Last week we looked at two new solutions for helping, and in some cases, solving back pain. They were the Egoscue and Gokhale methods. Today we are going to look at foundation training, created by American chiropractor Eric Goodman.
Foundation training (FT) is another exercise/postural approach that was started from an alternative therapist’s personal experience of crippling back pain. At the age of 26, Goodman was a student at a chiropractic college, when multiple herniated discs on his lower spine sent him to a conventional doctor. He was informed that he required spinal fusion surgery. However, Goodman became obsessed with figuring out why his back had degenerated.
Eventually, he realised that incorrect movement, together with all the sitting he had been doing while studying, had placed undue strain on his spine because the posterior chain muscles (the spinal erectors, gluteals, hamstrings and calf muscles) were not being used. He then started to strengthen these back muscles through exercises he had developed himself. Within a year he was pain free with no surgery required.
Goodman says that going to a doctor to get rid of back pain often only makes things worse. Surgery and painkillers do nothing to fix the real cause of the problem; in effect they just paper over the cracks. “We really have no idea how to treat these things, and it’s because they can’t be treated,” he said. “They have to be changed.”
Decompression of the spine, anchoring and hip hinging are the three main principles of FT. Decompression is through active breathing; the patient inhales to expand and lift the rib cage away from the pelvis and then holds it up as he exhales by tightening the abdominal muscles.
Creating space between the ribs and pelvis allows the lower spine to decompress, while opening up the chest and pulling the shoulders out of their commonly rounded position. Anchoring is about stabilising the pelvis downwards using the adductor (the inner thigh) muscles. “The majority of people have externally rotated hips due to the positions our modern lifestyles pull us into,” says Aberdeen FT practitioner and certified instructor Mora McGovern.
“This means the external rotators are tight, which inhibits movement of the hips and lower back, thus causing compensatory movement patterns which, in turn, cause pain or injury.”
Hip hinging teaches the brain to make the hips the centre of movement and to activate the posterior chain muscles for good posture. McGovern says that most people lift things up using the spine as the centre of movement. What FT teaches patients to do is to pull the hips back while lifting the chest, thus activating the back muscles, stabilising the spine and taking the strain off the joints.
Like both the Egoscue and Gokhale methods, FT claims to work for around 90 per cent of patients, when practised regularly and correctly. It requires no equipment and McGovern says that people of any age and fitness can carry out the 15-20 minutes of daily exercises. FT specifically targets the entire posterior chain as a single muscle system.
“It occurs very quickly because we are simply teaching the muscles to do what they are designed to do,” says McGovern. “Once the posterior chain is activated, the exercises continue to strengthen these muscles with continued benefits.”
Tom Webster of Aberdeen had a history of back problems and back pain. Chiropractic, massage and visits to the osteopath gave temporary relief, but the problems always came back. With FT, he says: “I felt improvement almost instantly. Even the breathing exercise seems to pull everything together and you feel the stretch.” Webster says he hasn’t felt so good in years.
Let’s take a brief look at the primary exercises in FT.
If you find yourself sitting for long periods of time, take a break every hour and do the exercise. The exercises are on www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWV6keJUDeo.
1. Start the exercise with feet about 24 inches apart, knees slightly bent. Weight on the heels of your feet.
2. Pull hips back to make a straight line from the knees to the ankles. As your hips pull back, the chest lifts.
3. Reach your arms back, fanning the fingers and opening up the front of the body as much as possible. You should feel a lot of tension in the lower spinal muscles.
4. Take a deep breath in. As you exhale, lift your arms up in front of you, keeping hips back. Don’t let your knees come forward and keep your weight on your heels. Take a big breath while holding this position.
5. Exhale, knees bent, stretch your arms down until your hands touch the floor. Really stretch the hamstrings.
6. Take a big breath in this position and hold for 10-15 seconds.
7. Run your hands up your shins while pulling your shoulders together, then lift your head. Arch your spine as you lift the upper body. Once the spine muscles feel braced, reach your arms behind you, fan the fingers again. Weight on heels, knees back, chest high and lower back muscles really tight.
8. Slowly bring your arms all the way up in front of you again; increase the tension for around 10-15 seconds.
9. Stand up straight, pressing through the heels and drop your arms.
www.egoscue.com
www.gokhalemethod.com
www.foundationtraining.com
kathryn@maltanet.net