Bomb Proof Your Lower Back

It's shift day! You wake up early, jump in your vehicle for the morning commute to the hall. You’re excited to meet up with your crew and catch up over a cup of coffee. You walk through the door, bend over to grab your gear and wham, your lower back tightens up and you know that means trouble. 

Lower back pain still contributes to over 50% of all line of duty injuries for firefighters. Which affects everything from lost work time, medical expenses, quality time with the family and in general is super frustrating. 

This situation is far too common and also very preventable with some regular daily movement maintenance. General lower back injury prevention requires developing healthy mobility & flexibility along with stability & strength. 

Let’s dive into phase 1 of our Fit by Fire Lower Back Injury Program to get you started towards your bomb proof back. When we look at injury prevention we are going to start with building a bomb proof back in two parts. The first has us working on creating mobile joints, functionally flexibly muscle and improving our posture with the Fundamental 3 Mobility Drills. Then we will tackle multi-dimensional torso toughness by including the Foundation 4 Core Exercises.

The Fundamental 3 Mobility Drills for LBP Injury Prevention are the: Samson, Spiderman Reach and the Downward Dog to Cobra stretches.

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Samson Stretch
Starting from a standing position, take a long lunging step. Allowing the back knee drop, lace your fingers and extend your arms overhead reaching your palms to the ceiling. Standing back up relax your arms and repeat the process on with the other leg.

Key Points of Focus-

• Brace your belly so not to overextend your back
• Engage your glutes as you push your hip forward at the bottom of the lunge
• Try to extend your arms fully in line with your ears
• You should feel a gentle stretch through the shoulders and the front of the hip on the back leg
• Make sure your front heel is firmly planted, if not you may need to lengthen your stride

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Spiderman Stretch
This is a two part stretch that starts in a high plank position.

Part 1. Stepping one leg up and planting the heel down while keeping the back leg off of the ground. Slowly drop the inside elbow down as close to the ground as you comfortably can. This should be the arm that is closest to the leg you stepped up. Make sure to keep your back leg as straight as possible.

Key Points of Focus- 

• Try to come closer to the ground with every rep
• Keep the back leg as straight as possible
• Push the hips down as you press with your elbow
• Slow and steady on this one

Part 2. Once you have reached down to the ground with your elbow use the same arm and reach it towards the ceiling. Maintain the same leg position. 

Key Points of Focus-

• ​Looking up at your hand will help open your chest
• Keep your hips pressed down as you reach
• Brace your belly so the rotation happens through the shoulders and upper back
• Keep your upper traps relaxed

Once completed bring both hands to the ground, bring your leg back to achieve a high plank and then repeat the process on the other side. 
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Cobra to Downdog
Another two part stretch, but this one is more of a flow.

Part 1- Look to Start from a high plank, slowly drop your hips to the ground. 
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​Key Points of Focus-

• Keep your shoulders down and back
• Brace your belly so not to overextend your back
• If this causes to much strain, simply lower yourself down to your elbows instead

Part 2- From here lift your hips as high to the ceiling as possible, keeping your arms extended and as in-line with your ears as possible. From here you can drive your heels into the ground for an additional calf/ achilles stretch. 

Key Points of Focus-

• Drive your hips high by pushing strong into the ground
• Keep your legs straight as you drive your heels down

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Each one of these amazing stretches can be done to improve the flexibility of the musculature around the hip and shoulders to take unnecessary stress off the lower back. Each of the three also works to improve toe-to-fingertip mobility across commonly critical firefighter related movement. Look to perform each for approximately 30-45 seconds. You can move through all three and then repeat for 2-3 rounds. 

The Foundational 4 Core Exercises for LBP Injury Prevention include: Hip Bridges & Variations, Side Plank & Variations, Front Plank & Variations and Anti-Rotation Holds. ​

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Hip Bridge
Looking to develop strong glutes, hamstrings and back musculature with this one. This exercise also helps to offset the negative impact sitting has on our bodies. Starting on the ground with shoulder width stance. Driving through the heels lift the hips become one straight line between the knees and shoulders. 

Key Points of Focus-

• Brace the belly so not to over extend the lower back
• Look to achieve a 90 degree bend at the knee 
• Lift high enough that you feel able to squeeze your butt
• Arms at the side should be used for stability not pressing assistance. 

A great progression to the Hip Bridge is working towards a single leg progression. The same mechanics as a hip bridge, except one leg lifts while you press the free foot towards the ceiling. 

Key Points of Focus-

• Make sure to keep the knee of your working leg stacked directly over the foot
• Wider hand placement can be used for lateral stability
• Extra focus is required to keep the hips square to the ceiling

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Side Plank
Learning to brace against lateral flexion is key in protecting the lower back against injury. Look to keep the body in one straight line with arm directly under the shoulder and legs stacked. 

Key Points of Focus- 

• Keep a neutral head/neck position by looking forward not down
• Don't let the hips sag behind by keeping your glutes tightly braced. 

Side Planks can be very tough for beginners. Regressing this exercise by bending the knees can make this much more achievable

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Front Plank
It's a classic for a reason! The front plank undoubtedly should be a first step to developing a strong core. It's focus is primarily on the anterior muscle of the abdominals. How ever, the front plank really requires tension throughout the whole torso. Look to stack the arms directly under the shoulders, feet hip width apart while maintaining a flat back.

Key Points of Focus-

• Engaging your glutes will help to position the hips correctly 
• Looking down will ensure a neutral neck reducing strain
• Brace the belly as if you were anticipating being punched in the gut

Front Planks can be the basis for a whole list of amazing core focused exercises. One example is a tall plank alternating shoulder taps. 

Key Points of Focus-

• Make sure to resist any hip side-to-side movement or rotation
• Performing this slowly and  controlled will give you the best results
• The width of the feet will greatly change the intensity of the exercise. The narrower the feet the harder it becomes

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Anti-Rotation Holds
Your secret weapon to building a bomb proof back is definitely Anti-Rotations. All the benefits of front and side planks while adding contra-lateral (across body) stability and strength. Using a band or cable start by walking out into tension with hands directly in front of the body. Press and hold against the side pulling force.

Key Points of Focus- 

• Press arms to full extension at chest height
• Keep your shoulders back and down
• Keep the belly braced as if someone is going to punch your gut
• Start with light resistance to learn the mechanics without overcompensation

A big mistake many newbies make is to jump right into core exercises that are fancy or gimmicky. Everyone should be able to perform each one of these movements for over 60 seconds comfortably before jumping into more complex options.

​If you are lucky to be able to perform this routine before shift great! If not just completing it 2-3x a week would be fine. This also could be done as an extended warm-up before your regular workout at the gym.

Once you feel you have conquered Phase 1, look to add other Fire specific mobility and strength exercises to your routine. Picking functional movements like squats, lifts, lunges, pressing and pulling patterns in all sorts of combinations will prepare you for a successful career and retirement. 
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Check out FitbyFire.com for more information on injury prevention and workouts for firefighters.