Ever throw your back into a spasm by taking part in the Olympic sport of lifting dishes out of the dishwasher? How about that time when you tried to lean over to pick up a leaf off the ground and next thing you know you’re on the ground next to it, writhing in pain?
There is an easier way to help avoid these back spasms!
Please, please employ a technique using your hips called the “hip hinge”.
What is a “hip hinge”, you ask?
Why, it’s simple!
There are two ways to bend over to reach something on the ground or floor in front of you.
You can bend over using your back, like I demonstrate below, without any regard for your hips:
OR, you can hinge at your hips. I like to start that motion by jamming my fingers into the fronts of my hips, right in the area where my hip flexors are located.
Use your hips as a hinge…use the hips as your fulcrum for the movement…bend at the hip first…. however you like to think about it. Then, when you reach for the gnome on the ground, it’s all about your hips rather than your back!
This also looks like another favorite move of mine…the squat!
Seriously, it is that easy.
Lean forward using your hips rather than your back and then I won’t get SOS texts saying, “help! I am in a back spasm!” 🙂
Here is another video explaining the technique in more detail if you’d like. You might be thinking, “My back is fine! This doesn’t apply to me!” However, I suggest you watch and tuck the information in your back pocket just in case you need to reference it in the future.
An once of prevention is worth a pound of cure, dontcha know!
Let me know in the comments below if you’ve thrown your back out and how you helped it. I’m also on Instagram these days so be sure to follow me there for more tips and tricks… @laura.coleman27
