THE QUADRATUS LUMBORUM : FRIEND OR FOE?

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Before I go carve the turkey and be thankful for what I've got in my life, why not a little article about a powerful ally but also foe for some people really bad lower back pain.

Lately, I've been writing a lot about what triggers lower back pain and also what contributed to my own demise last week as I sprained my back. So for tonight, I'm going to try to keep it short and make a connection between the upper diaphragm and lower diaphragm of the body.

In many of my articles, I teach how to recalibrate the hips and also talk about how a sway back posture can lead to back sprains and also sciatic nerve impingement. The culprit is the quadratus lumborum.

First the definition :Quadratus Lumborum

1. flat muscle of posterior abdominal wall; origin, iliac crest, iliolumbar ligament, and transverse processes of lower lumbar vertebrae; insertion, twelfth rib and transverse processes of upper lumbar vertebrae; action, abducts trunk; nerve supply, ventral primary rami of upper lumbar spinal nerves.

So now that we got the unpleasantries out of the way, how do we correct and/or stretch? In Thomas Myers myofascial meridians for movement therapists, you can find great lateral line stretches that will level out your hips before you recalibrate the pelvis. One of the most popular ones is the side angle poses.

Or Even better try the Quadratus Lumborum Self-stretch from Bob McAtee's Facilitated Stretching book
4th edition page 64...

Inhibiting this muscle is vital for alleiving back pain and can be found in all good kinesiology classes. A good static stretch is the lunge stretch that also incorporate the hip flexors.

In retrospect as human beings, we are lateralized to the right and most of us right side dominant. So incorporate these stretches (RIGHT SIDE!) in your routine today and save yourself some back pain in the future!