I had a lot more than a problem with my spinal erectors being imbalanced. My anterior chain and posterior chain both had issues.
I think my problem should be called “contra lateral asymmetry of the anterior and posterior chain”.
I wakeboarded for years. I did so in an imbalanced manner. I rode regular and never rode switch. Then after developing a bunch of muscle imbalances wakeboarding I went and lifted weights through high school and played sports making the imbalances worse.
I’ve seen chiropractors, physical therapists and doctors. NONE OF THEM WOULD HELP ME CORRECT THIS. The sad thing is that if I was a personal trainer I doubt I could help people correct their asymmetries and muscle imbalances because it blurs the line between personal training and physical therapy. It’s a stupid system.
All that aside I believe I’ve found the solution to muscle imbalances around the hips. I thought inversion was the silver bullet to correcting my imbalances, but after a few month of inverting a few minutes every day things stopped improving. Inversion helps, but it requires corrective exercises and stretching also.
There’s a rather busy diagram from the top view of my muscle imbalances and the relation between my shoulders and hips before I started doing the corrective exercises.
Here’s my problem:
- left glute larger than right glute
- right hip flexors larger than left
- left spinal erector larger than right
- right rectus abdominis larger then left
- right oblique larger than left
- right hip farther forward than left
- left shoulder farther forward than right.
So here’s what I think the solution is to my muscle imbalances:
- wakeboard in the direction that activates the smaller spinal erector and not the larger one
- stand on a total gym like I am in the pic of me standing on a total gym for sets of 30 seconds
- use inversion to get the hips level
- stretch the larger hip flexor for sets of 2-4 minutes throughout the day
- stretch the larger hamstring for sets of 2-4 minutes throughout the day
- stretch the larger spinal erector for sets of 2-4 minutes throughout the day with knees to chest with the legs twisted to the side of the larger spinal erector
I saw Nick Tumanello say in men’s health that twisting the torso and hips in opposite directions is a bad idea, but if twisting in one direction more than the other is what fucked you up in the first place then twisting the opposite direction is my only option.
I saw an almost immediate improvement in glute function and posture once I started doing these corrective exercises my lower back pain also improved. The trick is I have to do them every day or everything regresses.
I just want to say the physical therapist I saw after my back started hurting can go to fucking hell for dismissing my spinal erector imbalance saying “It’s normal”.
My solution will only work if the skeletal system is balanced within reason.
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here’s the way to isolate one spinal erector and not the other.
you can also do this at a universal gym or cable station.
I chose the total gym because it’s at home and I can do it throughout the day. Also it’s closer to wakeboarding because the slide board is always trying to go out from under me in the opposite direction the handle is pulling me.
Mine are also imbalanced, as are my glutes, quads, hams and most else. Mine is mainly due to a leg injury that left me barely able to use the leg for nearly 5 years.
At the moment, the best thing I’m finding is doing 45-degree back extensions with a dumbbell or plate in each hand, holding them slightly out to the side. I’m also lucky that my gym has iso-lateral versions of leg extension, leg curl and leg press machines.
back extensions don’t do anything for me. For me, back extensions-anything bilateral for that matter- just make the muscles that are larger work harder and cause the smaller muscles to be that much more inactive.
I unintentionally created an imbalance wakeboarding and snowboarding so I’m going to intentionally create an imbalance on the weak side until everything starts to balance out. After that I’ll move to a bilateral approach where I stretch everything the same and strengthen everything the same.
[quote]darkhorse1-1 wrote:
back extensions don’t do anything for me. For me, back extensions-anything bilateral for that matter- just make the muscles that are larger work harder and cause the smaller muscles to be that much more inactive.[/quote]
If you can do them on a 45* station, back-extensions are easily done in a unilateral fashion.
I started doing DB single leg stiff leg deadlifts with the leg on the side of the weak spinal erector as the stance leg and the DB in the hand opposite the small spinal erector. I have to contort myself a little bit to feel the contraction. I’ve been doing partial reps with the DB below my knee for 1 minute.
[quote]BlueCollarTr8n wrote:
[quote]darkhorse1-1 wrote:
back extensions don’t do anything for me. For me, back extensions-anything bilateral for that matter- just make the muscles that are larger work harder and cause the smaller muscles to be that much more inactive.[/quote]
If you can do them on a 45* station, back-extensions are easily done in a unilateral fashion.
[/quote]
I don’t know what a 45 degree back extension is. what is it that’s at 45 degrees that turns a back extension into a unilateral exercise?
[quote]darkhorse1-1 wrote:
I don’t know what a 45 degree back extension is. what is it that’s at 45 degrees?[/quote]
Use one of these bench types. Try them using one weight in each hand, or a weight in the hand of the side that is lacking.
On my right side-small side-there is also an imbalance between the lateral and medial spinal erectors. On the small side iliocostalis lumborum is more developed and the smaller spinal erector on that side is at the origin of longissimus thoracis. I’m not sure if that is because there is a axial twist in the spine. I suppose that could be plausable. Illiocostalis lumborum originates from medial illiac crest. longissimus thoracis originates from the transverse processes of L1-5. That could be the reason why one is more pronounced than the other.
I suppose it’s possible that wakeboarding caused the twist and the musculature adapted to that position because I went wakeboarding just about every week day every summer for 3 years.
I’m also wondering if there’s a diference between my left and right multifidus.
Starting Monday this will be the first week I begin attempting to correct these imbalances.
I suppose this is the part where someone comes in and tells me “If you think you have scoliosis go get checked out by a doctor”. My response to that would be that doctors don’t care about this sort of thing. Doctors accept minor asymmetries as common place. If I go into a doctors office and ask if I have an imblance between my right longissimus thoracis and right illiocostalis lumborum I would likely just get told it’s not a big deal and laughed out of the facility.
So I’m on my own for this one.
Worst case I spend three weeks and the only thing that happens is illiocostalis lumborum becomes hyperactive and does all the lifting in back extension. In the best case scenario I spend three weeks doing corrective shit and-which I think is plausable because I can feel longissimus thoracis firing during the isomteric twist I’ve been doing on the total gym- I’ll get some hypertrophy in longissimus thoracis and it will begin to fill in the low spot on the right side of my spine in the lumbar region. Then I can go ahead and continue doing the corrective stuff at a lower volume while working in bilateral movements.
Right now I’ve been doing this super set (been trying to get it in at least 2 times a day every weekday and 3 or 4 times a day on weekends):
3 circuits of
standing twist on the total gym for 1 minute
leg raise at an angle that allows my lumbar spine to stay in contact with the floor for 30 seconds
single leg romanian DL(weight in left hand, stance leg is right leg) 20 reps
I also plan on doing one session of inversion every day twisting to each side for 2 minutes and just hanging for 2 minutes before and after twisting to each side.
The results may come in stages. This coming three weeks might be focused changing my posture so the smaller side can become more active and the next three might be where I start to see the two sides start to balance out.
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I guess there wasn’t really an imbalance between my hip flexors. After a couple of days of doing the circuit I mentioned they look pretty close to the same.
I experimented with circuits for a little bit. I’d do 15-20 reps of leg lift twisting my legs to the right on a sit up bench, move to knees to chest with my legs angled off to the left and then move to the twist on the total gym. My posture didn’t really improve from the initial progress I made. In fact I think it regressed a little.
Today I changed my approach a little.
I did all sets of the leg lift twist first, then all sets of knees to chest and then all sets of twist on the total gym.
I was back to something similar to my initial progress.
I’m no expert. I’ll probably just injure myself again. It’s karma for posting shit on the internet that stupid people believe will help them when their situation is likely very different from my own.
I think I figured out my problem for the moment. I have no clue about anyone else’s. I’m not saying another won’t arise that will cause excruciating debilitating pain tomorrow. I’m just saying I think I found something that is improving my spinal alignment today.
