The Role of Lumbar Stability in Promoting Hip/Shoulder Range of Motion

The lumbar spine is designed for stability, the ball and socket joints are designed for mobility. Tightness in the hip and shoulder causes lack of mobility inside the ball and socket joints. If we never remedy this tightness and the shoulder and/or hip moves extreme positions that tax their end range of motion, the lumbar spine will be forced to bend in order to allow movement past end range of motion. This is exactly what we want to avoid!

Tight shoulders and tight hips can take a long time to remedy! But thankfully in a good movement practice you should be able to continually remedy that a little bit each day. Plus, functional movements that demand good range of motion of the hips and shoulders can also be used to cultivate mobility; provided of course the lumbar spine remains stable and you develop good technique without compensation.

Take the squat for example. If I perform a deep squat and my back starts rounding at the bottom, then I can deduce that the tightness in my hamstrings is greater than the strength of my core musculature. In the overhead press: if I can't get it over my midline at the top of the movement without arching my back, I can deduce that the tightness in my shoulders is greater than my core  musculature. In both scenarios, I am unable to maintain lumbar stability throughout the entire range of motion of the movement. The list of movements can go on...!

So in order to cultivate good mobility of the shoulder and hip, the process is essentially twofold:

1. Cultivate a stable lumbar spine in any/all movement.

2. Work on techniques, stretches and movements to promote good mobility at the shoulder and hip while maintaining a stable lumbar spine.

Part of it the tightness in your hips and shoulders may be strictly physical, in that you don't have range of motion at the shoulder and hip, i.e. the muscles just too tight! More often than not though we find it originates neurologically not physically, in that you don’t have range of motion at the shoulder and hip because you’ve been letting your lumbar spine bend when you move! The end result being the same; you have tight hips and shoulders now!

Either way the process for fixing it remains the same as the process for learning it in the first place: Develop a stable lumbar spine and techniques that promote good range of motion of the shoulder and hip while maintaining a stable lumbar spine.

Work on this stuff. Simple; easy; effective.