Back In Shape Podcast

Back In Shape

This podcast is dedicated to providing you with the help you need to fix your lower back pain and sciatica. From specific diagnoses, myths and injuries to the low back, to strategies to recover, we're here to help get your Back In Shape. This podcast is an extension of the Back In Shape Program, an online back rehabilitation program that helps members from all over the world. Created by the founders of The Mayfair Clinic, a specialist back and neck pain clinic in central London and winner of the prestigious Queens Award For Enterprise Innovation In 2020.

  1. 1d ago

    Why Does Sitting Hurt So Much With a Bad Back?

    If sitting is the one activity that reliably sets off your bad back, this session explains exactly why — and what it can teach you about every other flare-up. If you've got a herniated disc, a disc bulge or sciatica at L4/L5 or L5/S1 and sitting has become one of the hardest things you do, this is for you. Sitting increases the load through your lumbar spine by roughly 40 to 90% compared with standing, flattens out your natural lower-back curve, and squashes down on the very structures that are already injured — often reproducing the exact forward-bending movement that caused the injury in the first place. 🎓 Join the Back In Shape Program: https://backinshapeprogram.com We put real numbers on the everyday movements that stress an injured spine: walking bent forward roughly doubles the load, standing up from a chair without using your hands can spike it to almost four times standing, using your hands brings that down to under two times, and even rolling over in bed adds around 60% more load than standing still. Understanding this reframes rehab entirely — you're already exposing your spine to variable, uncontrolled stress every single day, so learning to do these things well, and building genuine load-bearing capacity, is far safer than continuing to leave it to chance. We also cover why leaning forward gives momentary relief while making the underlying injury worse, why weak knees are usually a symptom of weak legs rather than a separate problem, and why being told your hips are "out of alignment" or your spine is "curved" — without any imaging — tells you almost nothing. 🔑 Key Topics Covered 🪑 Why sitting hurts so much: sitting adds roughly 40 to 90% more load through your lumbar spine than standing, flattening your natural curve and squashing the front of the disc — often recreating the exact forward-bending movement that caused the injury. 📊 Everyday movements, put into numbers: walking bent forward roughly doubles spinal loading; standing up without using your hands can spike it to nearly four times standing, dropping to under two times with your hands on your thighs; even rolling over in bed adds around 60%. 🔁 Why leaning forward feels better but makes it worse: bending forward opens the space where the nerves exit, giving momentary relief — but it directly strains the injured tissue further, which is exactly why the relief keeps you stuck in the cycle. 🦵 "Weak knees" and "hips out of alignment" — what's really going on: knee problems are usually a consequence of weak, poorly conditioned legs rather than a separate fault, and a claim about your alignment or a "curved spine" made without any imaging tells you almost nothing useful. Chapters 00:00 Why does sitting hurt so much with a bad back? 01:20 The load of sitting: 40 to 90% more than standing 03:36 Everyday movements, put into numbers 07:16 Why your muscles matter more than a repeat MRI 15:35 Where should your squat and hip hinge numbers be? 18:38 Sitting reclined: relief now, cost on the way out 25:38 Getting back into demanding sports and activities 32:36 Why symptoms return, even when you're doing the rehab 38:34 "Anterior pelvic tilt" and curved spines — the real story 44:32 Why leaning forward feels better but isn't 48:52 Why "weak knees" usually means weak legs 53:24 Are ablations and nerve blocks the answer? 1:00:36 Doing the rehab work every day, and why it fits 1:07:48 Why McGill's Big 3 alone isn't full rehab #HerniatedDisc #Sciatica #BackInShape #SlippedDisc #DiscBulge #LowerBackPain #BackPainRelief #SpinalRehab

  2. 3d ago

    Is a Squat a Core Exercise? (The Best Core Exercise for a Bad Back)

    If you've got a herniated disc, degenerative disc disease or you're recovering from a microdiscectomy, this session explains why the answer is a firm yes. This came from a real exchange in the Back In Shape Program: a member doing brilliantly on her squats and hip hinges was asked by another practitioner, "but where are your core exercises?" That question is worth unpacking, because so many of us have a placeholder belief that "core exercises" means floor-based moves like the dead bug or the McGill Big 3 — and that belief is holding a lot of people back. 🎓 Join the Back In Shape Program: https://backinshapeprogram.com We define what the core actually is — the region between your lower ribcage and your pelvis, not your abs or your six-pack — and use the sack-of-potatoes analogy to explain why it needs to be strengthened all the way through, including the spine running down the middle. That's exactly what most floor-based "core" exercises miss: without a progressive, load-bearing element, you can be excellent at your dead bugs and still fold the moment real life asks more of you than the exercise ever did. We explain why the squat and hip hinge train the whole core at once, including the disc itself, why nerve irritation and nerve compression are two very different things, why "feeling better" isn't the same as your spine actually being stronger, and why swimming is a genuinely good relief practice but not rehab. Along the way: the tape test, the butt wink, and the common gym mistake of lifting heavier on chest day than on your own back workout. 🔑 Key Topics Covered 🥔 What your core actually is (the sack of potatoes): the core is the whole region between your ribcage and pelvis, including the spine running through the middle — not just your abs. Think of it as a sack holding a stack of potatoes: loosen the sack and they shear on each other; tighten it and they move as one column. 🧱 Why floor exercises alone miss the point: the dead bug and the McGill Big 3 are safe ways to learn control, but without a progressive, load-bearing element they never actually strengthen the spine itself. You can be great at your floor exercises and still fold the first time real life asks for more. 🏋️ Why the squat and hip hinge ARE core exercises: to squat without folding forward, you have to create real trunk stiffness — which is exactly what core strengthening means. They train the muscles and the spine together, and let you add load progressively in a way floor exercises can't. 🩹 Nerve irritation vs nerve compression: banging your funny bone is genuine compression. Most sciatica is repeated irritation of a nerve root near an injured segment, not ongoing compression — an important distinction, because it's the segment you need to stop re-aggravating, not the nerve itself. Chapters 00:00 Is a squat a core exercise? 01:00 The question that started this: "where are your core exercises?" 06:03 Why waiting six weeks to start makes no sense 09:03 What the core actually is (the sack of potatoes) 11:39 Why most core programmes miss the "core of the core" 13:36 Feeling better isn't the same as your spine getting stronger 15:03 Nerve irritation vs nerve compression 18:39 The builders and the sledgehammer: why aggravation stalls healing 21:36 Does swimming help with sciatica? 25:03 The butt wink, and why it matters more than it feels 28:39 Why the squat trains your whole core 33:36 What if I have muscle ache, not sciatica? 40:03 Why SIJ is rarely the real problem 44:39 The blind spot: heavier on chest day than back day 48:39 If you keep butt winking, should you stop squatting? 54:03 The best way to actually fix your sciatica #HerniatedDisc #CoreStrength #BackInShape #Sciatica #SlippedDisc #DegenerativeDiscDisease #BackPainRelief #SpinalRehab

  3. 3d ago

    Why a Bad-Looking Herniated Disc Often Does Better Than a Mild One

    It sounds backwards, but a big, angry-looking herniated disc often has a better recovery than a mild little bulge — and understanding why can take a lot of the fear out of your scan.Following on from the recent degenerative disc sessions, this one looks at the herniated disc and a genuinely counter-intuitive truth: the severity of what's on your MRI doesn't reliably predict how disabled you are or how well you'll do. Plenty of people with a minor L5/S1 disc bulge are in agony and barely functioning, while others with a dramatic extrusion recover well. The finding and the suffering are two different things.🎓 Join the Back In Shape Program: https://backinshapeprogram.comWe explain the mechanism behind it: when a disc extrudes, that material is out where the immune system can reach it, clear it up and resorb it — which is why extrusions are reported to resolve without surgery at much higher rates than contained bulges, where the body has little access to the problem. We cover why disc surgery (a discectomy or microdiscectomy) is a cleanup operation, not a repair — the damaged annulus still has to scar, remodel and be rebuilt through rehab afterwards — and why the same six exercises apply to everyone with an injured spine, with the customisation coming from where you start and how you progress, not from your diagnosis. Along the way: why your knees so often become the limiting factor, why a back belt sits above the injured segment and does little, and why being told you have an "anterior pelvic tilt" is usually guesswork.🔑 Key Topics Covered🔄 Bad-looking often does better: the size of the herniation doesn't dictate the outcome. A big extrusion is exposed to the immune system, so it's reported to resorb without surgery far more often than a contained bulge — where the body has little access to clear it. The scan and the suffering are separate things.🧹 Surgery is a cleanup, not a repair: a discectomy removes the extruded material but doesn't heal the annulus or restore the segment's strength. The scar tissue still has to form, remodel and be rebuilt through rehab — which is the part that so often gets left out afterwards.🧱 Same injury, same six exercises: ten people with the identical L5/S1 herniation still each need a different journey — not different exercises. The customisation is in where you start and how fast you progress, discovered as you go, not prescribed from your MRI.🦵 Why your knees become the limiting factor: weak, uncoordinated knees are so common that the squat and hip hinge get split into separate workouts. When the knee limits the squat, you keep progressing the hip hinge, and let them catch up to each other over time.Chapters00:00 Why a bad-looking herniated disc often does better than a mild one03:24 Extrusion vs bulge: which would you rather have?04:30 Why extruded discs resorb — and bulges often don't07:18 Does surgery fix it? What a discectomy really does10:36 Why the "success" you see online is a skewed sample11:18 Your MRI doesn't set your rehab13:03 Ten identical scans, ten different journeys16:45 Post-surgery: no guidance? Start here19:21 Why phase three works — you've done 1,000 reps first22:36 When your knees are the limiting factor26:00 What if my back is strong but the disc is injured?33:00 Feeling better vs being stronger40:00 "Never deadlift again" falls apart in real life50:00 How strength protects an injured spine1:00:00 Why walking helps but isn't rehab1:07:39 Why the squat rebuilds the disc, not just the legs1:10:12 Why squats can leave you sore the next day1:12:21 Why a back belt won't stop you rounding1:15:15 "Anterior pelvic tilt" is usually guesswork#HerniatedDisc #Sciatica #BackInShape #SlippedDisc #DiscBulge #Microdiscectomy #BackPainRelief #SpinalRehab

  4. Sep 8

    Degenerative Disc Disease: Why "Opening Up the Space" Isn't Working

    If you've got degenerative disc disease and you've been trying to "open up the space" with knee hugs, child's pose and other stretches, this session explains why it relieves you for a moment but never actually fixes the problem. Following on from last week, this is a deeper look at what's really happening in a spine with degenerative disc disease at L4/L5 or L5/S1. As a disc loses height, the holes the nerves pass through get smaller, the facet joints close down, and the ligaments (like the ligamentum flavum) buckle into the space — a bit like curtains bunching up when you drop the rail. So it seems logical to bend forwards and "open the space" back up. The trouble is that flexion only relieves the pressure in the moment while irritating the injured disc, so you end up stuck in a cycle that never resolves. 🎓 Join the Back In Shape Program: https://backinshapeprogram.com We explain why the narrowing (the stenosis) isn't a separate problem but part of the same segmental picture, why sciatica is really lumbogenic leg pain (so chasing the hamstring or the piriformis keeps you stuck), and why real "core strengthening" has to include a progressively loaded squat or hip hinge — a thousand dead bugs won't do it. Along the way: why the Roman chair and back-extension machine just add complexity to a hip hinge you can do standing, why muscle spasm is often protective rather than the problem, and why aggressive deep-tissue massage so often backfires a day or two later. 🔑 Key Topics Covered 🚪 Why "opening up the space" doesn't work: as the disc loses height the nerve holes narrow and the ligaments buckle inward, so bending forwards to open the space feels like relief — but it only unloads the segment for a moment while irritating the injured disc. It manages the symptom and feeds the cycle. 🔗 Stenosis isn't a separate problem: the narrowing, the facet changes and the buckled ligaments are all one segmental picture, not a list of different faults. And because the space is smaller, a minor flare-up produces outsized symptoms — which is why your pain level doesn't match what's on the scan. 🌅 Why you're worse in the morning: lie still overnight and inflammation quietly congests an already narrow space, so you wake up sore and ease off as you move. Win the day with small aggravations and you can still "lose the night" — which is exactly why building real strength matters. 🏋️ Real core strengthening has to load the spine: you can do a thousand dead bugs and still get in trouble if you can't squat or hip hinge with progressive load. The muscles only take you so far — at some point the disc itself has to be trained to bear load. Chapters 00:00 Degenerative disc disease: why "opening up the space" isn't working 01:33 A scan cuts both ways: minor or severe, both can reassure 04:24 Why your back feels better but the sciatica remains 05:54 Sciatica is lumbogenic leg pain — stop chasing the leg 07:42 Why hip and buttock pain comes from the back 08:39 What actually happens in a degenerative segment 11:36 Why stenosis isn't a separate problem 13:21 Real core strengthening has to load the spine 14:12 Back extensions and the Roman chair: why they miss the point 17:21 Why the squat and hip hinge carry over to real life 18:12 Why your back is worse in the morning 21:51 Starting from the bed when you can barely move 23:33 The tape test: how much you're really moving 33:00 Why walking helps but isn't rehab 40:00 What an MRI does and doesn't change 47:21 Should you exercise alongside decompression or treatment? 50:36 Stop blaming the exercises for next-day soreness 55:21 Why muscle spasm is often protecting you 57:24 Why aggressive massage can backfire a day later #DegenerativeDiscDisease #LowerBackPain #BackInShape #HerniatedDisc #Sciatica #SpinalStenosis #BackPainRelief #SpinalRehab

  5. Sep 4

    Degenerative Disc Disease: It's Not a Disease, and It's Not Just Age

    Degenerative disc disease isn't a disease, and it isn't simply "getting old" — and being handed that label with no explanation causes far more fear than the finding deserves. If you've been told you have degenerative disc disease or disc degeneration at L4/L5 or L5/S1 — often alongside a bulging disc, a herniation or spinal stenosis — this session explains what it really is. "Disease" is a misnomer: there's no infection, nothing you caught, nothing pathological. It simply describes a disc that has lost some of its health and height, on a wide spectrum from a disc that's only slightly greyer than its neighbours all the way to one that's worn down to almost nothing. Most people are told the label and nothing else — which is exactly why it frightens people far more than it should. 🎓 Join the Back In Shape Program: https://backinshapeprogram.com We explain why the finding almost always predates your pain by decades, so a scan actually cuts both ways: a minor change should reassure you, and even a severe one should, because it's been there for years through times you had no pain at all. We cover why it isn't simply age (if it were, every disc would look the same, not just the lower two), why a herniated disc or a microdiscectomy will often be read as "degenerative" on a later scan, and why the label doesn't change what you need to do. Whatever the spectrum you're on, the job is the same: protect a neutral spine, support the healing that's happening anyway, and build the load-bearing capacity that lets you do more with the disc you've got. Along the way: what stem cells, PRP and injections can and can't do, why tailbone or hamstring pain is usually referred from the disc, and why the disc you have is far stronger than you've been led to believe. 🔑 Key Topics Covered 🩻 It's a misnomer, and a spectrum: "disease" implies infection or pathology — it's neither. It just means a disc has lost some health and height, anywhere from slightly greyer than its neighbours to nearly worn away. Being told only the label, with no context, is what makes it so frightening. 📅 It predates your pain — so it cuts both ways: the changes on your scan built up over decades, not over the months you've been sore. A minor finding is reassuring; even a severe one should be, because you lived with it pain-free for years before this flare-up. 🔄 It's not just age — and the label doesn't change the plan: if degeneration were simply ageing, every disc would show it equally, not mainly the lowest two that take the most load. Whatever you've been told, the rehab is the same: protect, support healing, build capacity. 💉 What stem cells, PRP and injections can and can't do: a treatment aimed at helping the body heal at least makes mechanistic sense — but none of them are a shortcut past the rehab, and an injection carries risk your body's own healing doesn't. Do the work regardless. Chapters 00:00 Degenerative disc disease: not a disease, not just age 02:00 What a degenerative disc actually is (the spectrum) 04:33 Why a scary scan can cut both ways 06:57 Should you wait for imaging before starting? No 08:00 Stem cells, PRP and ozone: can they heal a disc? 11:42 Why tailbone and hamstring pain is usually referred 13:33 Why knee hugs and child's pose keep you stuck 14:39 When weakness everywhere follows a bad back 16:39 March at the speed of the slowest soldier 20:57 Why you can't skip to phase three 22:39 The tape test: proof of how much you really move 25:36 How much weight should you start with? 33:00 Why "it's all just wear and tear" is wrong 44:00 Is degenerative disc disease hereditary? 50:00 Why the disc heals — and how to stop interrupting it 57:00 You can't heal your back by thinking positively 1:00:09 The back extension machine and the Roman chair 1:04:39 The disc you have is stronger than you think #DegenerativeDiscDisease #LowerBackPain #BackInShape #HerniatedDisc #Sciatica #DiscDegeneration #BackPainRelief #SpinalRehab

  6. Sep 1

    Why You're Scared to Move With a Herniated Disc (And It's Not All in Your Head)

    If you've got a herniated disc and you're scared to move, this session is for you — because that fear isn't irrational, and it certainly isn't "all in your head". If you've been struggling with a herniated disc, a disc bulge, degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis or spondylolisthesis, you'll know the fear of moving and setting your back off again — and you may also have been told, dismissively, that it's healed and "just in your head". That framing is both patronising and wrong. Your caution is built on a real database of experience: over months or years of flare-ups, your body has logged every movement that hurt. The fear is rational. The job isn't to think yourself better — it's to rewrite that database with real evidence that you can move safely again. 🎓 Join the Back In Shape Program: https://backinshapeprogram.com We explain the three ways your back keeps getting flared up — an immediate flare when you move it, a delayed one as inflammation builds hours later, and rehab soreness that gets the exercises blamed for what daily life caused — and why "just think yourself better" fails when your fear is evidence-based. The answer is to build genuine control and load-bearing capacity, rewriting the database with proof you can move. Along the way: why spine stability can be measured while lumbar "mobility work" can't, why the same six exercises apply whatever your diagnosis, and how a simple record of your days helps you and your surgeon see what's really going on. 🔑 Key Topics Covered 🧠 It's not all in your head — but your head is involved: the fear is built on a real database of flare-ups, so it's rational, not imagined. Dismissing it as psychological is both wrong and unhelpful. The way out is evidence that you can move safely, not positive thinking. 🔁 The three ways your back flares up: an immediate flare when you move the injured segment; a delayed flare from cumulative daily strains that inflame overnight; and rehab soreness, where tight hamstrings after a session pull movement into your back. Two of the three get blamed on the wrong thing. 📏 Stability can be measured — lumbar "mobility" can't: you can measure hip, knee and ankle range and track it improving. You cannot know how much any single lumbar segment is moving, so "mobility work" for the low back has no measurable goal. Building stability does. 🧱 Same injury, same six exercises: herniated disc, microdiscectomy, spondylolisthesis or a minor strain — it's an injured lumbar spine, and the rehab is the same six movements. The customisation is in where you start and how fast you progress, not in bespoke exercises for the label. Chapters 00:00 Why you're scared to move — and it's not all in your head 02:48 Your fear is built on a real database 06:09 The first way your back flares: moving the injured segment 09:12 The second way: delayed, cumulative inflammation 11:03 The third way: rehab soreness and tight hamstrings 13:00 Rewriting the database (why you learn to control, not fixate, the spine) 14:42 "Why am I doing this exercise?" (the leg-extension trap) 16:12 When a hip, knee or ankle problem wrecks your back 17:51 Start where you are — bending toward or away misses the point 19:12 Set a goal: rebuild the spine's capacity to bear load 20:36 Why lumbar "mobility work" can't be measured 23:12 The same six exercises, whatever your diagnosis 33:00 What an MRI does and doesn't tell you 44:00 "Never deadlift again" falls apart in real life 50:00 How strength protects an injured spine 57:36 Is the towel decompression safe for everyone? 1:00:00 Keeping a record — for you and your surgeon 1:02:00 Range of motion: the bit guys most often miss #HerniatedDisc #Sciatica #BackInShape #SlippedDisc #DiscBulge #BackPainRelief #ChronicPain #SpinalRehab

  7. Aug 27

    Stop Waiting for Your MRI to Start Fixing Your Back

    If you're putting your back rehab on hold until your MRI comes through, this session is for you: the scan rarely changes what you actually need to do, so there's no reason to wait. So many people with a herniated disc, a disc bulge, spondylolisthesis or sciatica sit in a kind of suspended animation — doing nothing for weeks because they're afraid of doing the wrong thing until a scan or a consultation tells them what's wrong. The problem is that while you wait, you're still living: getting out of chairs, getting dressed, driving, loading your spine dozens of times a day. Doing nothing isn't safe — it just means the loading happens without any of the skill or control that rehab would give you. 🎓 Join the Back In Shape Program: https://backinshapeprogram.com We make the case with two real members. One has a grade 2 spondylolisthesis — a genuinely significant finding — and is hip hinging 71 kilos, aggravation-free, doing well. The other has a far milder diagnosis and is squatting 17 kilos, and is the more disabled of the two. Same lesson every time: the scan doesn't predict how you'll do — your strength and control do. Think of your conditioning as a lifeguard and your injured back as the child in the pool; it isn't the child's diagnosis that decides the outcome, it's whether the lifeguard can actually swim. We cover why an MRI is useful information but doesn't set your rehab, why "stop everything until you see the surgeon in six weeks" doesn't add up, why muscle spasm is a reaction to injury rather than the cause, and why getting out of a chair badly puts far more through your spine than careful rehab ever would. 🔑 Key Topics Covered 🏊 Treat the man, not the scan: two members, side by side — a grade 2 spondylolisthesis hip hinging 71 kilos and thriving, versus a much milder finding squatting 17 kilos and more disabled. The diagnosis doesn't decide the outcome; your strength and control do. ⏳ Don't wait to start: you're not floating in suspended animation while you wait for a scan — you're getting in and out of chairs and cars all day. Careful, controlled rehab is far safer than living your normal life with no skill and no plan. 📊 Your spine is loaded all day: standing puts 100% of the load through the spine, and sitting adds another 40 to 90% depending on how you sit, with a rounded chair-rise spiking it around 2.2 times. That's why the goal is to make your rehab harder than daily life. 🚩 When "stop everything until surgery" doesn't add up: if a clinician says you must stop everything right now, but then books you in six weeks out, something doesn't fit. A genuine emergency is treated as one — otherwise you can, and should, be rehabbing in the meantime. Chapters 00:00 Stop waiting for your MRI to start fixing your back 03:09 Two members, two scans: why the worse diagnosis is doing better 06:27 Treat the man, not the scan: the lifeguard 09:18 Two surgeons, one surgery: getting a second opinion 11:48 "Stop everything until you see the surgeon" doesn't add up 15:21 Muscle spasm is a reaction to injury, not the cause 17:42 When back problems bring hip, glute and tendon issues along 19:15 Your body heals — your job is to stop interrupting it 20:33 Getting back to running and skipping (get the dosage right) 25:00 Why treadmill beats the road early on 28:00 Don't try to be the exception to the rule 33:00 What an MRI does and doesn't tell you 40:15 Why pressing on your back never reaches the disc 44:00 "Never deadlift again" falls apart in real life 50:00 How strength protects an injured spine 57:00 Feeling better vs being stronger 1:04:00 Why the squat and hip hinge are the real measure 1:10:00 Make your rehab the hardest thing you do all day 1:13:00 Why most flare-ups come from everyday life #HerniatedDisc #Sciatica #BackInShape #Spondylolisthesis #SlippedDisc #MRI #BackPainRelief #SpinalRehab

  8. Aug 25

    Anterior Pelvic Tilt? Here's What a Real Spine Actually Measures

    If you've been told you have anterior pelvic tilt or "too much curve" in your lower back, this session shows why that verdict is usually a guess — and what a real spine actually measures. Using a member's own lumbar X-rays (a neutral view plus flexion and extension), we walk through what your spine can and can't be measured to have. If you've got a herniated disc, a disc bulge or degenerative disc disease at L4/L5 or L5/S1 and someone has told you your pelvis is tilted, your curve is too big or your back is "out of alignment", this will help you tell the difference between a measured finding and confident guesswork. 🎓 Join the Back In Shape Program: https://backinshapeprogram.com We explain why alignment can only really be judged from imaging (the spine sits inches beneath the skin, so a hands-on posture check can't see it), why the flexion and extension views show the hips moving as much as the spine, and why that towel under your lower back matters so much. Along the way: why spinal stenosis is a consequence rather than a diagnosis, why pressing on your back doesn't reach the injured disc, and why "never squat or deadlift again" collapses the moment you have to lift a heavy, awkward object in real life. 🔑 Key Topics Covered 📐 What your spine can actually be measured to have: alignment is judged from imaging, not from a clinician's hands — the lumbar spine sits inches under the skin. When people are genuinely scanned, most have normal alignment, and "you're out by a degree or two" is describing normal variation, not a fault. 🪑 Anterior tilt is over-diagnosed — the opposite is more common: if there's any real malalignment, it's usually a flattened curve and a posterior tilt, because sitting puts a long, steady stretch through the back of the spine every day. Being told to tuck and round even more only makes that worse. 🔍 "Your back doesn't move well" is rarely knowable: the flexion and extension views show the hips rotating as much as the spine, so nobody can tell by eye how much movement is lumbar and how much is hip. Big, confident statements about your spine's movement outrun what the exam can support. 🧱 Whatever your alignment, the answer is the same: you can't reliably change most of these numbers — but you can learn to control a neutral spine and build load-bearing strength through the squat and hip hinge, which is what actually protects an injured back. Chapters 00:00 Anterior pelvic tilt: what a real spine actually measures 02:54 Does sitting or bad posture cause a disc bulge? 05:27 Why you can't reliably measure the lumbar spine by hand 06:45 Reading the X-ray: alignment within normal limits 07:45 Why spinal stenosis is a consequence, not a diagnosis 09:03 The sacral base — the number that really matters for tilt 10:48 Why a flattened curve is far more common than "too much curve" 12:24 Why the towel decompression matters so much 14:42 The flexion/extension views: your hips move as much as your spine 17:33 Why "you have anterior pelvic tilt" overreaches 19:33 Whatever your alignment, control the neutral spine 22:36 Stenosis, inflammation and why pressing on your back misses the disc 27:33 Almost every scan we see is normal or flatter, not curved 30:36 Are loaded squats enough to keep your core strong? 33:39 Why the "core" is the whole trunk — including the spine 37:42 How your back really gets injured (it's rarely dramatic) 40:15 "How is this helping my injury?" — the question to ask 42:51 Why "never deadlift again" falls apart in real life #AnteriorPelvicTilt #LowerBackPain #BackInShape #HerniatedDisc #Sciatica #Posture #BackPainRelief #SpinalRehab

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out of 5
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About

This podcast is dedicated to providing you with the help you need to fix your lower back pain and sciatica. From specific diagnoses, myths and injuries to the low back, to strategies to recover, we're here to help get your Back In Shape. This podcast is an extension of the Back In Shape Program, an online back rehabilitation program that helps members from all over the world. Created by the founders of The Mayfair Clinic, a specialist back and neck pain clinic in central London and winner of the prestigious Queens Award For Enterprise Innovation In 2020.

Information

  • Creator
    Back In Shape
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    340
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Back In Shape
  • Show Website
    Back In Shape Podcast

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