Does Bad Posture Cause Lower Back Pain? Kelly Starrett edition.

Should we unequivocally say bad posture causes lower back pain?  No

Recently, two serious lifters asked me for my thoughts on Kelly Starrett’s book, Becoming a Supple Leopard.  They were both surprised that I had reservations about some of his recommendations and response to criticism. While I probably agree with a majority of the book, here are two examples that I think are bad advice:

• Once seated you need to keep at least 20 percent tension in your abs to maintain a rigid spine. It’s almost impossible to remain in good position for anything longer than that. I know – this is a huge pain in the ass and not always possible. But if you want to heal your body and reach the performance goals, you have to do the work. You have to make sacrifices. So pony up!
• standing is a technique in and of itself… you need to practice the bracing sequence and remain conscious of your position all times.

These quotes came from this review of his book,

Here is his video response (watch from 1:19:15)

The comments by the three guys in this video are not impressive!

Posture and pain – the research

Systematic review: Causal assessment of awkward occupational postures and low back pain:  systematic review. –  Conclusion: There was strong evidence from six high-quality studies that there was no association between awkward postures and LBP. 

Does Bad Posture Cause Back Pain?  This post from Todd Hargrove covers the topic in depth!

Study:  Relationship between mechanical factors and incidence of low back pain. – Conclusion:  It appears that muscle endurance and weakness are associated with LBP and that structural factors such as the size of the lumbar lordosis, pelvic tilt, leg length discrepancy, and the length of abdominal, hamstring, and iliopsoas muscles are not associated with the occurrence of LBP.

My thoughts:

1. It is unlikely that poor posture causes lower back pain

2. Keep a neutral spine with heavy lifting.

3 There is no ideal sitting posture, get out of your chair and move often.

4. Maintain the flexibility of the thoracic spine.

5. Pain is complex and future research may change my thoughts on posture and pain.

6. Kelly Starrett probably gives a lot of good advice about training, but I’m not sure about strict postural advice.  But hey I’m not the one  working with top MMA fighter Georges St-Pierre in his come back from another ACL tear. 

Follow Manual Therapy UK  – ART,  SFMA,  motor control, sports injuries, ….2015 ART instructing  Tottenham Football Club on May 28 – 31, Lower Extremity 

Articles I wrote or featured in:

Performing ARTS – Greg Rutherford’s Performance Therapy and Gold!  Athletics Weekly

The ART of Active Release Techniques for Injuries  Telegraph.co.uk

What is ART therapy and how is it different from sports massage?  220 Triathlon Magazine