In a couple of my recent reads I have come across some discussions that talk about joints and the spine needing time to “lubricate” upon waking in the morning. I have no idea what this theory or focus is called, thus I would be interested to hear from those of you who have knowledge on the topic.
The reason that this is of some concern is because I do most of my cardio and core work early in the morning, and wanted to know if this could cause any adverse effects. I do notice some pain in my lower back during core workouts, but don’t know whether I am having a reverse placebo effect on myself or not.
Is there any truth to the spine and joints needing time to “lubricate” themselves?
Intervertebral discs soak up water as you sleep since you are laying down and the discs are no longer supporting your bodyweight.
After waking, the discs compress to within 90% of ‘normal’ height after about an hour of standing up.
I read somewhere that Poliguin said joint fluid takes 3 hours to warm up and lubricate properly after sleep. The spine is the exact opposite. After sleeping, read what Challer1 said above. During this hour needed to re-compress the spine, the risk of injury is the highest.
[quote]ucallthatbass wrote:
I read somewhere that Poliguin said joint fluid takes 3 hours to warm up and lubricate properly after sleep. The spine is the exact opposite. After sleeping, read what Challer1 said above. During this hour needed to re-compress the spine, the risk of injury is the highest.[/quote]
Thanks for the replies, I guess I will make sure that I am up for at least an hour before I start my training.
I’m pretty sure that there must be ways to speed it up. I.e. stretching and yoga.
There’s a difference between doing something like that and jumping out of bed to deadlift your 1RM…
[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
The issue arises because whilst the discs increase in ‘height’, the ligaments do not. Therefore your spine is stiffer during the time when the discs are still hyperhydrated.
You should avoid significant spinal flexion/extension/lateral flexion, etc. until the discs have compressed agin, or you risc ligamentous injury and possibly discal injury (like a worsened herniated disc), due to the added stiffness.
On a related note: Glucosamine increases hydration of the IVD , musch like horizontal rest does. It has been shown that after 5-6 weeks on glucosamine, the spinal flexibility of the test subjects went down. Oh noes! you might be thinking, but you might be wrong. You see the opposite of flexibility is stability and spinal stability is more important to long term health and performance, than flexibility.
Remember that in all activities, including gym and daily life, we should strive to maintain a neutral spine and this involves stability.
That’s why we work on core stability. Yes, exercises like yoga are beneficial, but be caerful that you do not over flex/extend your spine, especially if you are on glucosamine.
Ya feels me?
BBB[/quote]
Yea I feels you BBB (no homo), thank you very much for the detailed response, I really appreciate it.
I am not supplementing with glucosamine, but there is some spinal flexion in my core workouts, although I do try to keep it to a minimum. I do also have a herniated disc (L5) so I guess I’ll just give my spine a little more time in the morning to get back to normal before I get all crazy in the gym.
Is there anything that can speed up the compression of discs in the morning or is time really the only thing?
[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:
Is there anything that can speed up the compression of discs in the morning or is time really the only thing?[/quote]
i dont know if it does anything to speed up the process, but ive been doing the cat/camel exercise in the mornings to get the nerves firing. seems to help my sciatica.
[quote]1000yardstare wrote:
[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:
Is there anything that can speed up the compression of discs in the morning or is time really the only thing?[/quote]
i dont know if it does anything to speed up the process, but ive been doing the cat/camel exercise in the mornings to get the nerves firing. seems to help my sciatica. [/quote]
Sounds good, thanks for the heads up on those exercises. Is it fine to hit these right when I wake up? or is it best to wait, because of the above mentioned problems with early morning spinal stress?
Also, the ‘spinal flossing’ analogy was a great one, 10 points awarded to BBB.