Two Maneuvers to Protect Your Spine

In life we lift things.  We bend over to pick things up and we raise things over our heads to put them away.  We also lift when we exercise.  Today's education is about two ways to reduce your chances of injury and enhance your ability to move when lifting and moving in life and in the gym.  These techniques relate to our abs and back and you may have heard of them before.

1. The drawn in maneuver is when you attempt to press your belly button through your spine.  This is typically done when you're lying on your back doing sit ups, crunches or even bench press.
2. The bracing maneuver is when you try and squeeze your spine with all of the muscles surrounding it.  When I talk with clients about how to perform this exercise I put my fists in front of me one on top of the other.  Then I squeeze them tight and bring my elbows towards my body demonstrating how we might squeeze out a wet towel.  This bracing maneuver is what engages our inner unit to directly support our spine.  This helps reduce the risk of injury and enhances our ability to move effectively.

The drawn in maneuver is what many of us know about and has been our default stability move for years.  In reality this technique is solely used to help reduce the risk of injury and it's only effective when we're lying on our back or our thoracic spine and hips are both fixed. 
 
Bracing protects us during functional movement throughout our lives and in the gym.  When we lift, brace.  If you doing exercises standing such as lunging, squatting, bicep curls, overhead press, brace. 
 
I know there are many runners in this community.  If you feel back pain when you're running, brace.  If that doesn't work, draw in.  Our abs protect our backs but if we brace during exercise and life we can help strengthen the back muscles too. 
 
Get in tune with the muscles surrounding your spine and brace to enhance movement efficiency and help prevent injury.