Strong Backs, Soft Fronts, An Approach to Back Pain and a Better Life

I heard the best phrase while taking an online class recently. “Strong backs, soft fronts.” It was a reference expressed by Waylon Lewis, founder of Elephant Journal, it was in reference to a Buddhist teaching. It caught my attention as a metaphor for living life by standing strong with purpose and open hearted with a vulnerable presence in the world. I also considered it from a chiropractic perspective. It’ a good approach to back pain prevention.

Strength and flexibility are partners in prevention and healing. With chronic back pain one must be mindful and practice prevention with every twist, turn and long road trip. I’m often asked by patients what I think are the best exercises and stretches. For everyone I recommend starting with posture and it’s many cues. How we bear our center of gravity, spinal curves like sway back or rounded shoulders, unlevel hips and shoulders and even extra weight can give clues to weakness and inflexibility.

This spiritual teaching, strong back and soft front, offers an easy to understand consideration as a guide for chronic back pain and injury prevention.

1.        Posture reveals structural imbalances. Postural muscles keep us standing upright, balanced and able to move our arms and legs. They are the core of movement and spinal stability. Feel the difference in muscle engagement when you are standing tall, being too rigid or to sloppy with everything slouching into your joints. Good posture is a mix of strength and ease, not stiff and not slumped.

Further, physical posture reflects our mental/emotional posture. It's worth noticing often throughout the day. A slouched posture may indicate a weak back or abdominal pain, or a state of shame, or even protecting your backside, or guarding your soft underbelly. Posture is an expression of confidence and pride as much as it is defeat or protection. It’s possible that the same exercises that improve posture will require us to address the emotional states that express a matching internal state.

We could focus on postural exercises but they are more effective when combined with a matching emotional state because postural muscles are also endurance muscles. Doing s sets of 15 reps of great back exercises can’t counter 23 hours of bending over a desk or a state of emotional lethargy.

2.        Start with your feet. Notice where you bear weight in your feet, shift to the center if you lean forward or keep the majority of your weight in your heels. Make your spine more erect, shoulders back but also relax your chest and abdomen. Find an internal lift in your spine and keep your knees relaxed. The old ballet teacher cue of moving as if someone is lifting you from above from a string attached to the middle of your head.

3.        Balance. Every day make a point to balance on one leg with your knee at 90 degrees. Keep the weight equally distributed in your foot and your standing hip pulled in with the standing knee soft, not locked. Hold 60 seconds. If you can’t do this, use a chair or wall for added stability.

By bringing awareness to the act of balancing on one leg you can witness yourself our of balance. Notice how you are with yourself. Do you try again or are you easily discouraged? Do you feel a sence of success or childlike play? Or, do you find yourself in competition, even if no one else is in the room or do you give up easily because no one will ever know? Our attitudes with this simple exercise can help us notice and center our self talk and approach to better health and a better life..

4. Wellbeing is different for everyone. Absolutely, there are many exercises to strength and stretches to lengthen, but the idea here is think about this teaching in your own body. How strong is your back, and how soft is your front? Ask yourself, where you hold tension. Do you clench your jaw, or hand or do you hold your shoulders up by your ears or worry in your stomach? Think about those areas in relationship to your spinal alignment, as you release that tension where can you strengthen. Let this be an exercise in curiosity, not judgement. We all have imbalances and making these connections between mind and body can be our best exercise plan and approach to prevention.

I’ve noticed that without this added layer of awareness we may be doing all of the hard exercises, using big muscles but this avoidance or denial doesn’t strengthen us at the core. The spinal erector muscles are small and located deeper in the body and they give important signals to the brain about posture and proprioception (where our body is in space) and we rely on them to keep us grounded, in balance, coordinated and safe.

If we think of a soft front it doesn’t need to imply weakness. Think of it as courage being vulnerable, willingness to share or listen deeply or flexible enough to change or reconsider. Soft isn’t weak anymore than strong is rigid. When it comes to bodies a nice balance is strong and flexible in our joints and muscles. A good way to think of our hearts and souls as well.

                  I’m happy to evaluate and explore this idea with you personally. Schedule a one hour session to discuss your health goals, evaluate posture and make a plan with exercises and stretches to prevent your personal back condition from flaring up, and insights into long term stability through the many layers of the body/mind/spirit connections.