Lumbar lordosis in adults

[Myrddin]

Hi everybody,

I am 25 year old male with pronounced lumbar lordosis and I was wondering if it is still possible to straighten the spine at my age or is it too late for me? If I do exercises for 30 minutes for like 6 months will I be able to somewhat straighten the spine? By the way, I don't have any pain in the back or any other discomfort besides visual (my stomach in the front and my bum in the back are sticking out a little). What do you think? Is it possible to do that in the adult age?
Thanks.

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[mathewvarghese]

Firstly let me know the nature of your occupation and the routine activities of your daily life. The lumbar lordosis in adults is a postural alignment problem. This problem can be solved by corrective therapeutic exercises under the guidance of a qualified expert physiotherapist.

[estherderu]

One needs to find a specialized physio as the lumbar spine should have a lordosis.
Is yours because of ligament laxity, the way your legs are positioned or weak stomach muscles?
All these factors should be taken into account meaning a very thorough assessment should be made of you first.

[mathewvarghese]

Any treatment is not child's play.Detailed investigation is a must before coming to a final conclusion. Manual manipulation is a skilled job. Only experts can do it or else it can have negative effects

[Fyzzio]

I agree with estherderu.
Your lumbar lordosis could be absolutely "normal" and its current prominence might have been caused by weak muscles or ligaments.
Have you changed jobs. physical activities or eating habits?
A straight back is pathological. If you want to avoid your tummy sticking out, train your core.

And sorry guys, as much as I like to promote our profession, this guy does not have a pathological health problem or pain - he says it's just visual. Muscle training can be done by any professional working in this area, e.g. personal trainer, exercise physiologist, Pilates etc..

Cheers,
Fyzzio

[mathewvarghese]

Correcting postural alignment is a treatment which has to be done with precision by an expert who knows the Human Anatomy and Biomechanics throughly .This cannot be done by any quacks.

[Myrddin]

Hi, I'm so sorry I haven't responded earlier. I registered my account to email address I don't use often so I didn't see notification, sorry again.

Nature of my occupation requires me to sit way too much in front of a computer (graphic designer). I sit at least 10 hours a day (used to sit often incorrectly - now I try to sit correctly at all times). Sometimes I take a walk and sometimes I do general exercies.

@estherderu: I don't have weak stomach muscles, so I guess it's the first one. I remeber when I was doing general exercies, for the legs I would do squats all the time. So my legs would have strong whatever muscles used when squating and weak everyhing else (I think that also might have helped making lordosis worse). Also when doing squats I would often lose balance and always fall in front of me. I read on the internet that this is the case when one has tight psoas and i read that tight psoas make lordosis worse. I also have very weak glutes.

So I starded doing exercies for lordosis (stretching the psoas, stretching the rectus femoris, activation of glutes,core (like bird-dogs), strenthening of hams and adductors) but I quit after few weeks as I don't know if I am wasting my time because I don't know if it is still possible to correct the spine. Somewhere I have read that after 25 year of age the spine ossifies and then it is impossible to make corrections (I'm almost 26 now). I don't have any pain, I just want to correct my posture. I know that when the pain starts the most you can do is to eliminate the pain but not the cause, so I want to eliminate the cause (if possible).

Going to exam is not problem, the problem is that I don't know if it is possible and how much is it possible to make postural correction in adulthood. What do you think from your experience?

[estherderu]

Hi Myrdinn,

If you are so worried it is a good idea to see a specialized physiotherapist for an assessment. Do not exercise if you do not really know what you are doing.

THE VERY BEST ADVICE I CAN GIVE YOU IS....... GET OFF THAT CHAIR EVERY 20-30 MINUTES AND DO SOMETHING ELSE, EVEN IF IT IS ONLY FOR ONE MINUTE.
Sitting is so bad for you and can cause problems in the long run.

You cannot change the shape of your spine, what you can do is stop gravity making havock of your posture. The longer you stay in one sitting position, the more you come the 'couch patatoe' and the weaker you become...
AND I suggest you train in function, not per muscle group... the first is much more effective.

p.s. I know what I am talking about as I have a hyperlordosis and have had to 'look after my posture' my whole life.... meaning.... not allowing myself to just 'relax it all' and 'hang around'.

Wishing you the best Esther

[finchr]

I agree with Fyzzio. No pain, no dysfunction, no symptoms...strengthen core, work on thoracic mobility, and maybe stretch hip muscles but it isn't pathological at this point

[Myrddin]

Thank you for your answers.

I know (I am aware) that I have to get up once in a while (I was told minimium once in hour, ok you say twice in hour) so I have made task scheduler so it pops up every hour to remind me (I might change it to 30 minutes now) to get up and sometimes I do, but usually I don't, but I will try to work on that to make it my habit (i mean you can work on your computer standing just as you can do sitting).

And you said you had to look after your posture all your life, not to relax your back but to keep it straight, so if I may ask you one more question.

I have started taking care of my posture maybe 2 months ago and I do come with the attitude to keep my back straight but I quickly loose focus and forget about it and my back is, just as you said, relaxed 9/10 of the time. So I wonder after years of taking care of your posture does it comes automatically to you so you don't have to think about it (you just do it automatically), or you still have to be focused on your posture all the time (just as I do)?

Thanks, all the best!

[finchr]

So is this a sudden deveoment?? If you feel like this is what you want and you are changing a life time of posture there are postural modifiers such as reverse wedg cusions to place you in a posterior pelvc tilt while seated. You could stretch the multifidus and extensors or the hip flxrs( is 1 tight others weak?) and xtend the thoracic spine in a variety of methods to decrease the extensor moment on the LS area. Consult a trainer In absenc of Sx , a therapist is really not needed

[mathewvarghese]

Try the following steps,
1.Pace a soft pillow as support to the lumbar spine when your at work in front of the computer so that you can sit erect.
2.Raise the height of the monitor so that it is in level of your eyes.
3.Rest your elbows on the hand rest of the chair and operate the mouse with a movement at the wrist joint only.
4.Take 5 minutes break every hour.

[Myrddin]

Thanks for the tips, all the best!