guide you to an effective hamstring stretch and be sure you are doing it correctly to get the most benefit.

So contact Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre for back pain relief as well as tips on how to stretch tight hamstrings to keep back pain under control and to lift without harming the spine and its delicate lumbo-pelvic rhythm and motion.